1. What is Zero Waste all about? Sue Maxwell Ecoinspire SIWMA conference 2013

2. Outline  Zero waste –what it is  Zero Waste –why  Why Incineration is not a solution  Approach to Zero Waste  Change 2

3. Zero Waste  A goal that guides people in changing their practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles in which all discarded materials become resources for others. Zero Waste means:  Designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials.  Conserving and recovering all resources - not burning or burying them  Eliminating all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health. (ZWIA definition) 3

4. Zero Waste  No waste to be burned or buried  Design principle  Target  Emulate nature –cycling materials as resources 4

5. Zero Waste System 5 Courtesy: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Art –Sam Bradd

6. Why is Zero Waste important 6

7. Global Footprint 7 Living Planet Report 2012

8. Rate of consumption 8 Braungart & Scheelhaase -Catalyst Design Feb 2010

9. Climate change 9 BC Government

10. Climate change  US EPA study 37% of impact from products 10 Stolaroff, 2009, Product Policy Institute

11. new report at www.policyalternatives.ca/zero-waste Need for jobs  up to 7000 new green jobs if recycled all waste  more if refurbished and repaired items 11

12. Economics  Materials scarcer  Cheap energy scarcer  Manufacturing returning to NA  Landfills filling and hard to site new ones  Increasing standards and regulation 12

13. Zero Waste Index  zero depletion of natural resources  San Francisco 609 kg/capita  Stockholm 480 kg/capita  San Francisco 0.51 (half material recovered)  Stockholm 0.17 (loss through incineration) Zaman & Lehmann (2013 Journal of Cleaner Production) 13

14. Incineration  thermal treatment of waste  waste to energy  mass burn  plasma arc  gasification 14

15. GHG 15 Stop Trashing the Climate Report Biogenic CO 2 per MWh

16. Energy value Metro Vancouver study 2007 16 Material Energy (GJ/t) Plastics36.8 Paper16.5 Organics8.9 Metals0.7 Glass0.2

17. Energy value 17 Source: Dr. Jeff Morris Energy savings

18. Pollution  all atoms that go in will come out –air or ash  meets standards but standards keep changing as knowledge advances  testing? –occasional or cumulative  Precautionary Principle 18 Table 24 –MOE Draft ZW Business Case

19. Other concerns  Health –EU doctors, cancer, birth defects  Expensive  $470 million to build, consultants, staff, upgrades  opportunity cost for what else could have been done  Competes with Zero Waste  looks for the same materials  needs to run at maximum efficiency  competes for funding and government support 19

20. Still need for landfills  ash - up to 30% by weight  more toxic  ash issues 20

21. European direction  Sweden importing waste  Environment Commissioner –”Good waste management needs good will and good organisation: "zero waste" is completely possible”  looking at banning incineration of recyclables and compostables by 2020 21

22. Why choose zero waste 22 MeasureIncineratio n LandfillZero Waste Landfills filling--+ Soil depletion--+ Resource depletion---+ Climate Change--+ Flexible, resilient---+ Capacity building--+ Jobs00+ Human Health---+ Ecosystem Health---+ Not reliant on wasting---+

23. What is in our waste? 23

24. Canada –wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility By 2015By 2017 Packaging and print materialsConstruction and demolition Electronics and electrical productsFurniture Mercury-containingTextiles/carpet Household hazardous wasteAppliances (ozone –depleting) Automotive products 24

25. City of Vancouver Approach 25 Systems approach City of Vancouver

26. Pollution Prevention Hierarchy Rethink Reduce Reuse Recycle Recover Retain 26

27. ZWIA hierarchy  Reduce and conserve materials  Encourage cyclical use/shift incentives  Manufacturers redesign/takeback  Reuse  Recycle or compost  Regulate disposal (bans, biological energy, landfills with preprocessing)  Not Acceptable: burning MSW, bioreactor landfills (ZWIA, www.zwia.org/standards/zero-waste-hierarchy/, March 2013) 27

28. How do we get there?  Composting  Extended Producer Responsibility  Design for the Environment  Service, not good  Community-based social marketing =changing behaviour and thought patterns 28

29. Change 29

30. 30 Sue Maxwell Ecoinspire susanmaxwell@shaw.ca

31. Sources  Metro Vancouver Solid Waste Composition Study 2007http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/SolidWasteCompositi onStudyFinal-2007.pdfhttp://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/SolidWasteCompositi onStudyFinal-2007.pdf  City of Vancouver Greenest City  Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (2009) Canada Wide Action Plan for EPR http://www.ccme.ca/assets/pdf/epr_cap.pdf http://www.ccme.ca/assets/pdf/epr_cap.pdf  Stop Trashing the Climate http://stoptrashingtheclimate.orghttp://stoptrashingtheclimate.org  Methodology for Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic and Non-Biogenic Energy - EIA for US EPA  Competition between Recycling and Incineration. Dr. Jeff Morris. http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Recycling-And-Incineration.htm http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Recycling-And-Incineration.htm  What’s best to do with leftovers on the way to zero waste. J. Morris, E. Favoino, E. Lombardi, K Bailey http://www.ecocycle.org/specialreports#leftovershttp://www.ecocycle.org/specialreports#leftovers  Closing the Loop – M. Lee, R. Legg, S. Maxwell, W. Rees http://www.policyalternatives.ca/zero-waste http://www.policyalternatives.ca/zero-waste  Federal Court Strikes Down EPA’s Biomass Pollution Loophole http://ecowatch.com/2013/court-strikes-down-epa-biomass-loophole/ http://ecowatch.com/2013/court-strikes-down-epa-biomass-loophole/  Cancer mortality in towns in the vicinity of incinerators and installations for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste. Javier Garcia-Perez a,b,, Pablo Fernandez-Navarro a,b, Adela Castello a, Maria Felicitas Lopez-Cima a,b, Rebeca Ramis a,b, Elena Boldo a,b, Gonzalo Lopez-Abente a,b  The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators -British Society for Ecological Medicine www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/waste/Health_Effects_of_Incinerators.pdf www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/waste/Health_Effects_of_Incinerators.pdf  Zaman and Lehmann (2013) Journal of Cleaner Production http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/324na3.pdf  Zero Waste Business case (draft) MOE 2013 www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/mun-waste/waste- solid/docs/zero_waste_business_case_draft.pdf)  Zero Waste Europe Principles http://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/wp- content/uploads/2013/09/Introducing-ZWE-The-main-principles.pdf 31

32. Zero Waste Europe  Culture change  Engage the communities  Infrastructure change  Waste prevention  Separate collection  reduction of residual  Industrial responsibility  Kerbside collection  Price Incentives 32

33. What to do with what’s left?  Life Cycle Analysis comparing Mechanical Recovery with Biological Treatment, with landfill with varying levels of gas capture and waste to energy 33 Morris, Favoino, Lombardi & Bailey

34. ZW -examples  Individuals – Clean Bin Project  Multi-family –Quayside Village  Community–Strathcona Zero Waste Community Challenge  Municipal governments –San Francisco, Cappanori  Regional Districts –Nanaimo –has extensive recycling and composting  Business –MEC, Toyota Vancouver Parts Dept  Industry –Epson, HP, Xerox 34

35. GHG perspective  2010 landfill emissions 2409 tCO 2 e  2011 waste transport emissions 365 tCO 2 e  2006 landfill emissions over 22, 000 tCO 2 e and then started landfill gas capture  methane is 25 x CO 2  methane comes from organic matter breaking down without oxygen 35