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For
Release: Monday, 10 June 2002
World Summit to be
a "Zero Waste" Event
Johannesburg,
South Africa, June 10, 2002 -- The United Nations,
along with the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
Civil Society Secretariat, and the South African Government,
have agreed to Green the Johannesburg Summit following Zero
Waste principles. The Johannesburg Summit will bring together
tens of thousands of governmental officials, non-governmental
organizations, businesses and other civil society members
from around the world to discuss the global environment and
develop a plan of action for sustainable development.
Nitin
Desai, Under-Secretary General of the United Nation responsible
for the WSSD in Johannesburg this August, met with Earthlife
Africa's Zero Waste team to highlight his support. "I
support this project, and encourage all to reach as close
to Zero Waste as is possible."
The
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Earthlife
Africa (Johannesburg Branch) are leading the campaign to make
the Johannesburg Summit a "Zero Waste" event. GAIA
and Earthlife Africa have called on the event sponsors and
organizers to conduct the event with an aim to divert 90%
of the waste from being sent to landfills and to ensure that
none is sent to incinerators.
Muna
Lakhani, Zero Waste Project Coordinator for Earthlife Africa
said, "Zero Waste refers to a range of policies and practices
designed to achieve a sustainable use of materials and the
minimum of waste discarded. We want to design waste out of
this event, and reuse, recycle and compost everything else."
The
numerous benefits to having the Johannesburg Summit be organized
as a Zero Waste event include
- Zero
Waste is consistent with the recent Stockholm convention's
goal towards elimination of POPs, including incinerator
by-products dioxin and furans.
- Conducting
a Zero Waste event demonstrates South Africa's and the U.N.
Environment Programme's leadership on this issue.
- Zero
Waste systems will minimize the environmental impact of
the WSSD itself and set the highest standards for future
events.
- Official
commitment to Zero Waste now will help mobilize the resources
needed to make this happen.
- A
Zero Waste Summit demonstrates its logistical and economic
feasibility and launches South Africa on the path to becoming
a Zero Waste society in the future with a legacy of redesign,
minimisation, reuse, recycling and composting practices
that others can follow.
- A
Zero Waste Summit will train people in the civil society
secretariat, catering, hospitality and restaurant business,
as well as other people involved in the Greening of the
Summit, in applying Zero Waste principles.
- Zero
Waste practices and systems at the event will educate many
thousands of South Africans and visitors on concepts of
sustainability in action in very tangible ways that they
can bring back to their own countries and implement after
the Summit.
- It
will minimize waste dumping costs for the WSSD, as well
as minimize landfill usage, and avoid incineration.
- Zero
Waste also holds great potential for livelihood generation
and poverty alleviation as reuse, recycling and composting
produce far more jobs than wasting.
"Zero
Waste is indeed a significant milestone in the path to sustainable
development," says Reshaad Ismail, Manager in the CEO's
office within the Civil Society Secretariat. " Applying
International Best Practice within the Global Forum will lead
the way to showcasing truly sustainable development. The support
by the United Nations is welcome indeed."
"GAIA
members around the world congratulate the WSSD sponsors and
organizers for committing to Zero Waste. Holding the decade's
premier environmental gathering as a Zero Waste event provides
a real life example of the kind of solution needed to save
the global environment at this critical time." said Ann
Leonard, GAIA's International Co-coordinator.
GAIA
is an international alliance working on waste reduction, with
over 265 members in more than 55 countries. Earthlife Africa
is a volunteer driven South African organization that has
been active on environmental and social issues since 1988.
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CONTACT:
Muna Lakhani, Zero Waste WSSD Project Coordinator, Earthlife
Africa, Johannesburg Branch
Tel. +27(0)834-71-72-76; Fax. (27-11) 3394584; Email. muna@iafrica.com
Ann
Leonard, International Co-coordinator, GAIA, in Berkeley,
California, USA
Tel (1-510)-524-4000, ext 102; Fax (1-510) 524-4228; Email:
gaia@no-burn.org
Von
Hernandez, International Co-coordinator, GAIA, in Manila,
the Philippines, Tel. (632) 434-7034; Fax (632) 434-7035;
Mobile: (63)(0)917-526-3050; Email: von.Hernandez@dialb.greenpeace.org
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