The council unanimously approved the resolution which officially adopts a 75 percent waste reduction goal for 2010, and establishes a zero-waste goal for 2020. The resolution also suggests that Solid Waste Management Commission change its name to the zero waste commission.
Zero waste is a concept that couples aggressive resource recovery with industrial redesign to eliminate the very concept of waste. The details of how to reach these goals have been left to the Commission and City staff.
Berkeley has a long history of leadership in eliminating waste. More than 30 years ago, the Ecology Center pioneered curbside recycling, a radical idea at the time that has since become as mainstream as apple pie. Today the Ecology Center runs this program for the City of Berkeley, saving over 100,000 trees and 65,000 barrels of oil each year, while supporting 30 union recycling jobs. Recycling also saves the city and its residents lots of money.
Berkeley had the nation's first solid waste management plan that included separating refuse from recyclable materials. In the early 1980s, the residents passed one of the country's first bans on garbage incineration, helping defeat the onslaught of toxic incinerator projects planned for the Bay Area and the nation.
