What Is Zero Waste?

“Zero waste” is a concept whereby goods and materials are produced, consumed, and disposed of in environmentally friendly ways. As the name suggests, the ultimate goal of these processes is to produce no waste at all that can go into landfills or the ocean and harm the Earth.

The idea of zero waste differs from the more traditional cause of responsible recycling in that zero waste aims not to produce any materials that could harm the environment in the first place.

Let’s learn more about zero waste and what’s involved in making it a reality.

Because the zero waste cause calls for products to be sustainable from production to disposal, implementing zero waste involves the participation of multiple parties across the production cycle.

What does that mean?

• The materials used to produce goods should not be harmful to the environment
• The production should occur near the source of the materials
• The manufacture should be a closed-loop system, meaning the raw materials used should be able to be returned to the manufacturing process or else biodegrade safely
• The entire production process should not harm the Earth in any way
• The manufacture of the products should create local jobs

Those are the details of the zero waste initiative, but the big ideas are these: to use only as much as we need and reuse or recycle the waste that we don’t need.

We can just take a simple drive around town and see the types of things that get thrown away: old televisions, furniture, plastics, papers, all destined for a landfill.

But surely landfills must be safe, you might say, or else why would it be legal to send all our junk there?

Yes, we send our garbage to landfills, but landfills are definitely not the safest place for trash. Plastics and electronics and other items that don’t break down safely can ultimately seep into the soil and pollute the Earth.

Then, rain can take those toxins through the ground and end up in streams and eventually the ocean.

None of this is good news for the environment, and so enter the zero waste movement.

Now that you have a basic understanding of what zero waste means, you might be wondering how you can do your part toward achieving it.

It certainly helps to recycle your old electronics to keep their hazardous materials out of the ground. Newtech Recycling is happy to take your old devices and dispose of them the right way, erasing your personal data as we go.

Learn more about our e-waste recycling services by contacting us!

Related Terms: Electronic Recycling, TERRA, ITAD