What Does Zero Waste Mean?
Zero Waste is a simple waste-management principle: nothing should be thrown into landfills. This is the natural order of the world. Our planet does not throw dead trees into space, land or water. It breaks them down, decomposes them, and reuses the raw materials for new life. We can exist in a state of harmony like this even in the midst of a coarse capitalist, industrial society. To avoid tossing trash into landfills necessitates a whole lot more recycling. This is something we can all do today. Studies in DC (pdf) and San Francisco (pdf) show that residents in those cities are under recycling by about 20%. Improving our recycling creates a beautiful dynamic in the marketplace of trash. Cities recognize cost benefits in that selling recycling gives back money on average costing one half as much as sending trash to landfills. Business are provided with more raw materials at cheaper prices and a growing demand for more products of recycling. And, we the consumers, have an ever growing p
