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Measuring Progress Toward Beyond Waste

Introduction

The goal of the Measuring Progress Initiative is to help Ecology and its partners make the transition to a long-term data-tracking system that measures progress toward the Beyond Waste vision. We are doing this by developing effective and reasonable ways to measure Washington’s success at reducing the use of toxic substances and the generation of solid and hazardous wastes.

Some industries and local governments are developing their own indicators similar to Ecology’s efforts to show Beyond Waste progress in their impact areas. Others may have few, if any, additional resources to invest in developing indicators, data collection, and reporting. As we implement the Beyond Waste Plan, Ecology is modifying and improving some data-collection efforts and developing additional methods to improve our data-tracking system.

We selected indicators, performance measures, and data tracking as an important area of focus for the following reasons:

1. It is critical to be able to measure success and track progress toward the Beyond waste vision.



2. There is a continuing need for different evaluation tools. Tracking systems are incomplete and/or focus mostly on managing waste. Ecology needs to continue to build tools for measuring overall reduction of waste and toxic substances.


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