Create a zero waste ethic. That is set the highest example of waste diversion on all civic property and in buildings. Have recycling bins everywhere, more than garbage cans. At the pool where I swim, they actually removed the recycling bins from the washrooms because people were throwing garbage into them. Put them back, even if the staff have to sort a little. Oh and make sure all city events are green. Oakland, California, Des Moines, Iowa, and our province of Nova Scotia have green event guides for all events that take place in their cities, including their own. In a nearby municipality, North Shore Recycling lends out zero waste stations for community groups.

First of all, **** Waste as a goal is not a difficult thing to wrap our heads around. During that last great war, everything, I mean everything thrown away had value. Even fat from meat. Now that we have become whores to convenience we have been brainwashed by the wasting hierarchy. Recycling mimics wasting by throwing everything into one tote. Lots of trucking, lots of transporting. Most goes overseas. **** Waste must start with us and how we buy stuff. Those who recycle well should be rewarded. Those who don't can pay for the service. Some of us cut our own lawns some of us hire someone to do this. Here is the blueprint for the green jobs promised every election cycle. Management of our discards has failed from the top down approach. The new top down approach is incinerators. Lots of them. How dumb! Now, if we spent our tax dollars (remember folks this is our money) and insisted our public servants who work for us scrap this incinerator idea, and spent our tax dollars on education and Resource Recovery and EPR programs while reducing that residual stream, landfilling and incineration will not be needed. This is not pie in the sky stuff. This is coming. So why not stop listening to these "experts" who love burning garbage and listen to common sense? Once organics are removed from the wast stream, and more and more EPR programs and repair businesses kick in and Reuse becomes fashionable again, those incinerators will go the way of the old garbage skows that used to take our garbage out into open waters and dump it. **** Waste starts at the ballot box.

Plastic plastic plastic

Move now to a **** waste future, or face a future of ****.
one planet, folks, let's stop burning it up before it's too late.

Also, if you search the web for "**** waste plans" you'll find many examples, especially in California.

Regarding the question "where do we start to get to **** waste", the most effective element that many forget is the education piece. Whatever plan you implement, including source reduction, composting, recycling, donations, etc, you must have a continuous message to your residents and businesses about the benefits of your program and exactly how they can and should participate. In the states, business benefit financially from reducing waste to landfill, so that's a great incentive to get started.

**** Waste is a robust and practical philosophy, and should be considered as the ONLY proven methodology to achieve both volume and toxicity reductions wherever it has been applied. It also puts into place, a potential future that is materials, energy and water efficient, impacts positively on climate change, and leads to a local economy that is both sound and decent work creating. Only those in the pockets of vested interests would be against **** Waste.

Become part of the materials loop! Choose where you shop carefully, buy only what you need, look for products with recycled and local content, and make sure your choice is made to last, to be fixed and/or recycled.

Stop thinking the 3 "R's" is just one "R", Recycling! Instead of legislating wasting options branded as "Green", look at innovative ways of encouraging "Reducing" and "Reuse". By keeping the bar low, incineration and landfilling, there is no end to so called "experts" who'll ambulance chase that buck to tell you anything you want to hear. And because Europe sees no problem with burning garbage, doesn't mean we have to. "Experts" are a dime a dozen. How about listening to what ordinary Canadians want. Regular people want to do better. So raise the bar! This ain't rocket science.

Start by eliminating plastic in as many ways as possible.

@jennifer marshall, zero waste is our long term goal. Where would you start to get there?

Get serious about garbage - it will cause a chain reaction that will affect consumption.