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beyond recycling

www.zwia.org. beyond recycling. industry. organics and soil. social economy. GLOBAL PRINCIPLES FOR ZERO WASTE COMMUNITIES. Richard Anthony Zero Waste International Alliance Planning Group GRRN National Recycling & Zero Waste Conference Devens, Massachusetts October 19, 2009.

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beyond recycling

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  1. www.zwia.org beyond recycling industry organics and soil social economy

  2. GLOBAL PRINCIPLES FOR ZERO WASTE COMMUNITIES Richard Anthony Zero Waste International Alliance Planning Group GRRN National Recycling & Zero Waste Conference Devens, Massachusetts October 19, 2009

  3. Overarching Goals Zero Waste involves moving from the back end of waste disposal to the front end of resource management. • Producer responsibility at front end • Industrial production and design • Community responsibility at back end • Consumption, discard use and disposal • Political responsibility • To bring community and industrial responsibility together in a harmonious whole

  4. Zero Waste Opportunities • Zero Waste Programs are fastest and most cost effective ways that local governments can contribute to: • Reducing climate change • Promote local sustainability • Protect health • Create green jobs

  5. ZWIA Definition of Zero Waste The only peer-reviewed internationally accepted definition of Zero Waste is that adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance: “Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.”

  6. “If a product can't be reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.”* *Martin Bourque, Berkeley Ecology Center, GRRN Zero Waste Conference, NY, April 2005.

  7. Principles and Practical steps towards Zero Waste A key part of the planning process is establishing what is a reasonable goal for your community while recognizing the urgency of moving quickly to address climate change. 1. Adopt ZWIA Zero Waste definition 2. Establish benchmarks and a timeline to meet goals for measuring success and monitoring accomplishments

  8. 3. Engage the whole community. Don’t leave Zero Waste to “waste experts.” Involve all organizations (nongovernmental organizations, grassroots movements, business and governmental) that provide waste reduction, takeback, reuse, recycling and composting services Challenge all to pursue Zero Waste at home, at school, at university, at work and at play, while communities develop longer term policies and programs

  9. More energy can be saved, and global warming impacts decreased, by reducing waste, reusing products, recycling and composting than can be produced from burning discards or recovering landfill gases. 4. Demand decision makers manage resources not waste. • Existing incinerators must be closed down and no new ones built. • Reform landfill practices to prevent all pollution of air and water • Pre-process all residues at landfills before burial • To stabilize organics and prevent methane generation • Use Residual Separation and Research Facilities

  10. 5. Use economic stimulus funds and fees levied on tons of waste hauled or landfilled to fund programs: To educate and train Resource Managers to use a Zero Waste approach To develop programs for handling community discards To create green jobs To enforce environmental rules

  11.  6. Educate residents, businesses and visitors about new rules & programs Zero Waste is a strategy not a technology that aims for better organization, better education and better industrial design to achieve the cultural change needed to get to Zero Waste

  12. Evaluate what additional source reduction, takeback, reuse, recycling and composting programs and facilities are needed to make those services more convenient to users than mixed material collection and disposal services.  7. Perform Zero Waste Assessments ID amount and type of waste produced Collect Data locally or get data from comparable communities Use as baseline to ID recovery and employment opportunities, cost savings, and to measure success of reduction and recovery programs

  13. 8. Residual Separation & Research Facilities • To link community responsibility and industrial responsibility • Residuals need to be made very visible to ID • Bad industrial design • Bad purchasing habits • Change through dedicated research and education

  14. 9. Develop New Rules and Incentives to move towards Zero Waste Communities can significantly change what is “economic” in the local marketplace with new policies, new rules and new incentives. Restructure contracts and policies to make the avoided costs of collection and disposal a key engine for moving towards Zero Waste.

  15. 10. Enact Extended Producer Responsibility Businesses take back products and packaging at no cost to the public Advocate for state and national EPR policies Incentive to redesign products to be less toxic and easier to reuse and recycle Don’t export harm and properly reuse, recycle or compost Support small, local businesses and nonprofits

  16. 11. Remove government subsidies for wasting • Remove subsidies for wasting locally controlled, and call for removal of others • Tax incentives for mining and timber harvesting • Incinerator subsidies for “Energy from Waste” • Landfill regulations that inadequately address leachate, methane generation and perpetual long-term care • Shift community adopted garbage rates to Pay As You Throw incentives

  17. 12. Support Zero Waste Procurement Adopt Precautionary Principle for municipal purchases Purchase Zero Waste products and services Avoid single use products and packaging Return to vendors wasteful packaging Reduce packaging and buy in larger units Use reusable shipping containers Purchase reused, recycled and compost products Buy remanufactured equipment Lease, rent and share equipment Buy durables (using life-cycle cost analyses) Encourage businesses and institutions to follow as well

  18. 13. Expand Zero Waste Infrastructure • Develop locations for reuse, recycling and composting, including Resource Recovery Parks. • Get Compostable Organics out of Landfills and back to the soil • Support Zero Waste practices at businesses and institutions • Adopt deconstruction, reuse and recycling policies citywide for Construction, Demolition, Landclearing and Remodeling (C&D) • Support locally owned and operated local enterprises.

  19. 14. Challenge Businesses to lead the way to Zero Waste Thousands of Businesses already divert over 90% of their wastes from landfill & incineration Zero Waste Businesses reduce costs, increase efficiency, decrease carbon footprint and decrease long-term liability ID, recognize and promote Zero Waste Businesses locally and challenge others to follow.

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