Zero Waste Challenge Workshop

I attended the Zero Waste Challenge workshop held by the GVRD yesterday. The workshop was very informative specially for me, someone with no background in waste management. I am going to briefly talk about some facts I found interesting and educational. Some of you may already know all these.

• The plan is not to manage waste, but to prevent it.
• Some GVRD municipalities do not have a recycling program.
• As population increases, the amount of waste produced increases.
• Residents and businesses in the Lower Mainland generate 3 million tonnes of garbage and recyclables every year. There are obviously economical and environmental costs to deal with this huge amount of waste. Therefore, reduction of this -also called solid waste- is very important.
• Each year, approximately 20,000 tonnes of televisions and computer products end up in Greater Vancouver disposal facilities.
• "Zero Waste" has already been in place in San Francisco. The goal is to have zero waste by 2020, and successfully the rate of diversion rate has been 69% by 2005.
• GVRD is saying that if they did it, and are doing it in San Francisco, we can do it too.
• GVRD has established two main goals and is still working on the implementation steps to reach those goals;
• Goal 1: Minimize waste generation
• Goal 2: Maximize reuse, recycling, and energy recovery
  

Initial Thoughts...

I happened to see " Zero Waste", while I was surfing the net.
I dont really have a stand point about it, just yet, but this is the area I am going to be looking at...