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Beyond Waste - An Integrated Approach

Scope

In the original Beyond Waste Plan, Ecology identified five initiatives, or areas of focus, to begin pursuing the Beyond Waste vision. With the plan update, we continue to work on these five initiatives. The plan update will guide state and local governments, the private sector, and the public in making decisions that will have major effects on waste management and waste generation for many years to come.

Ecology talked with businesses, local governments, citizens, environmental organizations, and others to develop the original Beyond Waste Plan. As we updated the plan, we received additional input from stakeholders. Ecology is committed to working together on the Beyond Waste Plan with people and organizations interested in waste, environmental protection, economic vitality, and health.

During the past five years, focus has increased on climate change, the health of Puget Sound and other Washington waters, and the need to reduce toxic threats. The Beyond Waste update increases the emphasis on these three vital areas. The update builds on the relationship of waste and other environmental issues.

The five initiatives focus on reducing wastes and toxic substances in Washington. Successful implementation of these five initiatives will:

• Significantly reduce most wastes and the use of toxic substances in Washington’s industries.
• Significantly reduce small-volume hazardous wastes from businesses and households.
• Expand the recycling system in Washington for organic wastes such as food wastes, yard waste, and crop residues.
• Reduce the negative impacts from the design, construction, and operation of buildings.
• Develop a system to measure progress in achieving our goals.

In addition to these five initiatives, this update addresses issues that affect today’s solid waste and hazardous waste management systems.

Moving Beyond Waste will take many years. In the meantime, we must maintain or improve our current waste-handling system. That’s why the Beyond Waste Plan also includes recommendations and milestones on current hazardous waste and solid waste system issues.

Each initiative or current issue includes several recommendations and milestones. Many recommendations and some milestones did not change from the original 2004 Plan. We updated some and added others to reflect progress and new directions.

Ecology chose the recommendations to take us to our 30-year goals. The milestones serve as shorter, measurable steps. While a few recommendations and milestones provide direction solely for Ecology, most also provide guidance to other governments, organizations, and the private sector. And some can only be accomplished by entities other than Ecology. Therefore, we wrote the recommendations and milestones broadly to apply to many audiences.

These recommendations and the Beyond Waste Plan in general strive to provide statewide guidance for reducing the use of toxic substances, decreasing waste generation, recycling more materials, and properly managing any wastes that remain. This will not be easy. Some actions will require legislative authorization or new funding sources. Some will require new partnerships between the private sector, government, and other organizations. Some actions will begin sooner than others will. Some will produce results quickly, while others will take longer to achieve.

Partnerships are the key to achieving the goals of Beyond Waste. Governments at all levels, the private and non-profit sectors, academia, and communities will need to work together to implement the plan’s recommendations.

The transition to a society that focuses on reducing the use of toxic substances and decreasing waste generation will involve change in many areas. The Beyond Waste vision states that the transition to Beyond Waste “… will contribute to economic, social, and environmental vitality.” Ecology believes the actions outlined in the Beyond Waste Plan will strengthen Washington’s economy. An economy that views wastes as inefficient and minimizes the use of toxic substances can only prosper as these values continue to gain momentum and influence the marketplace.

Beyond Waste proposes to take bold steps that may pose challenges in the short term, but will be economically sustainable for the long term.

Key Principles and Strategies

Some key principles and strategies are common to all five initiatives (and current issues). These are fundamental for the success of the Beyond Waste Plan.

• Incentives, especially financial ones, are key tools in implementing Beyond Waste.
• Achieving the Beyond Waste vision will require a different way of doing business. While regulations are needed, they are not necessarily the best or the only way to achieve Beyond Waste.
• Increase focus on waste and toxics prevention. Eliminate waste and toxic substances wherever possible, rather than just managing them after use.
• Choose activities with the goal of creating the least damaging ecological footprint possible.
• Change the mindset, as individuals and as a society, that waste is “normal” or “necessary.”
• Raise public awareness about toxic materials in everyday products and their effects on human health and the environment.
• Work with manufacturers to take responsibility for end-of-life management of their products. Work with product designers and manufacturers to encourage the development of product lines that conserve energy and water and eliminate unnecessary materials and waste. In addition, work with designers and manufacturers to make products that are least toxic or non-toxic, reusable where possible, and readily recyclable.
• Encourage people to buy and use environmentally preferable products and services.
• Use and promote third-party certification systems to verify preferable products and services.
• Create partnerships among government, business, organizations, and citizen groups from every sector across the state. They are crucial to decision-making and achieving the Beyond Waste goals.
• Use actions recommended under each initiative to advance the goals of the other initiatives whenever possible.
• Measure progress regularly in each initiative to determine course corrections needed to meet the goals.
• Use government leadership as an important lever to make progress toward the goals, especially through its purchasing power and through model and demonstration projects.
• Work to build on and increase existing momentum toward waste reduction and toxic substance elimination.
• Conduct pilot projects on recommendations to test the feasibility of and gain support for full-scale implementation.
• Whenever possible, remove barriers that stand in the way of reducing wastes and toxics.
• Build on current Environmental Justice efforts to ensure that risks we cannot eliminate are borne equitably by all sectors of our society.

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