ZERO WASTE
To address the linked issues of waste, consumerism, plastic pollution, environmental justice, human rights and climate change, we need to join forces and raise our voices. We need to hold ourselves, our government, and corporations accountable.

According to the EPA, “42 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are associated with the energy used to produce, process, transport, and dispose of the food we eat and the goods we use. This includes the extraction or harvest of materials and food, production and transport of goods, provision of services, reuse of materials, recycling, composting, and disposal.

In addition, the production and disposal of single use plastics puts a disproportionate health burden on low income and communities of color here and abroad. Zero waste is an environmental justice issue.
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Minneapolis Climate Action's Zero Waste Guide 2020
This guide is a start for activists, citizens, and organizations to share and use as a resource for individual, corporate and government action on zero waste. The info is also below.

Join our Zero Waste Mpls Facebook Page and Facebook Group
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888 straws pulled from Lake Hiawatha in South Minneapolis on 4/20/2019
Click here to see the full report about the trash pulled from Lake Hiawatha [Anthropocenic Midden Survey: Lake Hiawatha Trash Survey]

Zero Waste Resources, Information & Policy

EUREKA RECYCLING
CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS RESOURCES HENNEPIN COUNTY RESOURCES
ZERO WASTE FACEBOOK PAGES AND GROUPS
REDUCING WASTED FOOD
Save the Food: a great resource for reducing wasted food with meal planning, food storage, recipes for food scraps, and more

ORGANICS RECYCLING RESOURCES 
from City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County


LOCAL COMMITTEES and ACTION GROUPS
INFO and RESOURCES
  • Oil and Gas Threat Map
  • Sean Connaughty’s Lake Hiawatha Trash Survey 2019
  • Dr. MAX LIBOIRON on Reorienting Within a World of Plastic - great podcast from For the Wild: Dr. Max Liboiron runs a feminist, anti colonial research lab focused on marine plastic pollution. “Acknowledging our entangled relationship with plastics calls for a more nuanced discussion on waste through the prisms of colonialism, disposability, and knowledge production. What does the history of plastic production and the sanitation movement tell us about the design of modern waste regimes? How can we bring accountability into the scientific study of plastic and honor ecological relationality in the lab? How does the landscape of pollution—and attendant clean-up “solutions”—reproduce colonial dynamics?” 

LEGISLATION and POLICY
Federal:
  • Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 - a comprehensive federal bill that includes language to hold producers accountable; phase out certain single use products; increase required recycled content; puts a moratorium on new plastics manufacture facilities; creates standardized recycling labeling system.
  • Zero Waste Act - Federal grant program to help local cities to invest in zero waste initiatives.  Funds can go towards recycling infrastructure, or towards the creation of partnerships with local businesses aimed at reducing waste in their operations. The Zero Waste Act will create jobs, grow domestic manufacturing, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean waterways, protect our communities from health hazards, save energy, and further grow our economy.
  • Extended Producer Responsibility Bill

State
City of Minneapolis
PLASTICS LOBBYIST INFO
Ameripen:This major lobbyist group represents large corporations like 3M, General Mills, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo. 

DONATE TO ORGANIZATIONS ON THE FRONTLINES OF ZERO WASTE:
ZERO WASTE BUSINESSES and INITIATIVES
EVENTS
Past events:
July 30, 2020
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Talking Trash with Neighbors - Zoom Meeting
Talking Trash with Neighbors - Slide Presentation

May 8, 2020
6:45pm - 9:30pm via Zoom
The Story of Plastic BIPOC Viewing Party and Discussion

June 1, 2020
6:30pm - 9:00pm via Zoom
Zero Waste Action Movement Kick-off