ZeroLandfill.net Blog

The Averages Accrue Opportunity

August 11th, 2008

The data collected during ZeroLandfill programs this summer is compelling and raises several key questions as the work continues.

To reset the dashboard, ZeroLandfill 2008 has distributed nearly 70,000 pounds of recovered materials this summer to local artists, arts educators, and arts education programs in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Boston. Other audiences have joined in to receive materials, ranging from community garden groups (bricks for raised beds) to vocational training programs (fabric for locallly produced reusable shopping bags).

What is most compelling however, is the average overall distribution yield that ZeroLandfill has maintained weekly. Since the first ZeroLandfill Harvest date 14 weeks ago in Boston, the program has held a steady average rate of 5,000 lbs of materials repurposed back into the community each week. While that may not seem like a lot of volume, consider that the most popular items selected by the various constituents of ZeroLandfill weigh less than 2 pounds each (a brick, a fabric book, a carpet tile, a 3 ring binder, etc). There have been spikes in the weekly volume from time to time to represent the spikes in donated materials; a lot of brick and stone sample donations from architects and manufacturers on any given date = a spike in brick and stone samples distributed back into the community. In other words, the demand equals the supply in certain categories that are common to the specification process by the interior design and architectural industry. If it shows up as ZeroLandfill Pollinates and Cultivates the industry, it will be Harvested by the community. The needs of the communities served by ZeroLandfill will continue to grow as funding is harder to attract and operating costs (energy) grow.

So the question on the table follows: If a major market such as Boston, Cleveland, or Cincinnati pulls over 1.5 tons of “sponsored waste” weekly out of the market, what is the real opportunity
for repurposing materials of value away from the waste stream and back into the community? Several hunches fall along these lines :

1) designing a self sustaining permanent year round program vs. a seasonal program is in order
2) establishing a more user friendly process for supply and demand participants, where materials are identified and distributed from their source versus double handling items in and out of a central distribution location
3) capturing the ongoing, dynamic needs of demand audiences in real time so materials of value can be isolated and redirected efficiently upstream, as close to the manufacturing source as possible.

As any ZeroLandfill volunteer can attest, there is a great deal of heavy lifting, not to mention fossil fuel miles, associated with a successful beneficial reuse effort. A more efficient and sustainable model for ZeroLandfill activities deserves to be explored so the impact can be more wide ranging for both the supply and demand participant. All without losing the personal touch offered by the connection of for-profit and non-profit markets.

Comments? Please share.

Entry Filed under: ZL Story