Natural resources are continually extracted to produce goods that are used in the U.S. – often only briefly – before they are thrown into landfills, incinerators or the natural environment. This system of consumption and disposal results in the waste of precious resources and pollution that threatens our health, environment and global climate.
Because the costs of this system fall on society at large – not on the producers and consumers that drive it – there are few direct incentives for change.
To protect public health and the environment, conserve natural resources and landscapes, and address the mounting crisis of global warming, America should move toward an economic system characterized by zero waste. To achieve that goal, federal, state and local governments should enact policies and programs that incentivize shifting to a “circular,” or “closed-loop,” economy in which less is consumed and all materials are reused, recycled and composted in a continuous cycle.
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