The city of Boise has started to implement a zero waste policy for the local government activities, and it hopes to extend it to all local business as well.
What is Zero Waste?
Zero Waste is a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st Century. It includes ‘recycling’ but goes beyond recycling by taking a ‘whole system’ approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society. Zero Waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures a greener society.
What is the Circular Economy?
A lot of people credit Bea Johnson from Zero Waste Home with “inventing” zero waste. While she certainly popularized it as an at home lifestyle, the term was first used in the 1970s by Paul Palmer as an industrial term.
Generally, Zero Waste is a philosophy of eliminating the generation of materials that have no viable or economic option for end-of-use management. In reality, there are varying interpretations for when and if it can be achieved. Does zero waste really mean zero waste?
Zero waste seeks to combat this disposable mindset by returning to a more simple and sustainable way of life as our ancestors used to enjoy. The zero waste movement is not a destination but a journey. And this particular journey isn’t about perfection but about striving to get as close to ‘0’ as possible and minimizing our waste stream.
Going Zero Waste
Going Zero Waste is dedicated to bringing you tested and tried zero waste recipes to help you clean your house, shake up your beauty routine, or get dinner on the table quicker. You will find practical tips that break zero waste living down into an easy step-by-step process. Most importantly, you will find a place of community and support wether you’ve just started going zero waste or you’re a veteran.
A zero waste lifestyle means adopting steps to reduce your personal waste and minimize your environmental impact.
The Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) defines it as follows : Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are avoided.
Zero Waste is about cleaner, greener streets and helping to create a community we can all be proud of. The kind of community we all want to live in. The pioneering project is community-led and run by Changeworks. They work with local partners and our team of volunteers to support residents, community groups, schools and businesses.
It is a whole systems approach that aims for a massive change in the way materials flow through society, resulting in no waste. Zero waste encompasses more than eliminating waste through recycling and reuse, it focuses on restructuring production and distribution systems to reduce waste.
A zero waste lifestyle means adopting steps to reduce your personal waste and minimize your environmental impact. The goal of zero waste is to send nothing to the ID landfills or an incinerator. We want nothing more from our clients other than their trust and complete satisfaction.
Zero Waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary, to guide people to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them.
Zero Waste is a holistic approach to addressing the problem of unsustainable resource flows. Zero Waste encompasses waste eliminated at the source through product design and producer responsibility, and waste reduction strategies further down the supply chain such as recycling, reuse and composting.