A Challenge For Toronto: Go Zero Waste  

TreeHugger has a roundup of recent posts on the zero-waste concept - A Challenge For Toronto: Go Zero Waste.

There is an everything strike going on in Toronto, another nail in its reputation as a City that works. Ferries aren't running, pools are closed, and the garbage isn't getting picked up. But what is in those bags stacking up in our parks? Why do we generate so much garbage?

Perhaps it is an appropriate time to experiment with going zero waste; here is a roundup of some posts we have written on the subject to help you on your way.

At the Worldchanging book launch, Alex Steffen said something like: "Garbage is simply useful stuff in the wrong place". It is true- In Toronto we have no beer bottle garbage, because there is a ten cent deposit on them. 'We have become an increasingly throwaway society, reliant on cheap, disposable and hard to recycle goods,' said Nick Pearce, the think-tank's director. 'Business needs to take greater responsibility for the whole life of a product." a Zero Waste Society

"Humans are the only species on the planet that don't live by zero waste principles. Zero waste is a 'call to action' that aims to bring an end to the current 'take, make and waste' mentality of human society." Quote of the Day: Michael Jessen on Zero Waste


Robert Ouellette points out at ::ReadingToronto:
"All garbage is bad garbage. There is no effective way to rid the environment of our trash. The only real answer is to not make it in the first place."
Chemist and author Paul Palmer goes much farther and suggests that recycling is dead. He says It has "become lazy, relying on yesterday's methods and advancing no new ideas to inspire the public. Has Recycling Jumped the Shark?

Lets call recycling what it is- a fraud, a sham, a scam perpetrated by big business on the citizens and municipalities of America. Look who sponsors the National Recycling Coalition: behind America Recycles Day: Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Owens-Illinois, International Bottled Water Association, the same people who brought you that other fraud, Keep America Beautiful.

Recycling is simply the transfer of producer responsibility for what they produce to the taxpayer who has to pick it up and take it away. Recycling is Bullshit; Make Nov. 15 Zero Waste Day, not America Recycles Day.

Everyone is talking about zero waste these days. Jared Blumenfeld of San Francisco's environment department says "From our perspective, waste doesn't need to exist,It's a design flaw." David Redfield of Wal-Mart says "When you look at a dumpster, you see trash. When I look at it, I see materials and money." William McDonough says "We're not talking here about eliminating waste, We're talking about eliminating the entire concept of waste." Meme of the month: Zero Waste.