The 2019 Waste to Profit and E4S Zero Waste Network continued its collaboration with a three-hour work session on December 11, 2009 where participants identified strategies to move the region toward zero waste. Zero waste is a process to recycle, reuse, redesign and rethink how we use materials with a goal of sending nothing to the landfill.

Two signs that zero waste has gained momentum in Cleveland: Cleveland Public Power is investing $150 million in a new plant that converts trash to energy. And a district-wide composting collection route that involved The Q, The Zoo, Tower City and seven more downtown businesses diverted 3 tons of food and organics from entering the landfill during its three-week test run.

The 2019 summit identified a waste-to-energy plant as a priority. In the summer of 2009, CPP and city officials visited Japan to find and possibly lure a manufacturer to establish a U.S. plant in Cleveland. CPP is interested in rerouting trash from its Ridge Road transfer station to a plant that converts waste to a gas which drives turbines and is made into a saleable byproduct for energy.

The Northeast Ohio zero waste collaborative has an online home, zerowasteneo.org, where stories and information are being gathered. Jeri Leigh Siss, Sales and Marketing Manager for Nature Friendly Products posts that “composting is happening at the corporate level all over the country.” The New York Yankees focused on sustainability during The World Series, and Waste Management is interested in reducing organics from the waste stream because composting collection represents a new revenue stream and frees up more space in their landfills.

Goals for 2010 include better educating people on ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and even ‘upcycle’ which is making a new product without using the energy to melt or grind another one down (see A Piece of Cleveland). One way would be to host events where the 25 companies that pledged to take a Zero Waste journey in Northeast Ohio can share their stories.

The events should inspire others to take baby steps, says Brook Cowdin at ServiceMaster Clean by Ameristeam, one of the companies that has pledged to be waste free. She collects coffee grounds and takes them home to use as compost. ServiceMaster, which cleans up disaster sites, was able to divert hundreds of pounds of used carpet from the landfill in 2009 by offering to store it in an unused warehouse. The company supported Cowdin’s effort to find manufacturers who could take the used carpet and grind it down (the Nylon 6 backing is recyclable and is often used in car production). ServiceMaster has found a use for an empty warehouse and has championed an environmental cause that the whole company is proud of, and in the process has saved $80,000 in avoided waste hauling expenses, Cowdin says.

Talan Products, another company with a zero waste goal, ‘inspired’ a supplier to change its bulk packaging ways, explained Victoria Avi at E4S. Talan, a metal stamper in Cleveland, requested its steel supplier use recyclable shipping crates. When the supplier balked, Talan cleverly persuaded them to cooperate by finding a supplier who could deliver.

A big goal in 2010 for the zero waste collaborative is to find 50 more businesses to start a zero waste journey. They discussed developing tools to help, including a checklist for companies to identify opportunities and workshops and tours to guide them.