The goal is ZERO. ZERO garbage going to landfills.
We want to change our relationship to garbage. We want to encourage thinking of our DISCARDS as a RESOURCE rather than as WASTE; to find another life for the things we discard, and keep them out of landfills. We all need to think about garbage today. It’s a full time job to think of how your garbage is going to impact the environment. RACING TO ZERO examines today’s cultural practices in terms of consumption, preparation, use and production.
We are curious to see what people say when they discover that what they buy, use, save, and discard is different from the material remains that represent what they bought, used, saved and discarded. Why do we buy what we buy? Only a third of the waste in the United Stated is recycled or composted. Why? Industry, through its practice of conceived obsolescence, plays a major role; our lives are almost totally dependent on unrecyclable petroleum products. Where are the alternatives?
Natural resources are dwindling, climates changing, the environment is suffering, we look toward being buried in landfill and most of the world’s oceans have huge gyres of floating plastic. There is hope, but first, we need to fully understand the problem. Some cities in California have recognized the imminent threat, and are radically reducing the amount of refuse they send to landfills, with the eventual goal of reaching zero waste in the foreseeable future. How?
RACING TO ZERO will follow the collective efforts of one of these cities, San Francisco, which is successfully taking the necessary steps: increased recycling, creative repurposing, composting to recycle organics back to the earth where nature and science interact, and changing patterns of production and consumption. Diminishing non-recyclables have already radically reduced the amount of garbage that is sent to landfills. In fact, San Francisco leads the nation keeping 78% of its garbage out of landfills.
This is the year for Compost. Cities all over the United States have been inspired to participate. Energy from related sources is being explored, incineration is diminishing, and countless ideas for reusable products are emerging globally as small businesses.
Our leading characters will guide us through the various aspects of the story: Robert Haley, Recycling Manager for San Francisco’s Department of the Environment, William Rathje, archaeologist, anthropologist, scholar and inventor of the science of Garbology, Robert Shaffer, an agronomist and farmer, champion of the values of compost. In their travels around the countryside and conversations with other scholars and experts, they will explain the the story of garbage, its past, present, and future.
It will become clear that above all we must make major changes in our living patterns. This is everyone’s dilemma, but we have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference. Consider what you buy and if it can have a longer life, can it be reused? Can it be repurposed? Can it be composted? Above all, education is a major factor in helping us realize the need to make immediate changes to our patterns of living. There must be an alternative to plastic!
Please help us make this film a reality.
