Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 7: The question of <strong>the</strong> futureBox 23: Citizens’ agenda for zero wasteThe ‘Citizens’ Agenda for Zero Waste’ emerged from “decades of opposing landfillsand incinerators and promoting recycling”, say Paul Connett and Bill Sheehan. Thezero waste movement presents a raft of alternatives to current waste management.At its centre is <strong>the</strong> conviction that “our current industrial system and throwawaysociety is based on <strong>the</strong> one-way flow of virgin resources to polluting dumps andincinerators … We need to reconfigure our one-way industrial system into acircular, closed-loop system, recycling discarded resources from communities backto industries, both new and old.”While in practice <strong>the</strong> citizens’ zero waste agenda mostly focuses on reduction of <strong>the</strong>waste stream, recycling and reuse, it also argues that “[c]ommunities cannot solve<strong>the</strong> trash problem alone and should not be forced to clean up after irresponsibleindustries.”Zero waste activists have developed <strong>the</strong>ir own categories for analysing <strong>the</strong> wastestream: avoidables, reusables, compostables, recyclables, toxic materials, and redesignables.Each of <strong>the</strong>se categories calls for different strategies: from dealing with<strong>the</strong> immediate waste stream in creative ways, to activism that forces retailers orproducers to take back <strong>the</strong> unrecyclables and redesign or remove <strong>the</strong> re-designables<strong>the</strong>y are responsible for. Tactics extend to take-back campaigns and shaming <strong>the</strong>producers of toxic waste and “silly” throw-away and fake convenience packaging.In Halifax, Canada, citizen groups opposed a council plan to expand <strong>the</strong> dumpas well as its alternative proposal for incineration. The council finally accepted <strong>the</strong>citizens’ plan for intensive recycling and, with active people’s participation, achieveda 50% reduction in municipal waste in just five years with more since. O<strong>the</strong>r northAmerican towns are also achieving major reductions and setting up recycling, fixingand re-use centres which have created permanent jobs and produced re-use goodsincluding fridges, computers, bicycles and furniture.Source: Paul Connett and Bill Sheehan 2001: A Citizens’ Agenda for Zero Waste accessible athttp://www.grrn.org/zerowaste/community/activist/citizens_agenda_4_zw.html.- 186 - groundWork - <strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>