The 2019 Waste to Profit and E4S Zero Waste Network met January 29th at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in attempt to further delineate the group’s mission going forward. Up first on the agenda was a reiteration of the group’s impact goal to get 50 organizations to commit to a zero waste action plan. If achieved, the commitments would be a substantial increase from the 2009 total of 16 organizational pledges.

Next, members discussed methods to implement the objective, with the issue, then, focusing on ways to define zero waste in a manner that makes sense to businesses and their employers. For member Mark Rabkin of Deconstruction Management, the rationale for needing a definition was simple: you cannot ask a company to perform an act that is not clearly defined. And while there was some give-and-take between members on whether or not to define the term in depth—at least in relation to developing a working understanding within the group as to what “zero waste” actually is—there was a general consensus that there must be a simplification of the process for businesses. Part of this meant developing a zero waste checklist that would be easy to use for the individual employee, but—in aggregate—could produce a significant change in how a business preserves or extends materials over their life cycle. What it all boils down to, then—according to the members—was to make the zero waste process as easy as possible for a company to initiate.

For Annabel Khouri of E4S, part of this facilitation meant utilizing those companies like Berea Printing --who have achieved near zero waste -- as models for other businesses to follow. To that end, Khouri and Victoria Avi, also of E4S, informed members of an event scheduled Feb. 8th entitled “Zero Waste Best Practices and First Steps”, which is designed to inform businesses of ways to decrease costs while eliminating the size of their carbon footprint. Highlighting the event will be Jeff Baldasarri, CEO of The Taylor Companies, and Jeff Millis, Inventory and Control Manager of Talan Products.

Continuing the theme of education, the members discussed other informational events including a movie night as well as a tour of a local landfill. Still in their planning the stages, the events would be advocacy-based in which the illusion of “out of sight out of mind” would be broken, and thus the public consciousness of waste accumulation raised. Tentatively, the events are scheduled for March and April. Further details will be provided in the next Waste to Profit update.

Also: read the meeting notes on zerowasteneo.org