ZERO WASTE

It was started in the 1970's by Paul Palmer. His original company was focused on reusing industrial waste from the production of computers. They were centered in California, but had a large influence in a pretty big area. Zero Waste is now a philosophy where the outputs from every system become the inputs for a different system. As Tom Stoppard would say, "Every exit is an entrance somewhere else."

It is a "theory of universal reuse of all goods." The vision is to turn our linear stream of

production-
consumption-
waste,

into a circle. Huh, kinda sounds like the way nature does it... Waste is not a given! "Waste is a result of bad design." Eric Lambardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle

I find this very exciting (being something of a solid waste nerd) and there have been lots of successes in this regard, the Xerox company reuses 95% of the materials from its old machines, the Toyota company doesn't send ANYTHING to the landfill, the 2012 Olympics in London will have recycling information and tips at every sporting venue! It's out there and in a lot of ways its working.

It's not all doom and gloom on the environmental front! Part of the difference between recycling and zero waste is that recycling is completely oriented toward consumer responsibility, whereas in zero waste systems that function correctly, producers are responsible for designing goods to be reused. "If your product can't be composted, recycled, or reused, you shouldn't be making it!" Professor Paul Connet, SLU.

There are so many ways to make a difference, and personally I'm probably making such things into my life's work, but as for the rest of you there is something you can do in the spirit of Zero Waste. First of all, you should all be composting. You don't need a fancy bin, or a garden, or anything, just a pile will do. Do some research and get it going because food DOES NOT break down and return to the nutrient cycle, when it is land filled.

Well, composting is the biggest one right now because its easy and it reduces land filling by a real drastic amount. Just think about recycling as well for now, metal, plastic, paper, Those are the things that should really be recycled without fail. Anyway I really wanted to tell you all about the evils of Junk Mail. But as levar Burton from Reading Rainbow would say, "you don't have to take my word for it!" Check out these websites PLEASE! You can severely reduce your Junk mail (paper mail) today if you want. https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing.I also suggest you check out www.ecocycle.org to see the environmental reasons for stopping junk mail.

Thanks,
ad-man