Connett P. The Zero Waste Solution: Untrashing the Planet One Community at a Time

Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013. - 396 P.Waste is something we all make every day but often pay little attention to. That's changing, and model programs around the globe show the many different ways a community can strive for, and achieve, zero-waste status.
Scientist-turned-activist Paul Connett, a leading international figure in decades-long battles to fight pollution, has championed efforts to curtail overconsumption and keep industrial toxins out of our air and drinking water and bodies. But he’s best known around the world for leading efforts to help communities deal with their waste in sustainable ways-in other words, to eliminate and reuse waste rather than burn it or stow it away in landfills.
In The Zero Waste Solution, Connett profiles the most successful zero-waste initiatives around the world, showing activists, planners, and entrepreneurs how to re-envision their community’s waste-handling process-by consuming less, turning organic waste into compost, recycling, reusing other waste, demanding nonwasteful product design, and creating jobs and bringing community members together in the process. The book also exposes the greenwashing behind renewed efforts to promote waste incinerators as safe, nontoxic energy suppliers, and gives detailed information on how communities can battle incineration projects that, even at their best, emit dangerous particles into the atmosphere, many of which remain unregulated or poorly regulated.
An important toolkit for anyone interested in creating sustainable communities, generating secure local jobs, and keeping toxic alternatives at bay.ForewordZero Waste Philosophy, Practicalities, Obstacles, and History
The Big Picture
Ten Steps Toward a Zero Waste Community
A Brief History of the Anti-Incineration Movement
Incineration: The Biggest Obstacle to Zero Waste
The Early History of Zero Waste
Zero Waste Initiatives Around the World
The United States
Italy
Australia and New Zealand
Canada
Beyond Italy: Other Initiatives in Europe
India, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan
Bahrain, Egypt, and Lebanon
South America
Different Perspectives on Zero Waste
Zero Waste and the Local Economy by Neil Seldman
Waste Isn’t Waste Until It’s Wasted by Daniel Knapp and Mary Lou Van Deventer
Waste Is a Social Issue First, a Market Issue Second by Eric Lombardi
Gibsons Resource Recovery Center: Zero Waste from the Bottom Up by Buddy Boyd
Multimaterial Curbside Recycling and Producer Responsibility by Helen Spiegelman
Producer Responsibility, the Cornerstone of Zero Waste: Trends in the United States by Bill Sheehan
Together at Last: Extended Producer Responsibility and Total Recycling by Daniel Knapp
The Economics of Zero Waste by Jeffrey Morris
Businesses Are Leading the Way to Zero Waste by Gary Liss
The Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA): A Chronology by Richard Anthony
Response to the Ten Different Views of Zero Waste
Conclusion: The Fightback for the Future
Appendix A: Sample Questions for Incinerator Hearings
Appendix B: A Chronology of Zero Waste and Related Events
Notes
Resources