Cornucopia Advances Zero Waste at Local Level

Zero Waste USA has launched the Recycling Cornucopia Program to support community groups, local and regional governments, elected officials, and small businesses in moving toward zero waste (defined as 90 percent diversion of discarded materials from landfills, incinerators, and the environment, by the Zero Waste International Alliance). This technical support is free to entities with specific environmental concerns: a proposed incinerator, a very low recycling rate, and widespread open dumping, among issues.

The early projects – there are five participating communities across the U.S.—are focusing on developing recycling, reuse, composting and/or anaerobic digestion programs and policies.

What Cornucopia brings to the table is knowledge and experience, says Neil Seldman, director of Recycling Cornucopia Program, Zero Waste USA. Seldman left the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) that he co-founded 48 years ago to lead this new initiative, which complements other Zero Waste USA programs.

“We at Zero Waste USA know how to help cities change their infrastructure to support recycling, jobs, and the environment, and to ultimately drive systemic change towards zero waste. We have all done this type of work over decades and have brought our collective experience to launch and facilitate Recycling Cornucopia.”

Detroit is among the earliest program participants. Two community development groups, Sustainable Community Farms (SCF) and Zero Waste Detroit (ZWD), which first came to ILSR years ago for guidance in determining how to shut down an incinerator, have now turned to Cornucopia for support in developing and implementing a zero waste plan for the city. They aim to share a proposed plan with Detroit’s Public Works department in mid-2023.

Public Works is teaming with Cornucopia on the research to be able to assess capital and labor resources to inform recommendations. SCF, ZWD, and Zero Waste USA will speak to private and public sectors to further understand the current waste management landscape and where to focus moving forward.

Among approaches being explored are single- and dual-stream collections, aiming to increase Detroit’s recycling rate, which currently hovers at less than 10 percent.

Building momentum begins from the ground up. In Detroit, SCF and ZWD envision reaching out to their community networks and, working with Cornucopia, creating a constituency of citizens to call on the government to back investments in these strategies.

“We will have town hall meetings in various city districts to talk to council members and citizens about what zero waste is and what it can do for the community. We will let them know how these programs can reduce costs and create jobs for their families,” Seldman says.

This effort is a collaboration of homegrown environmental organizations and other advocates who have come together to develop this plan, explains Deborah Steward Anderson, coordinator for Zero Waste Detroit and TRUE Zero Waste advisor.

“Working also with consultants from Cornucopia and Zero Waste USA for guidance in laying the blueprint to develop practical and cost-effective pathways for the city will be key to advancing in economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable ways in the 21^st Century,” she says.

The emphasis in Detroit and in other locations is on community solutions.

“You don’t need to send organics out to a central point to compost it, then ship it back. You can process and use it where you are. Similarly, you can set up reuse stores where materials are repaired and resold,” Seldman says.

Among other Cornucopia projects is work in Minneapolis, on behalf of Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, a coalition of community members and organizations. The aim is to shut down the city's incinerator and advance zero waste initiatives.

In Warren County, NY Cornucopia is working with town supervisors and activists on a plan to sell and send source-separated materials directly to factories rather than pay for single-stream processing.

And in Central Appalachia, Cornucopia is working with the ReUse Corridor, a collaborative of local economic development agencies, private companies, and nonprofits, to raise capital to expand zero waste businesses and programs in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

In Washington, D.C. Seldman’s team is participating in zero waste planning on behalf of the city’s department of Public Works.

Zero waste is not just a waste management program. It’s an economic development program, Seldman says.

“When cities, counties, and regions start composting and recycling, for example, companies come to take advantage of the supply of raw materials. When you recycle and compost you create 6 to 10 jobs for every one job created to dispose in landfills or incinerators.”

Zero waste is a social investment too, he says, exemplifying by pointing to one of several community compost programs he was previously involved in—a school project set up at a garden across from an elementary school in South Baltimore, MD.

“This compost initiative not only created jobs, but it created an environment where children learn about nature … So zero waste is revolutionary not just in how we handle materials and improve the natural world. It’s a way to improve local economics and a way to improve people’s spirits. Recycling and composting make people happy. It builds community.”