Zero Waste Takes The Stage

We were honored to present a panel of illustrious experts on Zero Waste—the issues, the challenges, the solutions—at the Delaware County Institute of Science on April 17th, 2023. The event was recorded by the Institute so you can revisit the talks here. But this will give you a brief synopsis of the evening.

What is Zero Waste

Alex is on the board of the Alliance of Mission Based Recyclers (AMBR) and is also the Director of Strategy and Business Development for Recycle Ann Arbor where is working to implement a city-wide immersive reuse system for food packaging and to-go containers. He shared about AMBR’s work, including this short film about how plastics trash recycling.

Alex gave this definition of Zero Waste, from the Zero Waste International Alliance: “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning, and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.” He also discussed the Zero Waste pyramid which expands on the notion of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. At the top of this hierarchy is Rethink/Redesign. In other words, the best way to avoid waste is to not produce it in the first place—coming up with alternative designs and materials that are easily biodegradable, reusable, repairable, or returnable—rather than something which will just be trashed. Another crucial issue he raised was waste incineration. Alex shared this report on how better waste management is critical to curbing climate change, from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).

The Problem with Plastics

This is the first of its kind study on microplastics in Pennsylvania’s cleanest, most ecologically important streams. Faran took us through the current state of microplastics in our environment. Plastics don’t break down, they break up, into smaller and smaller pieces which then spread everywhere in our environment, in our water, in our food, and eventually in the bodies of all living things. To learn more about how to pass a single-use plastic ban in your community, check out this toolkit from PennEnvironment, or contact Faran directly.

Producer Responsibility and the Circular Economy

She is also an organizer with Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL pronounced “Circle”) which is fighting to end trash incineration in the City of Chester. It advocates for clean air and Zero Waste goals across Delco and the region. Erica has researched what’s known as Producer Responsibility; how manufacturers that produce items designed to be trashed should be held responsible for cleaning up that trash. The ultimate goal is to produce a Circular Economy, where everything that is produced, is designed to be recovered and reused so that all forms of waste are put to use and new resources need not be manufactured from new materials.

What’s Happening in Delaware County

Prior to accepting the role in the Office of Sustainability, Becca was actively involved with the Delaware County Sustainability Commission serving as a municipal representative for 2 1/2 years. Besides her work with the Delco Sustainability Plan, she is organizing a Keep Delco Beautiful Advisory Committee, in affiliation with Keep PA Beautiful, to assist in planning our 5+ events each year centered around cleaning litter, reducing waste, and providing education. If interested or know someone who is, please email Becca.

Her current role is to collect, organize and make sense of the reams of data and analysis that are going into the Delco Sustainability Plan. The Plan has six interrelated focus areas: Climate Resilience, Natural Resources, Health and Wellbeing, Energy and Efficiencies, Transportation, and Zero Waste. Becca brought us up to date with the work already being done at the County level to make the County buildings shining examples of how to go Zero Waste. Learn all about the Plan at the June 8th Conference at Widener University: register here! Becca shared her presentation slides, which you can view here.

What’s Happening in Media Borough

Karen has also worked extensively on the Borough Recycling program for both residents and businesses. She closed out our panel presentations with the two delightful composting videos, created for the Borough by resident film maker, Rich Hoffmann: Gotta Getta Bucket and Eureka, Black Gold!

What’s Next

Governments need to create legislation and facilities that encourages reuse, return, and recapture of materials at the end of their life. Individuals need to rethink what they buy and consider what alternatives they can find that are less wasteful—or consider not buying it at all. Get what you need from a FreeStore or a Buy Nothing group.

Use every item multiple times. If you no longer need or want it, consider repurposing it for another use or donate it so that someone else can use it. If it breaks, see if you can repair it. Compost your food and yard waste so that it creates new soil rather than creating methane and other toxic gases in a landfill or incinerator. Buy from stores that use little packaging or speak to the manager about providing less packaging. Work with your local government to make it easier for others to reduce their waste so that the power of community can multiply your efforts.