You have long championed the best ways to reduce trash in the Flathead Valley. For example, your work through the WasteNot Project educates over 3,000 school children and their families each year on the practices of recycling and composting – that’s been over 35,000 children since the program’s inception 14 years ago.
But we have a problem. Recycling isn’t working anymore. We can continue to go through the motions, hoping to preserve a recycling culture that we’ve been conditioned to accept for more than 20 years. But it’s a model no longer feasible or practical.
At Citizens for a Better Flathead we recognize this and embark into the first phase of our Towards Zero Waste initiative. We appreciate that with you we’ve become leaders in waste mitigation efforts in the valley. Continue on this journey with us. Invest today in our Towards Zero Waste initiative.
Towards Zero Waste is more than recycling as much as possible. Our aim is changing what and how we produce, consume, and dispose of our stuff. Let’s have a major impact on the valley’s waste stream. Let’s facilitate:
- Resource recovery through recycling and composting.
- Resource longevity through reuse, repair, sharing, and durable design.
- Resource efficiency and waste prevention through:
- Product redesign,
- Zero waste purchasing,
- Producer responsibility, and
- New policies promoting a circular economy in the valley.
Towards Zero Waste is more than a warm hug for the environment. Let’s get messy and do what needs to be done to build on a “green” economy in the valley. Let’s redesign products using fewer resources, using less-toxic materials, using more reusable and recyclable materials in the first place. Let’s assist in building new business models that recognize recycled materials as economic resources. Let’s explore ways to reinvest these resources locally. Let’s create profitable businesses providing good-paying jobs here in the valley.
Our Towards Zero Waste initiative is a paradigm shift in waste mitigation. But there’s no final destination. We’re not going to eliminate all waste in the valley. Instead it’s a longer journey. Entering the first leg of our trip, let’s work to organize community members around the goal of Towards Zero Waste. Let’s also work to provide resource recovery services for everyone in the valley. Let’s envision a community where you can’t miss the new Towards Zero Waste approach.
At Citizens for a Better Flathead we’re currently:
- Designing a “community waste assessment” to survey the landscape – what’s being done, what needs to be done – to develop baselines to measure and evaluate our progress against, and identify areas for improvement.
- Developing plans to expand the educational outreach of our WasteNot Project, to expand our Towards Zero Waste loan program for events.
- Building working relationships and collaborative projects with you and other community members, schools, businesses, and our elected and appointed leaders.
Towards Zero Waste is a journey that doesn’t start without your investment. It takes time and money to shift the consumer culture and change behavior – a higher-level change than post-consumer waste management. We want a larger impact through local policy and business decisions. We want to shift what types of materials we purchase and the types of industry we support. We want you to be behind us in this effort.
You know the key is community engagement – education, outreach, and other programs to involve everyone in our community. Each of us has a role to play in the change and actions we take every day. Let’s continue this walk together! Invest today! Give to Citizens for a Better Flathead!
Thank you.