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Environmental Impact |
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In more than 300 communities nationwide, the WasteZero System has dramatically impacted residential waste diversion. A 2008 analysis of all WasteZero communities found that the WasteZero System decreased residential MSW by an average 43 percent in weight. A recent study by the US EPA of all Trash Metering municipalities shows that about one-third of diverted waste is diverted directly to recycling, about one-third is diverted to composting, and one-third is "source reduced" (buying in bulk, reduced packaging, etc.).
Less waste and more recycling mean fewer natural resources need to be extracted. Less waste also means decreased health and environmental damage from harmful toxics and lower long-run solid waste system management costs. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture, distribution, use, and subsequent disposal of products are reduced as a result of the increased recycling and waste reduction that Trash Metering encourages. In this way, Trash Metering programs such as the WasteZero System help slow the buildup of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere that leads to global climate change.
An important distinction between WasteZero and recycling programs is that recycling programs alone only encourage recycling, while the WasteZero System rewards all behaviors - recycling, composting, and source reduction - that reduce the amount of garbage thrown away. Source reduction is the cheapest waste management strategy and thus of the highest priority - and it is not directly encouraged by recycling programs.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle |
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| Recycling. Installing a unit-based trash program such as the WasteZero Trash Metering System is the single most effective change a community can make to a curbside (or drop-off) recycling program... |
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Natural Resouces |
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| By eliminating by 43 percentage the amount of MSW tonnage that gets buried or incinerated, the WasteZero System also protects invaluable, limited, and diminishing natural resources... |
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