Regional Zero Waste Collaborative

Comment

Comment by jeri leigh siss on December 18, 2009 at 10:58am

Hey all,
I came across this and was not sure if it would be of value to the group/city/etc. Thought I would pass along anyway.

ICLEI's Sustainability Planning Toolkit, based on the model pioneered by City of New York's PlaNYC, contains comprehensive, step-by-step guidance to develop a sustainability plan for cities, towns, and counties of all sizes. It follows a proven, straightforward, and flexible process to create a successful, long-term plan that brings together environmental, economic, and social initiatives under one holistic vision to improve the livability of communities and create lasting benefits.

http://www.icleiusa.org/sustainabilitytoolkit

Comment by jeri leigh siss on December 1, 2009 at 12:51pm

The EPA food waste management calculator is now available

This tool can be downloaded as an .xls document and seems like it might be really helpful with costing food service and food waste management!

Comment by Ed D'Amato on September 18, 2009 at 2:44pm

Achieving Zero Waste in the US would result in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to closing 21% of our coal fired power plants, according to a UN study:

Executive Summary of UN study showing the climate benefits of achieving zero waste:
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/stoptrashingtheclimate_exsum_lowres.pdf

Full study here:
http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/

Also: Going Zero Waste creates jobs:

USEPA's US Recycling Economic Information Project:
http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/rrr/rmd/rei-rw/index.htm

Includes a study commissioned by USEPA on the economic impacts of recycling on the economy and jobs. The study's methodology is posted on the site as well.

The job numbers I posted from yesterday are from the Institute for Local Self Reliance, Waste to Wealth Program:
http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html

Comment by Ed D'Amato on September 17, 2009 at 2:11pm

Forgot to add this...

Interesting statistic from one of the presenters in the webinar...

Jobs created by managing 10,000 lbs of a waste material:

Landfill: 1
Compost: 4
Recycle: 10
Re-Use: 75-250

Comment by Ed D'Amato on September 17, 2009 at 2:08pm

if you couldn't participate in the USEPA Webinar today: Vision for a Zero Waste America, you can view all of the powerpoint presentations here:
http://www.epa.gov/waste/rcc/web-academy/2009/sep09.htm