ZERO WASTE

The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.

CRADLE TO CRADLE

Focuses on designing industrial systems so that materials flow in closed-loop cycles which mean that waste is minimized, and waste products can be recycled and reused. Cradle-to-cradle simply goes beyond dealing with issues of waste after it has been created, by addressing problems at the source and by re-defining problems by focusing on design.  The cradle-to-cradle model is sustainable and considerate of life and future generations.

The cradle-to-cradle framework has evolved steadily from theory to practice. In the industrial sector, it is creating a new notion of materials and material flows. Just as in the natural world, in which one organism’s ‘waste’, cycles through an ecosystem to provide nourishment for other living things, cradle-to-cradle materials circulate in closed-loop cycles, providing nutrients for nature or industry.

BENEFITS

Zero waste promotes not only reuse and recycling but, more importantly, it promotes prevention and product designs that consider the entire product life cycle.  Zero waste designs strive for reduced materials use, use of recycled materials, use of more benign materials, longer product lives, reparability, and ease of disassembly at end of life.  Zero waste strongly supports sustainability by protecting the environment, reducing costs and producing additional jobs in the management and handling of wastes back into the industrial cycle.  A Zero waste strategy may be applied to businesses, communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes.

Benefits proposed include:

  • Saving money. Since waste is a sign of inefficiency, the reduction of waste can reduce costs.

  • Faster Progress. A zero waste strategy improves upon production processes and improving environmental prevention strategies which can lead to take larger, more innovative steps.

  • Supports sustainability. A zero waste strategy supports all three of the generally accepted goals of sustainability - economic well-being, environmental protection, and social well-being.

  • Improved material flows. A zero waste strategy would use far fewer new raw materials and send no waste materials to landfills. Any material waste would either return as reusable or recycled materials or would be suitable for use as compost