"I'm a vegan:" a statement that has elicited many an eye-roll since it started becoming more common in the late 2010s. Anthony Bourdain once wrote that vegetarians and vegans "are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit." While it may have seemed like an annoying trend to some at first, the rising percentage of Americans identifying as vegan indicates otherwise.

Since the mid-2000s, zero-wasters have been carrying around reusable containers, keeping compost piles and fitting all the trash they make in a year inside single Mason jars. Earlier, this might have been considered hippie behavior, but public attitudes toward zero waste have shifted in recent years. It’s a growing movement to avoid creating trash, and it’s slowly making its way into mainstream culture.