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What's it take ?..
It boggles the mind, but as we
create goals we develop ideals to strive for. In the world of waste, what
better goal to strive for than ZeroWaste. Waste is a sign of inefficiency
and
short sightedness. With the goal of ZeroWaste, we first eliminate to word
"waste" and substitute discards and then we treat these discards as
potential resources. We witness the fading of "waste management"
and the partake in the emergence of "resource management'.
For some it may help to temper the goal by saying "ZeroWaste or darn
close", the goal will not be achieved by recycling alone, nor by all its
related practices such as precycling, reducing, reusing and composting.
There will have to be breakthrough technologies and breakthrough considerations
of producer responsibilities as well as rethinking our rules of subsidies for
wasting practices and industries.
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Jobs, Not
Waste. |
The GrassRoots
Recycling Network is a group that is striving to make ZeroWaste
happen. Formed in Atlanta in April, 1997 by recycling enthusiasts
and experts from all across the nation, the group converses and plans
daily on the web. Check out their web site: www.grrn.org |
| Did you know?.....
that
material saved for recycling creates 8 - 10 jobs compared to an equal
amount of waste. A ton of newspaper (which is over half of what is
collected in household curbside recycling programs) sent to the landfill
costs about $50 per ton to collect and transport and about $50 per ton to tip
into the landfill. That same ton when processed into newsprint is
worth over $1000 per ton. |
The
G.R.R.N. goals are:
Zero Waste
Jobs, not waste.
End subsidies for wasters.
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The GRRN is trying
to get Coke to start using recycled plastic in their millions soda
bottles. If you would like to help call Coke's Consumer Affairs line
and tell the friendly person who answers that you wish that they would do
the real thing and put post consumer recycled content in their plastic
bottles like they promised they would way back in 1990.
Call toll free: (800) 571-2653
or log onto its web site at http://www.cocacola.com
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G.R.R.N.
PUBLICATIONS
The G.R.R.N. has been invalid in two
publications. Welfare for Waste, How Federal Taxpayer
Subsidies Waste Resources and Discourage Recycling, was produced in 1999
jointly with the Taxpayers for Common Sense, the materials Efficiency
Project and the Friends of the Earth.
Just released last month is Wasting and Recycling in the U.S. 2000.
It was written and edited by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance with a
lot of input from recyclers across the United States. The goal of the
report is to counter some of the nay-sayers and rekindle support for
recycling and resource conservation. |
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Infinity Recycling, Inc.
