Transitioning to Zero Waste
by Deborah Brasket, SB CAN Executive Director
Last year, Zero Waste was cited as one of the three hottest sustainability trends by Terry Tamminen, author of “Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction,” who advises world leaders on how to design and implement climate-change solutions.
“People are beginning to understand that CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions are a measurement of waste at their very core,” says Tamminen. “If your product is being shipped with a lot of waste in it, that's adding to fuel and shipping costs, which adds to your carbon footprint. ... Nobody wants to have waste in their business.”
The Zero Waste movement takes the current practice of recycling and diversion from landfills to a new level of eco-efficiency. It promotes the intelligent redesign of goods and services that prevent waste from being manufactured in the first place.
Instead of the current practice in product design of planned obsolescence, in which products are created to be become obsolete in a few short years so that consumers must constantly replace them, a zero-waste strategy ensures that products are created with the potential to be repaired, reused, recycled.
What used to be “waste” now becomes “resource” — material for the creation of new goods or services.
This means not only creating, for example, glass bottles that are returned to the manufacturer to be refilled, but also creating buildings that can be easily taken apart to maximize the reuse of materials, such as windows, doors and countertops. It means capturing and converting the raw materials of products at the end of their life-cycle to provide the basis for creating new products.
It also means redesigning products and processes to eliminate hazardous properties that could harm the environment and prevent them from being reused.
“Waste equals inefficiency” is another maxim in zero-waste strategies. The whole lifecycles of products need to be analyzed to reduce inefficiencies in the use of materials, energy and human resources, and to eliminate by-products with no clear use or potential value.
Since waste is a sign of inefficiency, the reduction of waste usually reduces costs. Tamminen cites how Procter & Gamble now makes Tide detergent in concentrated form that reduces packaging, size and weight.
“They found they were selling a gallon bottle of liquid detergent, and two-thirds of that was water. So now they've reduced the packaging, the weight, the transportation, the size, all of it.”
A zero-waste strategy is a sound business tool that supports sustainability by protecting the environment, reducing costs and creating jobs. And it promotes product stewardship, in which everyone involved in the lifespan of the product is called upon to play a part in reducing its environmental impact and extending its usefulness.
Designers, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers — all bear a responsibility for the things we create, transport, purchase and discard.
If you'd like find out more about this, join us at a workshop on “The Story of Stuff — Transitioning from Waste to Resource,” Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Santa Maria Library.
A slideshow presentation will provide a diverse overview of what various communities in North America and Europe are doing to move toward managing resources more wisely.
The workshop also features video clips of Annie Leonard's entertaining talk on “The Story of Stuff,” and William McDonough and Michael Braungart's inspirational vision of “Cradle-to-Cradle” product design.
Workshop presenter Joerg Blischke has more than 15 years of work experience in various environmental engineering disciplines, including the design and construction of a commercial-scale anaerobic digestion and composting facility in Europe.
He is a local resident who has taught classes in physical sciences and environmental studies at Allan Hancock College. This workshop is part of SB CAN's “Best Practices in Sustainability” series.
Posted in Editorial on Friday, February 5, 2010 12:00 am in Santa Maria Times
Date:
5 Feb 2010 - 1:10pm