Waste Team Philosophy
What is Waste?
Waste can mean many things, from something that we don’t want, to the by-product of a consumer society, to the consequence of poorly designed products or systems.
We’ll dive deeper into a few topics that fall under the discipline of waste.
Waste Is: Garbage and Recycling
In Metro Vancouver, waste is the sum total of what we dispose of in landfills and incinerators, as well as the amount of recycling we create. The below chart shows Metro Vancouver’s waste divided by the total population to get our yearly Tonnes per Capita rate.
Total Waste Generated per Capita for Metro Vancouver (1994 - 2018)
Source (Page 9), Metro Vancouver.
Waste Is: Waste Management
Waste can be seen as the impacts on the people who don’t share the same access to waste management resources, as we have in North America.
Tracking Electronic Waste Recycling to Impoverished Nations
Source, The Intercept.
Waste Is: Economic Opportunity
Waste can be seen as the opportunity to redefine our economy in a finite world to reuse products and eliminate single-use items.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy Infographic
Waste Is: Climate Impacts
Waste can be seen as the excessive amount of carbon dioxide pollution entering our planet’s atmosphere, impacting climate change and everything single human on the planet.
Source, DeSmog Blog.
What is Zero Waste?
We see waste as a major ecological, social and economic issue and want to work towards generating less of it. This is popularly known as Zero Waste.
Zero Waste has many meanings.
- “Diverting waste from landfill.” – City of Vancouver
- “Simply put, ‘lighter living’ is living well and fairly within our ecological means.” – Vancity’s Lighter Living
- “Zero Waste: The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.” – Zero Waste International Alliance
To us at the Waste Team, Zero Waste is about creating a community by fostering projects and enabling the use of practical tools to help you reduce and prevent unwanted or unnecessary consumption of food and stuff. Ultimately, these actions reduce the amount of carbon pollution that is contributing to climate change.