'Zero Waste Movement' Taking Hold Locally

CHESTERTOWN — Everybody in the world makes waste and Americans alone dump 4.6 pounds of trash per person per day, according to the E.P.A.’s most recent figures. “More than half of that garbage ends up in landfills or is incinerated,” says Ford Schumann, director of Infinity Recycling in Chestertown.

But across the nation, an anti-garbage crusade known as the “zero waste movement” is taking shape in college cafeterias, corporations, national parks, restaurants, and both large and small municipalities. The concept is simple: Produce less waste. Recycle or compost whatever we can to keep materials out of landfills. Shun any containers or other packaging that is not biodegradable.

The Town of Chestertown, Infinity Recycling, Kent County Recycling & Waste Disposal, the Mid-Shore Regional Recycling Program, and Washington College’s Center for Environment & Society will screen the documentary “Garbage Dreams” on Wednesday, January 20, followed the next night by “Zero Waste Communities,” a lecture by Rick Anthony, on Thursday, January 21. Both programs are at 7 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall.

Anthony is a zero-waste pioneer who links the movement to sustainable agriculture, architecture, energy, industrial, economic and community development. At the 5th International Dialog on Zero Waste in Naples, Italy, in October 2009, he highlighted the fastest and most cost-effective ways that local governments can protect health, create green jobs, move toward sustainable resource management, and contribute to reducing climate change.

According to the Zero Waste International Alliance, “the goal is to guide people in changing their lifestyles and behaviors to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. Implementing zero-waste practices will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.”

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center at Washington College. Admission to “Garbage Dreams” on January 20 and “Zero Waste Communities” on January 21 is free and open to the public. For more information, log on to ces.washcoll.edu or call 410/778-7295.