Zero Waste | Create zero waste
2020 Target
Reduce solid waste going to landfill or incineration by 40 per cent.
Today
Regionally about 55 per cent of solid waste is diverted from disposal, and on Earth Day, April 22, 2010, the City launched a food scraps recycling program. Unfortunately, this is not enough. Metro Vancouver citizens produce more than four kilograms of waste per person every single day of the year when all types of solid waste are considered.
Waste reduction and recycling conserves valuable resources, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and contributes to a green economy. Managing solid waste materials that require disposal is costly and results in environmental consequences.
Challenges
No city can achieve zero waste on its own. The goal requires changes in the economy, government policy, business practices, and individual behaviour, which we can influence only indirectly. To reduce waste from being produced in the first place, and divert as much as possible away from disposal, the City of Vancouver works with Metro Vancouver to carry out the regional Solid Waste Management Plan.
Your Ideas
How can Vancouver achieve zero waste? We can encourage waste reduction through by-laws and education. We can enact more stringent controls on construction, renovation, and demolition waste. We can divert as much recyclable material as the market will absorb.
Economically, solid waste represents missed opportunities—for repurposing or re-use. Reducing solid waste creates a competitive advantage, freeing scarce resources for higher uses. We need to shift our mindset and our economy, to regard material that would once have been ‘waste' as a resource instead. How would you reduce waste?
More information on solid waste in Vancouver
Your images
Green the City is a visual database of images and ideas submitted by you as we journey towards our goal of becoming the World's Greenest City by 2020. See the zero waste images you submitted