How can we speak of zero waste or zero emissions if, as you learned earlier no process is 100% efficient? The answer is that zero waste is a philosophy, one that says there is no waste: what we call “waste” or “pollutant” is really a useful resource. This philosophy recognizes too that, if we aspire to reduce waste by 100%, we accomplish more than if our goal was 40% or 80%.

Sections I to III below emphasize dematerialization, reducing the quantities of materials we use. Section I asks how well we are doing in reducing waste and pollution, and looks at the waste that the United States produces. Section II discusses industrial ecology, a discipline with the goal of enmeshing industrial society into the environment. It also raises the idea of increasing our efficiency in resource use 4-fold, perhaps as much as 10- to 20-fold. Section III examines tools useful in working toward zero waste, including life-cycle assessment (LCA) and design for the environment (DfE). Other tools too point toward ways to reduce use of resources: servicizing and product stewardship. Section IV takes us to detoxification; that is, changing the chemicals we use and how we produce them, “green chemistry.” The intention is to reduce chemical risk to humans and the environment. Finally, Section V asks, is there progress toward zero waste?