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Don't Waste Your Breath
"Zero Waste? Impossible," you may
say. And Zero Waste is inconceivable when the problem is pictured as a
big pile of garbage and the solution is to -- somehow -- get rid of it.
The possibilities seem difficult, expensive and far away.
Erase that pile of garbage and
create a new picture: one of minerals and ore, forests and crops rivers
and land and the brand new useful products that garbage was made from before
we mixed it together. When we turn the definition of garbage on its end
and look at what it was made of, the challenge changes form: how will we
preserve and manage under-used resources, not how will we get rid of them.
The path to zero waste is not
just more recycling of trash. It is to extract the maximum usefulness out
of all the energy and resources we use, because waste occurs when we don't
use resources efficiently. An executive from Dupont illustrates "Every
time we eliminate a pound of waste it will most likely end up in a product."
This is not a strategy of getting rid of or recycling waste but of using
resources to their full potential so waste is not created in the first
place (Which is just another way of illustrating why we should reduce and
reuse before we recycle.)
Unfortunately government subsidies
for extracting resources are a lucrative reward for inefficiency (i.e.
waste). When we thought coal oil and timber were unlimited, government
created incentives to maximize development of coal, oil and timber industries.
When we thought ecosystems had unlimited ability to absorb the effects
of pollution and depletion, industry didn't give a thought to) the impacts
of extraction. As a result the federal government sells timber, mineral
rights and electricity not just below market value, but actually lower
than taxpayers costs for building logging toads and producing power. So
taxpayers subsidize businesses that squander resources instead of businesses
that create lots of jobs.
Not only do we subsidize resource
consumption, we subsidize waste disposal as well making it too cheap to
dump under-utilized resources before their time. If consumers and manufacturers
paid the true cost of disposal, they would be even more motivated to keep
these materials out of the waste stream.
Ironically the pollution and
destruction from subsidized logging, mining and waste disposal is often
cleaned up at taxpayer expense, insulating those who profit and benefit
from the resources / products from he full costs of their activities. Those
costs are always passed on to others who may or may not benefit from these
activities. Of course there will never be an economic incentive to preserve
the environment if those who destroy profit, while others pay.
So we are wasting our breath
talking about zero waste while we're paying others 1) to use up the resources
2) to collect their waste below cost and then 3) to clean up the mess they
make in the course of making a profit. The biggest roadblock to zero
waste is that there is very little economic incentive to do the right thing.
When we make it profitable to eliminate waste, everyone will scramble to
do it.
We know that being more efficient
makes sense. Logically it is in everyone's best interest to protect the
environment since in the long run our jobs profits and quality of life
depend on it. So how can we make zero waste and resource conservation a
reality?
Zero Waste -- or something pretty
darn close to it - requires an economic system that rewards
people and businesses for doing what is right: reduction,
reuse and source separated recycling to maximize resource efficiency
and reduce waste. So we need a tax system that encourages us to use what
is plentiful -labor and imagination -- and conserve what is finite -- irreplaceable
natural systems. Zero waste means jobs instead of waste and pollution.
The result directs economic
activity and tax benefits away from things we don't want, like acid rain,
contaminated drinking water, topsoil erosion, damaged fisheries,
toxic dumping and polluted rivers, so we can encourage things we do want,
like jobs, services, clean water, renewable energy, quality long lasting
products and a healthy planet.
Linda Christopher
"We seem to believe we can got everything we need
from the supermarket and corner drugstore. We don't understand that everything
has a source in the land or sea, and that we must respect these resources."--
Thor Heyerdahl