Climate Justice Project By Marc Lee, Ruth Legg, Sue Maxwell and William Rees MARCH 2013 Closing the Loop Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Creating Green Jobs Through Zero Waste in BC SUMMARY Climate Justice Project By Marc Lee, Ruth Legg, Sue Maxwell and William Rees MARCH 2013 Closing the Loop Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Creating Green Jobs Through Zero Waste in BC Download the full report at policyalternatives.ca/ zero-waste MOST PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR with the idea that we need to “reduce, reuse, and recycle” to protect our environment. Over the last few decades, waste management programs have made good progress in diverting solid waste from landfills through recycling and composting. But success has been lacking in reducing the amount of waste that is created in the first place, and in re-using materials (like bottles and packaging) before recycling. This study aims to address the core problem: a culture of consumption and an economic system that is wasteful and that contributes to climate change. It looks at the possibilities for reducing both solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining a high quality of life from the products and services we use. Zero waste policies emphasize upstream, proactive solutions — aggressive materials reduction, re-design, and re-use before recycling and composting. The object is dramatic reductions in the volume of materials that flow through the economy, and therefore reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Closing the loop refers to the shift away from a linear economic model — where materi- als are extracted, made into consumer goods, then trashed — and towards a resource recovery model where ma- terials cycle through the economy. incinerator climate change resource depletion waste l a n d f i l l Our culture of consumption is extremely wasteful and contributes to climate change.
8
Embed
Closing the Loop: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through ...
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Clim
ate
Just
ice
Proj
ect
By Marc Lee, Ruth Legg, Sue Maxwell and William Rees
MARCH 2013
Closing the LoopReducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Creating Green Jobs Through Zero Waste in BC
SUMMARY
Clim
ate
Just
ice
Proj
ect
By Marc Lee, Ruth Legg, Sue Maxwell and William Rees
MARCH 2013
Closing the LoopReducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Creating Green Jobs Through Zero Waste in BC
disposal
Download the full report at policyalternatives.ca/zero-waste
MOST PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR with the idea that we need to “reduce, reuse,
and recycle” to protect our environment. Over the last few decades, waste
management programs have made good progress in diverting solid waste from
landfills through recycling and composting. But success has been lacking in
reducing the amount of waste that is created in the first place, and in re-using
materials (like bottles and packaging) before recycling.
This study aims to address the core problem: a culture of consumption and an
economic system that is wasteful and that contributes to climate change. It looks
at the possibilities for reducing both solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions
while maintaining a high quality of life from the products and services we use.
Zero waste policies emphasize upstream, proactive solutions — aggressive
materials reduction, re-design, and re-use before recycling and composting.
The object is dramatic reductions in the volume of materials that flow through
The Climate Justice Project is a multi-year initiative led by CCPA and the University of British Columbia in collaboration with a large team of academics and community groups from across BC. The project connects the two great “inconvenient truths” of our time: climate change and rising inequality. Its overarching aim is to develop a concrete policy strategy that would see BC meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously ensuring that inequality is reduced, and that societal and industrial transitions are just and equitable.
www.climatejustice.ca
www.policyalternatives.ca
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, it is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates. The CCPA is a registered non-profit charity and depends on the support of its more than 10,000 members across Canada.
With over 60,000 members, donors and volunteers, Canada’s largest membership-based, citizen-funded wilderness protection group. We are united in our mission to protect Canada’s biodiversity through strategic research and grassroots public education.
wildernesscommittee.org
Download the full report at policyalternatives.ca/zero-waste
The Climate Justice Project is supported primarily by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through its Community-University Research Alliance program. Thanks also to Vancity and the Vancouver Foundation for their financial support of the Climate Justice Project.
Additional funding provided by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.
The opinions and recommendations in this report, and any errors, are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers or funders of this report.
This report is available under limited copyright protection. You may download, distribute, photocopy, cite, or excerpt this document provided it is properly and fully credited and not used for commercial purposes.
Illustrations by Sam Bradd, Drawing Change Visual Communication