RACING TO ZERO will bring a new perspective to the garbage problem confronting the world today and the growing
threat that this imposes on the environment itself. For more than a year we have been actively researching the damaging affect of human waste on the environment, how to explain what is happening and the steps being taken to find solutions.
Americans are still prodigious wasters and in 2009 threw out roughly 243 million tons of trash or about 4.34 pounds of garbage per person per day…and 132 million tons ended up in landfill.
Our 60 minute documentary is an awakening and an admonition and we are the targeted audience. The original title, TRASH24, has now morphed into RACING TO ZERO which suggests a better operating framework for the questions that we are asking and the solutions being implemented by specific cities. Can we achieve the eventual goal, ZERO garbage to landfill in the foreseeable future? Everyone is involved and the pressure is on. How much time do we have?
The miracles of compost
RACING TO ZERO urges us to change our relationship to our waste. It’s a full time job to consider how our garbage is going to impact the whole environment, we are finding out that everything that people threw away into the landfills 40 or 50 years ago didn’t degrade and that includes plastic, glass, paper, steel, everything. Raw organics biodegrade 50% and the rest is there forever. We must understand its potential for reinvention while recognizing its value as a Resource. Read more…
Prop A would also risk hundreds of good-paying jobs of Recology’s employee-owners. Nearly 900 Recology employees work in San Francisco, and nearly all of them are union members. Recology’s commitment to local hire means that many of these employees live right here in our San Francisco neighborhoods.
And given our combined environmental effort, our shared effort to reach Zero Waste, when our city will send no garbage to landfills, now is not the time to turn back. We are far ahead of state standards and lead the nation. A change now would mean pressing pause on our progress.
It is clear that Proposition A is bad for San Francisco businesses, residents, and our city budget. It is needless attempt to replace a system that has proven to be good for ratepayers. Proposition A should be opposed by anyone who values our success, and shares San Francisco’s commitment to the environment and fair labor practices.
