All Hands On Deck! Who Is Responsible for Targeting Zero Waste Goals?

Everyone has an important role in sustainability.The Zero Waste International Alliance‘s (ZWIA) principles explain:

Engage the whole community.

It is important not to leave Zero Waste to “waste experts.” Many different skills need to be deployed in the movement towards Zero Waste and sustainability. Everyone has a role to play. Citizens or communities need to take the leadership role in organizing meetings to engage all sectors of the community. All organizations (nongovernmental organizations, grassroots movements, business and governmental) that provide waste reduction, takeback, reuse, recycling and composting services should be involved in order to achieve Zero Waste. All of these groups and individuals should be challenged to pursue Zero Waste at home, at school, at university, at work and at play, while their communities develop longer term policies and programs for the entire community. Existing service providers should be asked to adopt Zero Waste as a goal and seize the opportunities to reduce waste, provide takeback services to local manufacturers and retailers, and to help communities and businesses get to Zero Waste. The communication with all sectors of the community should be permanent, in all planning and implementation phases of the Zero Waste plan. Read more about ZWIA principles & standards here

See also: Zero Waste Definition; What Is the Zero Waste School Initiative?  Zero Waste & Equity