For a long time, municipal recycling plans have focused on achieving high recycling rates and identifying additional opportunities for diversion. However, no matter how much more materials can be diverted, there is always a part of the trash that cannot be recovered and has to be buried. Landfills have had an immensely negative impact on the environment, economic well-being, and public health. With a large amount of waste generated each year, municipalities in North America are running out of landfill capacities. If people continue to send the same amount of trash to landfills, Ontario and Ottawa will reach their landfills’ capacity after 2030, and America will use up its operating facilities in 2083. Therefore, eliminating the waste sent to landfills and build a circular economy has become an urgent task. Achieving ideal diversion rates should no longer be the sole focus of municipalities.
Read more about how landfills harm our planet here.
Zero Waste is not a new concept in North America, a lot of cities have set a zero-waste goal. These cities strive to reduce their reliance on landfills and keep products and materials to the highest value. Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angels, San Francisco, and New York are the world leaders in implementing zero-waste initiatives. One project from each city’s outstanding zero-waste policies is selected and introduced below. For a complete list of zero-waste initiatives, please visit the city’s website or social media.
The City of Vancouver
Vancouver’s Zero Waste strategy
Vancouver provides waste management services to about 631,486 residents. The city increased its diversion rate by approximately 14% over the past two decades and reached 64% recently. Vancouver started to create a zero-waste plan in 2016, and the goal is to eliminate waste sent to landfills and incinerators by 2040. In order to achieve the goal, the city dedicates to fostering a zero-waste culture. For Vancouver, reducing waste is not confined by geological borders. The municipality is proactively seeking collaborative opportunities with different sectors and international communities.
Food waste in landfills not only wastes resources but also causes pollutions. Rotting food waste generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Vancouver realized that food waste is one of the biggest challenges it has to overcome to achieve zero waste. Therefore, the city partnered with an international organization, Love Food Hate Waste Canda, to launched a behaviour-change campaign to raise public awareness about saving food. At the same time, Vancouver collaborates with local businesses and non-profit organizations(NPOs) to build a food rescue and redistribution system. By saving edible food surplus from businesses, such as grocery stores, the city wants to redirect the food to NPOs and food-insecure residents. A food redistribution system helps Vancouver use surplus resources to solve the food security problem at hand.
Vancouver has other excellent zero-waste projects. Learn more about Vancouver’s plan on their website, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
The City of Montreal
According to Statistics Canada, there are about 4,098,927 people and 1,727,310 households in Montreal. On average, a Montreal resident produces 464 kilograms of waste each year, and more than half of it was sent to landfills in 2019. To solve the waste problem, Montreal designed a staged zero-waste plan. The city plans to cut 70% of the waste sent to landfills by 2025 and 85% by 2030 (Scott, 2020). The largest city in Quebec is taking strong measures to reduce waste.
Montreal’s initiative to reduce waste will target both customers and producers. For customers, the city encourages people to replace single-use plastic with reusable or compostable materials. After public consultation, Montreal also intends to ban the use of plastic straws and take-out containers. Businesses also need to contribute to the zero-waste goal. For example, in order to increase the reuse and donation of textiles, Montreal wants to ban textile companies from throwing out unsold materials and goods. The city may also consider enforcing fines to enhance compliance in the future.
Read more about Montreal’s zero waste plan on its website. Follow the city on Twitter and LinkedIn to learn the latest progress about its programs.
City of Los Angeles
At the center of the world’s film industry, Los Angeles, approximately 3,979,576 people receive solid waste services from the public works department. The survey conducted by the UCLA Engineering Extension reveals that Los Angeles achieved a 76.4% diversion rate in 2013, which was the highest among the largest 10 cities in the US. In 2010, Los Angeles rolled out a 20-year zero waste plan and aimed at a 97% diversion rate by 2030.
Los Angeles City’s zero waste goal by years
Before 2017, the city adopted an open-market waste management system in which residents could sign contracts with any waste haulers; However, the city said that the system “[made] it impossible to push its waste diversion targets or set labour standards”. To better manage the city’s waste system and achieve zero waste by 2030, Los Angeles contracted 7 private waste haulers and divided the city into 11 franchise zones. The contract states that the seven franchised haulers have to collectively decrease the disposal of solid waste by 1 million tons a year by 2025. Meanwhile, haulers are also responsible for coordinating with the city to develop outreach and education programs. By cooperating with like-minded partners, the City of Los Angeles gradually moves towards its zero-waste goal.
Want to learn more about the Los Angeles waste management system? Visit the website or follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The City of San Francisco
As the 16th most populous city in the US, there are about 881,549San Francisco Residents. With one of the nation’s largest populations, the city has the leading diversion rate in North America. However, the city is still not satisfied with its outstanding performance and wants to send zero waste to Landfills.
San Francisco believes that the city cannot achieve zero waste by itself. Everyone living in the city has to contribute to waste reduction. The city stresses the responsibility of individual consumers and encourages people to make environmentally friendly decisions. San Francisco has also been doing its part to help and guide citizens during the process. With the help from its waste hauler, Recology, the city is providing tailored door-to-door cart audits and outreach programs to businesses and residents. San Francisco also makes it mandatory for event organizers to receive zero-waste event training. Through education, San Francisco aims to foster a zero-waste culture and empower people to do their part and contribute to a better environment.
Learn more about San Francisco’s leading recycling programs on the website, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
New York City (NYC)
As one of the largest cities in the world, the public works department in NYC is responsible for managing waste from about 8,336,817 people living in the city. With a residential diversion rate of 20% in 2018, the city aims to reduce 90% of the waste sent to landfills by 2030. The city identifies that businesses play an important role in waste reduction.
New York City’s Mayor launched a Zero Waste Challenge in 2016. The Challenge invited businesses to reduce the waste they disposed of by 50% within five months. At the end of the project, 74% of the participated businesses successfully reduced waste by 50%. This challenge was aligned with the city’s zero waste goal and was a good example of solving waste problems collectively.
Want to learn more about NYC’s zero waste plan? Visit its website, Twitter and LinkedIn
The modern recycling goal should not just focus on targeting a rigid diversions rate. Eliminating single-use and non-recyclable waste at roots is far more important than recycling itself. To achieve zero waste, municipalities have to coordinate with residents, businesses, and even global communities. Utilizing innovative technology to reduce and solve materials that cannot be reused and recycled has become the focus of many jurisdictions.
