MUNICIPAL DISCARD/ZERO WASTE WORK GROUP

The Municipal Discards/Zero Waste Workgroup works to stop incineration of municipal discards and to promote policies and practices which reflect a "Zero Waste" approach.

Instead of the conventional term "municipal solid waste," this workgroup chose to use the term 'municipal discards" to promote a new paradigm of viewing materials in the municipal waste stream as discards with resource value, including many materials which could be recovered and reused, rather than a seeing them as burden which can only be burned or buried.

In the words of GAIA member, the Grassroots Recycling Network (www.grrn.org), Zero Waste is both "a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st Century. It includes 'recycling' but goes beyond recycling by taking a 'whole system' approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society. Zero Waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.

GAIA Municipal Discard/Zero Waste Workgroup members are engaged in a variety of activities to achieve these goals. For example, many are actively campaigning against proposed or existing municipal waste incinerators or investigating the corporations promoting incinerators around the world. Others are conducting waste surveys in their communities, implementing composting, recycling and other programs to divert materials from landfills and incinerators, or advocating for official Zero Waste policies at the government level.

For more information on this workgroup, please email Ann Leonard at aleonard@mail.essential.org.

HAZARDOUS WASTE WORK GROUP

The Hazardous Waste Work Group works to address the recovery and disposal of "historical" hazardous wastes including military wastes, PCBs, pesticides and other persistent industrial contaminated wastes. We seek to promote real treatment solutions -- both "high tech" solutions and through clean production and pollution prevention. Like other GAIA work groups, we also aim to support local and national initiatives by sharing information and success stories.

For more information on this workgroup, please e-mail Elizabeth Crowe at kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu.

MEDICAL WASTE WORK GROUP

The Medical Waste Workgroup works to make health care facilities environmentally responsible with how they manage their discards. The Medical Waste group works closely with Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition working to minimize the environmental impact of the health care industry. Both work with the premise that 85% of the waste generated in hospitals and other health care facilities are recyclable and non-burn technologies are available to handle infectious and pathological waste.

CLEAN PRODUCTION WORK GROUP
Clean Production takes a life cycle view of all materials flows, from extraction of the raw material to product manufacture and the ultimate fate of the product at the end of its life. It is a way of designing products and manufacturing processes in harmony with natural ecological cycles. It aims to eliminate toxic wastes and inputs, and ultimately promotes the judicious use of renewable energy and materials.