Zero Waste Recycling Heads into Mainstream

Major American companies are moving toward a "zero-waste" recycling strategy previously only practiced by the most eco of the eco-conscious. The anti-garbage practice is based on a simple premise: Eliminate as much waste as possible through recycling, composting, and avoiding un-biodegradable packaging. Socially conscious restaurants, corporations, stadiums, school cafeterias, and national parks across the U.S. have implemented the practice, reports The New York Times, often in creative ways. Yellowstone National Park sells concessions in soda cups and utensils made of plants that dissolve when heated. Atlanta restaurant Ecco composts 100 percent of leftover food. Eight U.S. Honda plants have implemented zero-waste recycling and no longer need dumpsters. The difficulty of approving new landfills and the methane produced by landfill decay are two major factors in the push toward zero-waste. Plus, “Nobody wants a landfill sited anywhere near them, including in rural areas,” says the Environmental Protection Agency. “We’ve come to this realization that landfill is valuable and we can’t bury things that don’t need to be buried.”