Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Nantucket Nearly Waste Free — There once was a place called Nantucket that grew tired of the old adage “chuck it.” All the residents joined in, sorting waste by the bin, and save resources now by the bucket! It wasn’t all fun and limericks along Nantucket’s journey to become the first Zero Waste community in the U.S. It all began in 1989 when this summer vacation hotspot 30 miles south of Cape Cod had a measly residential recycling rate of 7% and a leaky landfill that threatened the island’s only freshwater aquifer. Rather than choose to ship everything off the island at quadruple the existing price, residents and town officials took responsibility to manage their waste locally by mandating recycling, banning plastic and Styrofoam® packaging, and investing in construction and demolition recycling. Plus, the island invested in a facility to pre-treat all its leftover waste so any remaining materials that are landfilled will not produce greenhouse gas emissions or threaten the groundwater. Fast forward 20 years and Nantucket is on track to exceed 100% recovery thanks to efforts to mine the old landfill, pre-treat the old waste, and safely bury whatever still remains. Nantucket’s story is so much bigger than its 50 square miles—its efforts are proving Zero Waste is a real alternative to building a new landfill or incinerator and showing the world the new future of sustainable resource management.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
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