What are the Goals of Zero Waste?
Zero Waste is an approach to using resources more efficiently through better organization, better education and better industrial design. It’s much more than just recycling. Zero Waste seeks to avoid the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, and to conserve and recover resources.
Proponents of Zero Waste note that “waste” is not inevitable and there are environmental and economical benefits to minimizing it. They stress “reuse” over “recycling” and address resource use from the design of products, to their utilization, and finally to end-of-life product management.
Traditional production systems are one-way and linear – going from the extraction of resources, manufacturing of goods, product use and then ultimate disposal. Zero Waste seeks to redesign our systems to be cyclical, so there is no such thing as “waste”, products have longer lives, and discards are either designed out completely or fed back into the production cycle as raw material.
We can all live this way through small shifts in our mindset and daily activities. The alarming evidence of the effects that our throw-away culture is having on the natural world suggest that we should rethink the way we purchase and consume.
A Zero Waste Solution For Cups and Bottles
Steelys® provide corporate and institutional buyers with Zero Waste alternatives to the billions of disposable cup and bottles sent to landfills each year.
Steelys® are made with strong, lightweight, food-grade stainless steel that is completely non-toxic and can be reused for a lifetime. Our products are designed to stay out of the waste stream, they can be passed forward to others, or fully recycled at the end of their useful life.
Definition of Zero Waste
The Zero Waste International Alliance offers this definition of Zero Waste: Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.top
Zero Waste Video
The non-profit organization Eco-Cycle has created a useful and informative video that provides an in-depth look at the concept of Zero Waste. View the Zero Waste video.top
Additional Zero Waste Related Links
The following organizations provide more detailed information about Zero Waste:
