Zero waste is "a practical theory of how to wring maximum efficiency from the use of resources". [1] It addresses "...the difficult problem of how to redesign all of society's goods and processes so that nothing is designed for an early obsolescence followed by discard but, instead, is designed in many straightforward ways to be reused perpetually on many levels". [2]
History
Paul Palmer created Zero Waste Systems Inc in the 1970s, and the term "had never been used publicly" before that. [3]
Recycling
Recycling is only related to zero waste in the sense that even the most durable products break or wear out eventually. The goal is to design things so that we have much less to recycle than we do now.
Related
- Annualized geo solar W
- Circular economy W
- Cradle-to-cradle design W
- Deconstruction (building) W
- Ecodesign W
- Ecoscaping W
- Edible tableware W
- Energy recycling W
- Environmentalism W
- Industrial ecology W
- Maintenance, repair and operations W
- Natural Capitalism W
- No such thing as waste
- Passive solar building design W
- Permaculture W
- Precycling W
- Remanufacturing W
- Repairable component W
- Resource efficiency W
- Reuse W
- Source reduction W
- Sustainable design W
- Sustainable packaging W
- Waste minimisation W
- Zero waste agriculture W
- Zero waste W
- Zero-waste fashion W