Harvey Gershman

By Harvey Gershman

At the National Recycling Coalition Congress held in Seattle, WA, in January, proponents of the zero-waste movement asked attendees the above questions and passed out buttons shown here. Zero waste is a grassroots effort led by many well-known environmental and waste reduction/reuse/recycling devotees. They have banded together as a virtual policy pressure group to push governments and economies to adopt zero waste as "the way things are done." It is well documented on www.grrn.org.

Waste management has traditionally focused on what we do "at the end of the pipe" (i.e., after we no longer have use for a package or product), how we can affect avoidance and reduction of those materials, how they can be reused or recycled, and then–with what is left–how that fraction can be managed for further recovery and/or disposal.

What if we didn't produce waste? How do we produce less waste? Zero waste poses questions such as these so that the focus can shift to the beginning of the pipeline: where we start the waste production process. Zero waste is a paradigm shift for waste managers; it challenges manufacturers/producers to become more responsible for how they manufacture, produce, and sell their products and take responsibility for their products that ultimately have to be handled post-use.

Will recent initiatives directed toward Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dell, or Compaq have an effect? We hope the answer is yes, but we will see. Should we close incinerators and landfills in hope that zero waste will be a solution we can depend on? Better not. (And please stop calling waste-to-energy plants incinerators; the ones used in the United States–and worldwide for that matter–recover energy, and last time I checked, that is also something we need.)

As zero waste builds its support and starts appearing in your local settings, I would hope the efforts will help promote resource conservation and advance improvements in local programs. Meanwhile, there is much reduce/reuse/recycle to promote, recyclables and waste to collect and process, and too much destined for disposal. There is room for a productive zero-waste movement, but zero waste needs to recognize the current demands, needs, and resources of local solid waste management programs.

Should we get involved with zero waste? Absolutely. What would we do if we had zero waste? Don't assume we will ever get there, but let's try really hard to achieve this goal.

How much waste are we for? As little as possible!

Harvey Gershman is president of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc., solid waste management consultants based in Fairfax, VA.