Living a practically zero-waste lifestyle, one Vallejo woman has not produced any garbage in the past year. Local actress and pizza aficionado Kathryn Kellogg says the secret to creating less trash is simply planning ahead.

“It’s not that tough,” Kellogg said. “Living this lifestyle just takes a little bit of forethought and thinking. Being prepared is the most important thing.”

Kellogg’s journey down the eco-friendly road began six years ago while she was in college. She had an unbearable pain in her left breast. A trip to the doctor revealed multiple tumors, however they were determined not to be caused by cancer.

“The experience got me thinking about how I was living, what I was putting into my body,” Kellogg said.

She decided to try to live healthier by cooking meals from scratch, and soon moved to creating her own cleaning and beauty products.

Her efforts were rewarded when the pain subsided.

“Once I began using my homemade deodorant, all of my pain left,” Kellogg said. “I don’t have any scientific evidence, but I believe the aluminum in my antiperspirant was what caused the pain.”

It was around this time when Kellogg really began taking notice of the ecosystem’s health as well.

She recently had moved from the mostly land-locked state of Pennsylvania to Vallejo. Now that she was living near the water, she was struck by how much plastic and garbage were floating in the bay.

“Being on the water and seeing all the litter that goes out to sea, it was crazy,” Kellogg said. “It broke my heart.”

This experience, along with environmental estimates such as the one published earlier this year by the World Economic Forum saying there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, inspired her to change her plastic-using ways.

“I decided to stop using plastic, stop making waste,” she said.

Now Kellogg shops exclusively at bulk bin stores where she can fill up her own jars and bags full of food rather than using store-produced packaging. Her produce is purchased at the weekly farmer’s market in Vallejo.

For her dairy needs, she visits a local creamery with her reusable milk jar.

At home, all of her organic waste goes into a compost pile, and her closet is full of second-hand clothes.

“Up until 70 years ago, the way I shop was normal,” Kellogg said. “Then plastic came and it’s gotten out of control. For example, I recently saw an unpeeled orange in plastic clamshell packaging. It’s ridiculous.”

Though some may view her strictly zero-waste lifestyle as extreme, Kellogg explained she has received support from her friends and family.

“My mom is so cute, she is so supportive,” Kellogg said. “My dad thinks I’m a little nutty. As for my friends, I’ve noticed they have begun to make small changes.”

For the past year, Kellogg also has run a relatively popular website in her spare time, goingzerowaste.com.

Here she shares seasonal food recipes, posts tutorials on creating cleaning and beauty products and discusses zero waste strategies.

She also publishes a weekly digital newsletter that features exclusive content not found on the website.

“It’s really nice and I get a lot of good feedback and comments,” Kellogg said. “People ask me questions or ask advice on certain things. All in all, it’s been a really good experience.”

As for her top three tips for reducing waste?

“Use a reusable bag, reusable water bottle and compost,” she said. “Just by doing those three things, you can easily cut out 60 percent of your waste.”

Matthew Adkins can be reached at 707-553-6833.