FIVE KEY STEPS TO START A ZERO WASTE PROGRAM

Our friends at Zabble have put together a concise summary of the strategic moves that really help a zero waste program succeed at your company.  As a wise person once said -
​“How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”

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Microsoft Uses an Old Idea to Get to 90% Waste Reduction

Dispose only that which is broken is not a new idea, but it takes designing for repair and reuse and implementing a process for salvaging usable parts from non-functional products.  

​Check out the “Circular Centers” Microsoft is running on their campuses, taking the rework shop or repair cafe up a notch!

Material Reuse DOES HAVE Its Hazards

We're all about Reuse here at WasteCap, so we've learned our fair share of lessons.  GreenBiz has put together a great summary of some of those hazards, but it misses a major one: chemical ingredients. 

When sourcing materials from aggregated recyclate, you risk an unknown chemical soup going into your new product.  Seeing as product ingredient disclosure is a rapidly growing concern, the push for healthier products is making more sustainable products difficult to market.  We see an even greater need now to design for reuse, and consider using as few chemical additives as possible in any product meant to be recycled or reused.

Potential Hazards of Reuse

RESOURCES TO PUSH Enhanced Producer Responsibility

Placing the responsibility to recycle entirely on the user only gets us part of the way towards a circular economy.  Market forces aren’t enough to make producers consider their material choices, and so many locales are turning to EPR regulations as a way to hold producers accountable for the products they put into the market

For EPR to work, though, it has to be done right.  Some of our current programs simply end up as a mandated upcharge that producers simply pocket with no actual requirement to reduce waste.  Others have worked as intended for decades, like the bottle and can deposits requirements.  More needs to be done.  If you want to see more corporate responsibility, these resources can help you convince your state politicians to keep us moving forward.

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