Even Walmart is considering Zero Waste. What the heck is that you ask? I’ll show some borrowed graphics to illustrate the explanation:
Above is the way that we currently do business. The $ stamp is there to remind you that we are definitly paying for every step of the consumer process. From the cost of extracting resources, to the cost of pollution, to the cost of landfills and trash, we are paying both physically in our tax dollars and externally through our air, land and water.
Zero Waste is changing our process to consider waste, not as a necessary evil, but as an avoidable danger we can eliminate through creative and innovative production:
What’s so amazing about the concept of Zero Waste is that it’s not a very difficult idea to understand, and it seems like it could be well within our reach. We’ve lived our lives assuming massive waste is a necessary part of progress, and we haven’t really considered the impact of it to any degree. It’s wild to even begin to brainstorm what a Zero Waste society might look like.
If your still interested and I haven’t lost you yet, then I’d recommend checking out this short video
This is good stuff.
This is one area where some government intervention would help. They could develop rubrics for assessing the cost of waste and then penalize manufacturers for this.
In any case, this is an encouraging sign. Hopefully it’s not just Wal-Mart PR.
my dad is working on a deal with Walmart right now. They want a large percentage of their advertising to have an environmental purpose, other than just recycled paper. They’re working together on their magazine adds which will be on seed-implanted paper which you basically soak, tear up, and plant in your garden. Better than recycling, eh?