In the News

2005 Earth Day Celebrations to Continue Zero Waste Recycling
date posted: December 27 2005

Lake Tahoe Report #114
April 25, 2005
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale


Organizing committees of Earth Day celebrations in Reno and Lake Tahoe have been striving to reduce the amount of waste generated at their events since their inauguration. The first efforts were focused on offering recycling containers along with waste bins located throughout the venues. This gave participants and attendees the opportunity to divert some of the waste from landfill disposal. Due to the types of waste created, however, much of it was not recyclable.

In April 2003, these recycling efforts were expanded to radically reduce the quantity of waste generated and to eliminate all waste disposal. This exciting initiative was termed “Zero Waste”, which adopted concepts and strategies being developed around the world.

Zero Waste includes reducing consumption, minimizing waste, maximizing recycling, and ensuring products are made to be reused, repaired, or recycled back into nature or the marketplace. Special events like Earth Day celebrations are especially prone to greater than normal waste generation. Event participants use disposable items such as paper napkins and plastic cups, plates, and utensils. Participants collect educational literature and programs that they later discard after a cursory glance or at the end of the day’s activities. Consequently, it seemed appropriate to draw attention to such habits on a day when we recognize our individual and collective interaction with our environment and our Earth.

Early in the planning of the 2003 Earth Day events, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) suggested the idea of bringing Zero Waste to the celebrations to heighten awareness of the demands we place on the ecosystem and our natural resources. The developed nations are currently using an unprecedented level of resources to support their lifestyle. The US Department of Energy estimates that per capita energy consumption by Americans is approximately 340 million Btus per year. This is roughly the equivalent amount of energy in 2,750 gallons of gasoline that is up from the estimated use of approximately 230 million Btus per year by Americans in 1950.

The Earth Day planning committee and event venues approached Zero Waste by trying to minimize packaging, by using items made of recyclable or organic materials, and by separately collecting recyclable and organic wastes for diversion from disposal. Most notably, many of the disposable plates and utensils used at the events are made from a polymer created from corn sugars instead of petroleum-based polymers. These corn-based “plastics” readily decompose when combined with paper products and food waste and make great compost.

Through NDEP support, Full Circle Compost of Minden, Nevada took the organic wastes for composting. These materials were combined with wood chips and manure to aid in the composting process. In a tub grinder, they were reduced to smaller sizes for faster biodegradation, and then placed on the ground in long rows. These “windrows” were turned over 36-40 times during an eight week period. Temperature, moisture, and carbon dioxide levels were monitored throughout the compost period to track the microbial degradation of the waste and assure the final quality of the compost product.

At the end of the process, the material was separated by screens into large chips for mulch and small particles for finished compost. The compost from the 2005 Earth Day will be used in the North Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.

What is the history of Zero Waste?

The GrassRoots Recycling Network or GRRN (www.grrn.org) has been spearheading the campaign for Zero Waste in North America. GRRN is a network of waste reduction advocates and recycling professionals with pragmatic experience in implementing successful programs and operations.

GRRN originally got the Zero Waste idea from the Australian Capital Territory of Canberra, which in 1995 endorsed a goal of 'No Waste by 2010.' Canberra determined to phase out its two landfills and replace them with 'recycling estates' in 15 years. In New Zealand, a third of all local government councils have now passed resolutions to work for 'Zero Waste to landfills by 2015.’ Similar resolutions have been adopted by cities in the US including San Francisco and Berkeley, CA as well as Seattle, WA. These exemplary efforts have been noticed by numerous other groups, helping to assure the continuation and growth of the Zero Waste concept in the Lake Tahoe region and Nevada.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaborative effort of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the California State Water Resource Control Board. For more information, contact Heather Segale, UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org.