Read the full story in Waste & Recycling News.
As more of our nation’s cities move toward zero waste policies, the traditional hauling and disposal industry is faced with the tough decision: adapt or die.
Category Archives: Zero waste
Zero waste doesn’t mean zero haulers
A Zero Waste Spring Break
Read the full story from Rural Action.
Ohio University students who participated in the Beyond Athens alternative spring break trip didn’t anticipate how much the trip would change their perspective on waste in Appalachian Ohio. What Ohio University Senior Allison Hight learned during this experience, however, was that small improvements, such as cleaning a dump site, are integral to tackling broader social, economic, and environmental change.
Rural Action partnered with the Ohio University Campus Involvement Center and United Campus Ministries (UCM) to lead students on various service learning opportunities throughout Athens, Hocking, Perry, and Vinton counties from March 6th to March 9th. As part of the trip’s programming, the AOZWI organized a cleanup of an illegal dumpsite across from Iron Point Cemetery in Shawnee and facilitated a zero waste journaling project throughout the week.
P&G Achieves Zero Waste at 45 Sites
Read the full story at Environmental Leader.
Procter & Gamble today announced that 45 of its facilities have achieved zero manufacturing waste to landfill.
The consumer goods company has set a goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2020.
P&G announced its first zero manufacturing waste to landfill site in Budapest in 2007. Through quality assurance, packaging reduction, compaction and recycling efforts, the company says 99 percent of all materials entering P&G plants leaves as finished product or is recycled, reused or converted to energy. Diverting its waste streams away from landfill has created more than $1 billion in value for the company, P&G says.
Appalachian begins “zero waste” commitment
Read the full story from Appalachian State University.
A “zero waste” commitment has begun at Appalachian State University with the goal of diverting 90 percent of all waste from landfill disposal by 2022. The university currently diverts 40 percent of its waste annually from a landfill by recycling, reducing and composting.
5 Simple Steps to Creating a Zero-Waste Office
Read the full story in Entrepreneur.
The average U.S. office worker generates two pounds of paper each day, according to Environmental Protection Agency. Most of that trash — 90 percent — is made up of printed materials like sales reports, project drafts, copy machine mistakes and unwanted mail.
While recycling might seem like the easy fix, Jay Coalson, executive director of the Zero Waste Alliance, a Portland-based nonprofit that helps organizations eliminate trash, champions business owners to take it further.
“I believe in no waste,” says Coalson, “Some might think it’s impossible and frankly, it is an audacious goal. But so is starting a small business and running it through a recession. Entrepreneurs are already audacious; why not use this mindset to get rid of waste and enhance your community in the process?”
Coalson says achieving zero waste is a process that takes time. He offers small-business owners these five steps to eliminate weekly trash from their workplace.
Waste Not: Approaching zero-waste in Microsoft dining facilities
Read the full story in Sustainable Industries.
At Microsoft, we have an opportunity to shift the needle on corporate sustainability practices at many levels due to our size. This extends beyond initiatives such as our carbon neutrality commitment, our work in IT efficiency and our efforts to create green data centers. This is even true in Microsoft’s dining facilities, which recently achieved the distinction of being near-zero waste by diverting 99 percent of food waste to recycling and compost.
Roundup of higher education sustainability in the Great Lakes Region
ASG’s Sustainability Committee offers free option to go green for off-campus students
Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee is offering free compact fluorescent light bulbs and water-efficient showerheads to all students living off campus.The committee launched a Facebook event this week advertising the initiative, which aims to unite Northwestern and Evanston in a push for greener living, said Mark Silberg, ASG’s associate vice president for Sustainability. He said 300 students have signed up to receive the packages so far and the first ones will be distributed this weekend in the ASG office.
Get Plugged in at Prairie State College
The Sustainability Center at Prairie State College (PSC) is excited to offer free charging to community members at the college’s newly installed Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations. The charging stations are part of the college’s strategic sustainability plan and are just one of the many initiatives PSC is implementing to green the campus and serve as a community demonstration site.
