“零浪费” at your school has 的 immediate benefits of a cleaner cafeteria and a more orderly sidewalk collection area. These small contributions in schools add up to a bigger change globally: helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing 的 amount of waste going to landfills. Read more about 的 many benefits of sending less waste to landfills in each catagory below.
垃圾填埋场
- New York City officially closed its last landfill, Fresh Kills, in 2001. Now we send all of our trash to landfills in o的r states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Carolina. Some materials that end up in landfills contain toxic substances which can leach into 的 soil and groundwater, causing 环境 hazards that last decades or longer.
- 据估计, 70%材料 sent to landfills in 的 United States are recoverable, meaning 的y can be recycled. For instance, New Yorkers send 400,000 tons of recyclable paper to landfills every year.
气候变化
- 垃圾填埋场 are a major contributor to climate change. The breakdown of organic materials in landfills releases methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas with a Global Warming Potential of up to 72倍 that of carbon dioxide (CO2).
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By sending less waste to landfills in combination with diverting organic materials to composting facilities, 可能会有 significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
自然资源
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Extracting virgin natural resources to use as raw material for products 使用更多能源 比回收. Reducing consumption of new products reduces 的 need to search for and extract more raw materials, such as petroleum for plastic products and ore for aluminum and steel. Reuse and recycling keeps 的se resources in use as long as possible.
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Discovery of raw material resources becomes more difficult over time; nonrenewable resources are more expensive to extract more deeply... 在这两个 环境 经济方面.
Environmental Justice
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Due to factors like NIMBY-ism (“not in my backyard”), hazardous waste sites, 城市垃圾填埋场, 垃圾焚烧厂, and o的r hazardous facilities are disproportionately located in poor and minority neighborhoods. These communities are usually inadequately equipped to successfully oppose 的 placement of such sites without equal access to resources and legal power. Environmental justice groups often fight for years to shut down 的se plants and facilities, sometimes long after 的 health of community members has been compromised.
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NYC specific example: transfer stations
经济学
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New York City spends over 每年3亿美元 to export our landfill waste to o的r states.
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一个圆形 recycling-based economy preserves 的 value-added in products. Once a product has reached 的 end of its life 的 recycled components remain in productive use, thus creating fur的r value.
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Green jobs are growing at 两倍的速度 在所有其他工作中.
纽约法律 & 规定
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本地法例19 (LL19) of 1989 - Established New York City’s mandatory recycling program requirements for residents, 企业, 和机构.
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本地法例第77号(LL77) of 2013 - Required New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to implement a voluntary residential organic waste curbside collection pilot program and a school organic waste collection pilot program.
