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Moving closer to zero-waste?

Encouraging signs are emerging this week up and down the Coast as community groups and political leaders continue to move towards the goal of a truly zero-waste community.

Zero waste and recycling are quite possibly the hottest and, at times, most controversial topics this Coast has faced in recent years.

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on what zero-waste means.

A quick Google search brought about this definition: “Zero waste is a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st century. It includes recycling but goes beyond recycling by taking a whole system approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society. Zero waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.”

These are lofty goals, but certainly goals that are achievable if we all work together.

Are we doing everything right? Certainly not, but we’re not doing everything wrong either.

Case in point: the technical design team for the Pender Harbour resource facility met for two days putting into place the “broad strokes” for what the new facility should be and how it should work.

There has been some doubt in Pender Harbour whether the resource facility would happen, but the 12-member volunteer design team worked together with credible facilitators to come up with a vast amount of information that the regional district will use going forward in making their decisions. Facilitator Brock Macdonald from the Recycling Council of B.C. commended the team for their positive attitude and willingness to work together.

And working together is the philosophy of the Festival of the Written Arts — they hope to achieve an almost zero-waste event with a minimum of garbage. Gone are the plastic water bottles. All plates, cutlery and products people use for refreshments this year will be compostable products. Festival organizers are encouraging folks to bring their own water bottles and coffee mugs — all in the hopes that the festival will produce only two bags of garbage.

Kudos to festival organizers for their initiative. We have to continue to think outside the box, with ideas such as this, continue to work together and continue to have zero-waste goals in mind in everything we do. We’ve taken some positive steps in the right direction. Let us make sure we continue this momentum moving forward.

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