Veganism and zero-waste living are natural allies — but they're not the same thing. Imogen Allen's Sustainably Vegan makes the obvious but necessary point that avocados shipped from Mexico, almond milk in Tetra Paks, and kombucha in single-use bottles are technically vegan but far from zero-waste. The book attempts to hold both commitments simultaneously.
What Is This Book?
Sustainably Vegan covers the intersection of plant-based eating and low-waste living — showing how to shop, cook, and live in ways that minimise both animal harm and environmental footprint. The book extends beyond food to personal care, fashion, and household products, addressing the full range of consumer categories where veganism and sustainability intersect.
The tone is accessible and non-judgmental — Allen is not interested in purity contests or gatekeeping, and she acknowledges the privilege embedded in some zero-waste recommendations.
The Packaging Problem
The chapter on packaging is the book’s strongest. Allen documents the irony that many vegan products — plant-based milks, meat alternatives, health foods — come in more packaging than the conventional products they replace. She argues that the lowest-waste diet is not the most convenient vegan diet but the one most centred on whole foods bought with minimal packaging — beans, grains, vegetables.
Buying vegan doesn't automatically mean buying sustainably. The most sustainable food choices are usually the oldest ones: whole, seasonal, local, and minimally packaged.
— Imogen Allen, Sustainably Vegan
The Fashion Chapter
The section on vegan fashion — avoiding leather, wool, silk, and down — grapples honestly with the synthetic alternatives. Many vegan fabrics are derived from petrochemicals, shed microplastics in the wash, and are less durable than the animal products they replace. Allen navigates this honestly, recommending secondhand first and natural plant fibres where new is unavoidable.
6 Key Ideas From This Book
Many vegan products are heavily packaged, highly processed, and transported long distances. A genuinely sustainable plant-based diet prioritises whole foods, local sourcing, and minimal packaging over vegan certification.
Buying legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds in bulk — from shops that allow you to bring your own containers — is the highest-impact food shopping change available to plant-based eaters.
Most commercial plant milks come in composite Tetra Pak cartons that are difficult to recycle. Making your own oat or nut milk is cheaper, lower-waste, and better tasting than most commercial alternatives.
Buying secondhand avoids both the animal products in conventional fashion and the synthetic fibres and microplastic pollution of new vegan alternatives — making it the best available option on both dimensions.
Most vegan personal care products are also available in low-waste formats — bar soaps, shampoo bars, refillable containers — making this the easiest category in which to align both values.
Allen argues for progress over perfection: the person who is 80% vegan and 80% zero-waste has a lower total impact than the person who abandons both because they can't achieve either completely.
Any Weaknesses?
The book tries to cover too much ground — veganism, zero-waste, fashion, personal care, household products — with insufficient depth in any one area. Readers with existing knowledge of either veganism or zero-waste living will find much of the content familiar. The writing is competent but not particularly distinctive, and the book lacks the depth of analysis that would make it genuinely authoritative on the intersection it claims to inhabit.
Who Should Read This?
Vegans who want to extend their ethical commitment to include packaging and waste, or zero-waste practitioners who are also exploring plant-based eating.
The Zero-Waste Chef for the kitchen depth this book lacks, or How Not to Die for the health argument for plant-based eating.
Readers who feel tension between their vegan values and zero-waste goals — Allen validates that tension and provides a framework for navigating it without abandoning either commitment.
A broad overview rather than a deep guide. The book is most valuable as an introduction to the intersection of veganism and sustainability; readers wanting depth in either should look elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sustainably Vegan worth reading?
A useful introduction to an underserved intersection that makes the necessary point — vegan is not automatically sustainable — with enough practical guidance to get readers started. Not the most rigorous treatment of either veganism or zero-waste living, but a helpful bridge between two movements that should be talking to each other more.
Who should read Sustainably Vegan?
Vegans who want to extend their ethical commitment to include packaging and waste, or zero-waste practitioners who are also exploring plant-based eating.
What is Sustainably Vegan about in one sentence?
Veganism and zero-waste living are natural allies — but they're not the same thing.
The Verdict
A useful introduction to an underserved intersection that makes the necessary point — vegan is not automatically sustainable — with enough practical guidance to get readers started. Not the most rigorous treatment of either veganism or zero-waste living, but a helpful bridge between two movements that should be talking to each other more.
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