Let’s Dump the Dumps

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2012, the United States generated 250.9 million tons of trash, nearly three times as much waste as in 1960. All that waste has to go somewhere. Historically, it's gone into dumps, or in today's...

May 14, 2014 | Source: Organic Consumers Association | by Charlotte Warren

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2012, the United States generated 250.9 million tons of trash, nearly three times as much waste as in 1960. All that waste has to go somewhere. Historically, it’s gone into dumps, or in today’s more politically correct lingo, landfills.

But as landfills fill up, communities looking for new ways to tackle municipal solid waste are turning to “zero-waste.”

Zero Waste is defined by the Zero Waste International Alliance, and adopted by the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council as:

. . .  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.

Communities across the country are setting their sights on zero waste as a goal. One of those is St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. Developer Chris Velasco, co-founder of PLACE, is working with city officials and planners to create a new housing development completely powered by the community’s own organic waste.

The development, which will include a mix of apartments, studios and offices, will also be home to an anaerobic digester. The digester would turn the waste generated by occupants into biogas-generated electricity to heat and cool the spaces. It will also create a liquid fertilizer to grow food in the community greenhouses.

“We live in a society where we don’t think of where our food and energy comes from and where our waste goes,” Velasco told the
Star Tribune. “There is real value in having people understand how these things work together. It ends up making living more affordable and reduces their footprint at the same time.”

Minneapolis is also aiming to become “garbage-free.” Officials there believe that in order to achieve their goal, they must implement changes to entire system—starting with the product producers and distributors. The Minneapolis Mayor has hired the city’s first zero-waste coordinator, and along with the City Council is working to create a city-wide ban on foam takeout containers.

Minneapolis Council Member Andrew Johnson, who previously worked at Target as a systems engineer, is calling on the retail giant to demand more vendors reduce product packaging.

Community education is also part of the plan to encourage the residents of Minneapolis to become “zero heroes.” Officials suggest choosing products with less packaging, and regularly vacuuming the coils under their refrigerators to increase efficiency.

More on U.S. cities reducing waste
http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/americas-morning-headquarters/zero-waste-zones-10-cities-getting-rid-garbage-20140401

Tips to Reduce Waste at Home
http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/p/tips.html

Charlotte Warren is media manager at the Organic Consumers Association.