REDUCE and REUSE what you can, then recycle.

The concept of Zero Waste is an end goal but with a caveat. The goal is to truly reduce total waste generation to zero, but the reality is average organization (Business, school, home, or city) attempting "Zero Waste" achieve approximately 90% diversion. The process entails the analysis of your total waste generation, then redesigning your business process to design the waste out. If you know that at the end you have large portions of X, then go upstream and change your process to eliminate all the residual of X. Design for obsolescence.

Information in Zero Waste:

• Choose to Reuse Single Use Carry Out Bags
• Environmentally-Friendly Food Packaging
• Organic Waste Recycling Program

"If you are not for Zero Waste, how much waste are you for?"  - Gary Liss, Founder, National Recycling Coalition

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reduce food waste

• Reduce food waste and help food insecure families by donating edible food. The list of local organizations accepting donations can be found on our Edible Food Recovery page. Please refer to the organization's website, or contact them directly, for information on accepted donations and any specified collection days prior to drop off.
• Utilize ingredients to their full extent. For example, vegetable scraps can be used to make vegetable stock.
• Shop your fridge before making a trip to the store. 
• Understand date labels. Learn the difference between "best by" and "use by" dates on packaging.
• Store food properly. Store produce correctly to maximize its shelf life. If an item in your household has been over-purchased, freeze it if possible.

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Choose to Reuse
Use reusable bags every time you shop instead of plastic ones.
Here's why:

• Each year billions of bags end up in our streets as litter.
• Production requires vast amounts of oil.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, but instead break down into small toxic particles polluting our soil and waterways.
• Recent studies have shown that plastic outnumbers plankton 6:1 in the ocean.