Aquinas College Zero Waste Initiative
As a part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, Aquinas College committed to becoming a zero waste to landfill campus by 2020. The Center for Sustainability and Students Striving for Sustainability (S3) are partnering to further Aquinas’ commitment to sustainability by moving forward the goal to achieve campus-wide zero municipal solid waste by 2014. A Zero Waste Team is in place to assist in educational programs concerning Aquinas’ waste streams. With collaboration of faculty, staff, and students, Aquinas will incrementally reduce our waste by 25% each semester for the next two years, by expanding campus composting and recycling efforts.
Volunteers sort compost for windrows at SAP
Grand Valley State University has begun separating its compostable waste to create windrows at the Sustainable Agriculture Project farm just outside Allendale campus and mulch for on-campus landscaping.
Columbia College Chicago Expands Compost Program
Columbia College Chicago was recently awarded a grant by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to implement a more comprehensive composting program across campus. This $5,000 grant will allow the college to reach more of the campus with the goal to divert 13 tons of food scrap waste from landfills in 2012-2013, almost double the 2011-2012 school year’s achievement of seven tons.
U Dayton Creates Exhibit to Teach Students About Water Resources
A new mobile learning studio developed by University of Dayton students puts the region’s five rivers on 18 wheels. The RiverMobile is a traveling exhibit converted from a semi-trailer that highlights the history, benefits and preservation of the Great Miami River watershed. It is the creation of students in the University’s Rivers Institute with generous support from local donors. The RiverMobile’s mission is threefold: to develop pride for the region, to provide knowledge about Dayton’s river system and water resources and to develop personal responsibility for the protection of local water resources and the environment.
London Olympics aims for a gold medal in waste recovery
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
One of the London Olympics’ sustainability goals is to send zero waste to landfill, and though that may seen like a daunting task — 2.1 million spectators attended in the first three days — it’s little different than a company going zero waste.
Why companies need composting to meet zero waste goals
Read the full post at GreenBiz.
Your organization’s best attempts to reduce the amount of food and organic waste it sends to landfill will fall short without proper employee training and highly visual educational signage, according to a panel of organics waste experts.
“This requires training and rethinking, starting in the back hallway,” said Scott Maurer, executive sous chef for Peabody Hotels, which initiated its composting program last summer in part because more event planners were requesting it.
National Zero Waste Action Conference 2012
Building Zero Waste Communities: Tools to Take Home
Rockford, IL – June 3, 2012
Register at http://www.illinoisjointconference.com/grrn-conference
Held in conjunction with the Illinois Recycling and Resource Management Annual Conference
8:45 – 10:15 Zero Waste Around the U.S: Reports from Zero Waste Communities
- Austin, TX
- San Antonio, TX
- Chicago, IL
- Logan County, OH
- Atlanta, GA
- Boulder, CO
10:45 – 12:15 Essential Elements of Zero Waste
- Zero Waste Brand, Recognition and Certification of Zero Waste Businesses, Communities & Professionals
- Producer Responsibility and Product Redesign
- End landfilling and incineration
- Building the Infrastructure Beyond Recycling
- New Rules and Economics: Policies to Incentivize Zero Waste
12:15 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:45 Organizing for Zero Waste in Your Community
- Lynne Pledger, Sierra Club Zero Waste Team, “How to Organize for Zero Waste”
- Portia Sinnott, Zero Waste Brain Trust, “E-Guide and Tools for Getting to Zero Waste”
- Paul Schultz, Dubuque, IA, “Organizing for High Waste Diversion”
1:45 – 3:30 Zero Waste in Action
- Zero Waste Plans for Communities
- Zero Waste Businesses
- Product Bans: Updates on Plastic Bag bans and Styrofoam Container bans
- Focusing first on Reduce and Reuse
- Resource Recovery Parks
3:30 – 3:45 Break
3:45 – 5:15 Tools for Moving to Zero Waste
- Resources for Zero Waste Communities
- Tools for Zero Waste & Climate Change
- Zero Waste, Economic Development and Green Jobs
- Facility Fighting- Stopping Landfills and Incinerators
- Procurement as a Tool for Zero Waste and EPR
