"Zero Waste" Strategy

"Zero Waste" is an anti-garbage strategy that has been gaining national attention recently. According to the New York Times, school cafeterias, restaurants, stadiums, corporations and national parks are all beginning to implement such a strategy. The concept seems very simple: produce less waste. It requires people to recycle or compost whenever possible and to avoid all packaging that is not biodegradable. For example, Yellowstone National Park is taking initiative with its soda cups and utensils. Both are made out of plant based plastics that dissolve when heated to a certain temperature. Restaurants are also partaking. A particular restaurant in Atlanta for example, is no longer throwing out food waste, but instead is placing it in a compost heap located behind the establishment. Towns are also getting involved in initiatives to reduce waste. The resort community of Nantucket resorted to strict trash policies over a decade ago due to decreasing space for landfills and worries about the costs of shipping garbage 30 miles to main land. The town mandates that households and businesses recycle not only common items such as paper, aluminum and glass, but also items that include tires, batteries and household appliances. These strict trash policies have decreased the proportion of trash going to the landfill to just 8 percent. However, some communities have been unwilling or at least hesitant to adopt zero trash policies because of the costs of infrastructure.

Recycling, compost and anti-garbage policies such as "Zero Waste" are beginning to have a mainstream impact due to the growing concerns about the environmental impacts of landfills. It has become increasingly difficult to secure permits for landfills and there has been a heightened concern about the methane released from the organic decay of the material dumped in landfills. The release of methane gas due to organic decay is related to the warming of the Earth's atmosphere.

Additionally, one area of trash that has begun to receive a lot of notice is food waste. The E.P.A. indicates that food waste accounts for thirteen percent of total garbage nationwide. This percentage would greatly increase if recyclables were factored in. Composting food waste like apple cores and old bread would allow for decomposition without producing methane as a by-product, and the waste could then be used as a non-chemical fertilizer. Using biodegradable packaging has also become popular, using plant materials instead of plastic. According to the Biodegradable Products Institute, companies providing compostable products for food providers have doubled since 2006. Although businesses, companies and governments are realizing the importance of recycling, it will be hard to significantly alter individual behavior with regards to recycling and composting. For example, zero waste policies will require everyone to think about every single thing they are throwing away, every day. According to the New York Times, the technology exists, but the education about the benefits of such policies is crucial in order for them to be successful.

I think that all localities should take initiative into adopting "zero waste" policies. According to the E.P.A, Americans dump 4.6 pounds of trash individually, per day. I think that in order for such initiatives to be successful, they need to be creative. For example, the Zero Waste Zone (ZWZ) in downtown Atlanta, is a program that is the only of its kind in the southeast, and one of the few in the nation. The vision of project is to "Develop a prototype of a zero waste zone with an initial focus on diversion of recoverable products produced by foodservice operations from landfills and create a template for zero waste zones in other geographic areas". Therefore, by beginning with certain industries, we can expand upon the implementation of zero waste, allowing time for increased public support, down to the individual level, and then apply those concepts broadly to every day life.

"Zero Waste" strategies will also greatly benefit the environment, decreasing the use of landfills and therefore allowing for a substantial decrease in the amount of methane gas released from decaying organic material. Landfills, on a a superficial level, are unsightly and unpopular. Additionally, they are known to harm wildlife and produce toxic substances that may enter the air and water. Among many problems, including dust and bio-aerosol emissions, landfill gas is the most prominent. According to Green Living, these occur essentially at the beginning of landfill use and may case issues for hundreds of years. There have been initiatives to capture the emissions and use the methane gas captures as a source of green energy. One of these programs in particular is called the Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Great amounts of rain can also cause landfill mess to pollute groundwater, which in turn can pollute limited sources of fresh water. Also, fixing landfills is very costly and time consuming. Therefore, decreasing landfill use by zero waste policies will greatly benefit the environment.