Is a 90% waste-free society achievable?
Eco-Cycle convenes national experts to plot the course.
Staff Report
Zero Waste is at a critical point— it has the opportunity to become the norm, rather than the exception, around the globe. Some cities across the U.S. and Canada are diverting 70% or more of their discards from the landfill. Regions in Europe are exceeding 85%. Clearly, we no longer have to figure out HOW to recover our resources. What we need for Zero Waste to reach its potential is to answer two questions: Why aren’t we all capturing 70% or more of our discards when these communities have paved the way? And, after we get to 70%, can we get to the 90% diversion rate that defines a Zero Waste Community?
Eco-Cycle decided it was time to gather the experts. In April, we hosted the Getting to Zero Waste Summit, a historic meeting of nine of our most respected and accomplished Zero Waste colleagues from around the nation (and one from Canada). We combined our thinking with theirs to accomplish two tasks: 1) Create a template to help “Any Town, USA” map their way to the clearly achievable goal of 70%; and 2) Determine if 90% is possible, and, if it is, how a community gets there.
When our Executive Director Eric Lombardi placed the invitation calls for the Summit, the reaction was the same each time: “Yes! I would be honored to come! I need to answer these questions for my community, too.” And, if anyone was up to the task, it was these nine experts. They are public leaders who are creating and implementing cutting edge Zero Waste programs in their respective communities, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, New York, Austin, Vermont, Seattle and Toronto. Joining with Eco-Cycle staffers Eric, Marti and Kate, the Zero Waste Dozen went to work.
We worked intensely for two days, up at Chautauqua in the day and at our local Zero Waste Boulder Outlook Hotel & Suites at night. Not only were the cameras clicking at our beautiful Flatirons, but our guests were also snapping photos of what they found at the Outlook: a big banner advertising their Zero Waste hotel, recycling bins and compost bags in each room, bikes for rent, reusable water bottles available at a cheap price and a chlorine-free pool.
During day one, we tackled our first task and created a template that will help any community achieve a 70% landfill diversion rate in less than seven years. As we brainstormed, we repeatedly asked ourselves, “But will it work in Kansas?” to make sure our recommendations were replicable anywhere. The results will be important for us locally because the city of Boulder has a goal of achieving 85% diversion by 2017, and we’re less than halfway there! The template we created is being written up for a national magazine later this year.
Nine out of nine experts agree: 90% recovery is possible!
Then we asked the question that brought us all together: “Is 90% really possible?” The question didn’t land lightly. These experts work every day in the trenches; they don’t just theorize about what should be done. For this group to say, “Yes, it’s possible,” would mean that all of us would have to go back to our respective communities and make it happen. In the closing hours of the Summit, it was an exciting, hopeful and historic-feeling moment when the group reached the consensus, “Yes, it is indeed possible.” So, we set to work on what that would look like — what more would we need to do to move beyond 70% and get to 90%?
Getting to 90%
What does it take to get to 90%? We need to live by some new rules that support Zero Waste over polluting and wasting practices. Mandatory recycling and composting at all homes and businesses is first and foremost.
In Boulder, we have given everyone 34 YEARS to get on the voluntary recycling bus. Residents are almost all onboard, but businesses are FAR behind, recovering only 25% of their waste! Communities hitting higher diversion goals have acknowledged that wasting resources can no longer be seen as an option or a right.
That approach extends to manufacturers, as well, who must design their products for recovery, not for the dump. All products and packaging must be reusable, recyclable or compostable, use fewer resources and contain no toxins. Products must come in little to no packaging, and packaging must be standardized to make it easier for recycling facilities to market recycled materials. Product labels must include clear symbols indicating whether a product is designed for the recycling bin (with a blue dot perhaps) or for the compost bin (with a green dot) so that proper sorting is made simple.
Strong, publicly-accountable infrastructure to capture and process these materials, as well as financial structures that promote recovery and punish wasting, are the driving forces in communities nearing or surpassing 70% recovery. Aggressive construction and demolition debris recycling is also a must, and has been done successfully in other cities through deposits on building permits.
Our recent gathering of Zero Waste experts was only the beginning. Eco-Cycle plans to share the results of the Summit, including a template for getting to 50%, 70% and 90%, in a white paper due out at the end of 2010. Eco-Cycle also has plans to expand our Zero Waste panel of experts and convene more meetings here in Boulder in the future. Now that we really know (and are not just taking it on faith) that 90% recovery of our discarded resources is possible, we see new doors opening to build a stronger green economy in Boulder County, the U.S. and beyond.
Thanks to the Oreg Foundation for providing the funding to fly in our nine Zero Waste experts for our Getting to Zero Waste Summit.
Sign up to receive our Getting to Zero Waste Summit white paper, due out by the end of 2010, by sending an e-mail to kate@ecocycle.org, subject: white paper request.
Thanks to Boulder Outlook Hotel & Suites owner Dan King for giving us a deep discount and wonderful experience for our Summit!
View interviews from the Summit at www.ecocycle.org/zerowaste.
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