Beyond Waste Progress and a New Look

Beyond Waste is the 30-year state plan for managing dangerous and solid waste with a clear and simple vision:  eliminate wastes and toxics whenever we can and use the remaining wastes as resources.

Ecology tracks a series of indicators and issues periodic Progress Reports on this work. In 2011, Ecology improved the report to include changes people wanted to see. The new features appear in the December 2011 report. They include:

• More Indicators - There are now 22 total indicators (up from 16 last year). There is one main indicator for each of the seven Beyond Waste initiatives and 15 additional related indicators.



• Case Studies - Each initiative highlights local examples of how businesses and governments are reducing waste and toxics.



• Alternate Looks - We've provided comparison views for some indicators, such as showing data in both tons and pounds per person (per capita).



• Beyond Waste Targets - We've added graphic projections to show what the solid and dangerous waste generation trends would look like if we were to eliminate most wastes and toxics by 2035.

The Report shows we made significant improvement in some key areas. For example:

• We have recycled more solid waste, organics, and electronics over the last few years. However, some trends are disappointing. Despite our recycling efforts, in 2009 we threw away $206 million worth of recyclables.



• A new indicator related to the Green Building initiative tracks the amount of construction and demolition debris Washington generates and recycles each year. It shows that we recycled an impressive 62 percent in 2009, and disposed less than the previous year.



• Many businesses created less solid and dangerous waste per dollar earned in 2009. This means that while the economy held steady or improved in 2009 from the previous year, generation of waste actually decreased in comparison.

Progress in these areas shows how moving toward the Beyond Waste vision can help individual businesses, the economy, and the environment.