Thinking for the Future:

The Possibility of Zero Waste
in the Regional District of Nanaimo

What is Zero Waste?

At its root, zero waste means a return to a way of life that is more in tune with the natural cycles of the planet. It recognizes humanity’s role as the only species that creates wastes that cannot be assimilated back into the ecosystem in a beneficial, or at least benign, way.

Zero Waste is also a component of a sustainable way of life. As discussed in relation to the ecological footprint idea, each person requires a certain amount of the earth’s area to absorb the waste they create. At this point, we are failing to limit ourselves to any plausible amount of resources or space, and our wastes are not being utilized in any beneficial way. We continue to consume new materials without making use of those that are already in our possession. This creates a one-way journey through the production system, where we extract raw resources and discard them without thought.

So, as a concept, zero waste extends beyond the boundaries of zero garbage. It requires us to make use of everything we have at our disposal, while having the minimum possible impact on our surrounding environment. It asks us to create zero pollution, zero damage, and zero discards while conserving our resources.

Ideally this means that everything our society creates would be used to its full capacity. The term "disposable" would no longer exist, and once the durable products we use reached the end of their lifecycle, their components would be returned to the manufacturing process as recycled feedstock again and again.

The field of waste management would no longer exist, and our focus would instead be on resource management. With the end of our current economic model, in which growth and progress is measured in terms of production and GNP with no account taken of ecological or social impacts, our society would move towards a more service-based economy. This would allow for greater employment opportunities and local self-reliance.

However, such a utopian view is far from reach at this point. Not only does it demand a complete turn-around of our systems of production, it would require a shift in the very mentality of our consumption-driven culture. No system can be implemented which alienates industry, decision makers, and the public. Thus, we find ourselves needing to redefine zero waste in practical terms, as a goal rather than an absolute.

In order to gain support and understanding, the movement must be couched in terms that are pro-business and development. Zero waste will be defined as 100% efficiency instead of zero garbage, and we will strive to minimize the amount of material that enters the waste stream. (For an exploration of the relative importance of different waste reduction methods, see appendix 2: A New Hierarchy)

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