George Solley
Humans are using natural resources faster than they can be replenished, and our unsustainable production of waste has major implications for the climate. Plastics, most of which end up in the landfill, are made with fossil fuels and have a big carbon footprint. Food waste that ends up in the dump produces methane, which is a leading greenhouse gas.
We in Fredericksburg can respond to this crisis by working to develop a circular economy. This concept, which is gaining credibility and popularity in private industry, is based on the recognition that our current economic model – to take materials from the earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste – is not sustainable. The circular economy, by contrast, first concentrates on stopping the waste from being produced in the first place by following three principles:
- Designing out waste and pollution
- Keeping products and materials in use
- Regenerating natural systems.
Although a local community like Fredericksburg cannot do much to design out waste, it can take measures that conform to the circular economy model and can support, on a local level, all three principles. Adopting policies and prioritizing products that design out waste contributes to the economic success of this type of design; recycling and composting help keep products and materials in use; composting helps regenerate natural systems by protecting and restoring valuable nutrients in the soil.
Waste management, whether recycling or landfill operation, is a complex business, and local and community recycling in the United States depends almost totally on the commercial recyclables market, whose vagaries dictate whether localities can recycle for profit, require subsidy from the taxpayers, or are able to recycle some materials at all. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality requires localities to recycle at least 25% of municipal solid waste, and a few years ago the recycling rate for the R-Board (Fredericksburg and Stafford County) reached around 50%. Now, with changes in the international market and other economic influences, the rate is closer to 30%.
Recycling should not be viewed as a stand-alone issue, but as part of an overall effort to become a sustainable society – not a singular activity, but part of a continuum of use. When materials outlive their initial usefulness, recycling reduces waste by keeping recyclables out of landfills. But, taken a step further, reuse reduces the amount of materials requiring recycling. Fredericksburg has limited influence of the commercial market, but they can, with solid planning and effort, both discourage single-use and unsustainable products, encourage reuse, increase the recycling rate, and create greater efficiencies in the recycling program.
Currently, an estimated one-third of all food produced globally – worth $1 trillion – is thrown away each year, a significant loss of nutrients and a major cause of environmental issues. Localities can influence influence reduction of food waste at the source, but only to a limited extent. What they can do, however, is create and support programs that reduce the amount of food waste going into local landfills. Composting can take place at many levels – backyard, block, neighborhood, schoolyard, community, and regional – and in urban, suburban, and rural areas. According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
Composting locally at the neighborhood or community-level yields many other benefits: social inclusion and empowerment, greener neighborhoods, improved local soils, enhanced food security and fewer food deserts, less truck traffic hauling garbage, more local jobs, and increased composting know-how and skills within the local workforce that is reinforced in the next generation. When composting is small-scale and locally based, community participation and education can flourish. When materials are collected and transported out of the community for processing, few if any of these benefits are realized at the local level. In addition, community-scale operations can move from concept to operation in a relatively short time frame. And community composting can build critical support for and participation in future citywide food scrap recovery programs.
Although it may be difficult to jump immediately into a composting program at the City or R-Board level, reducing food waste should be a goal of both organizations. Many municipalities across the country have initiated creative programs to reduce food waste, Fairfax County’s progression from neighborhood drop-off points to curb-side pickup being a good example. Fredericksburg can take steps, financially and otherwise, to support home composting, support neighborhoods and organizations in small-scale composting, and eventually move to larger scale programs.
Fredericksburg has made expanding conservation and sustainability efforts a priority. In the areas of recycling and composting, taking actions in pursuit of sustainability goals over the next several years can lead to a greatly increased level of sustainability for the City. Here are recommended goals and actions:
Goal 1 – Move toward developing a local circular economy
- Incorporate the principles of circular economy into city planning and policies.
- Establish city policies that prioritize the purchase of circular products.
Goal 2 – Prioritize the outreach and education of citizens and commercial interests about all aspects of reuse, recycling, and composting
- Plan and conduct long-term outreach and education effort to a) encourage the purchase of reusable, rather than single-use, products and the reuse of items wherever possible, b) increase the number of residents and businesses participating in the recycling program with a goal of 60% or greater, and c) improve the efficiency of recycling efforts by eliminating unrecyclable or contaminated items.
- Plan and conduct long-term outreach and education effort to a) educate the community about the benefits of and techniques for composting at the residential and business levels, b) greatly increase the rate of composting in the city, c) and significantly reduce the amount of organic waste deposited in the landfill.
Goal 3 – Take steps to increase the recycling rate and reduce the amount of recyclables in the landfill
- Work with R-Board to create better efficiencies in the collection and distribution of household and small business recyclables – paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, glass.
- Lobby the General Assembly, in partnership with VML and other local governments, for authority to establish sustainability measures, such as restrictions on single-use products.
- Expand programs to recycle items such as appliances, batteries, electronics, etc.
- Encourage and support citizen efforts, individual and organizational, to reuse and recycle.
Goal 4 – Initiate and expand composting in the City
- Work with R-Board to create better efficiencies in the collection and treatment of yard waste – brush and clippings – that can be used to create mulch or as part of composting efforts.
- Encourage and support private and neighborhood composting by providing space where feasible on city property, establishing composting-friendly policies, giving financial incentives for composting, and providing other support as feasible.
- Partner with a private organization to establish drop-off composting in the city, with a view to moving to curbside collection.
