United States Environmental Protection Agency Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5306W) EPA230-F-97-013 September 1998 www.epa.gov/globalwarming WasteWise Partnership Benefits Climate Change WasteWise, a program that promotes waste prevention and recycling practices—-joint- ly referred to as waste reduction—in offices and industry, diverts materials from the municipal solid waste stream. In addition to cost savings and efficiencies, waste reduc- tion has positive effects on climate change. The manufacture and distribution of products and the subsequent management of solid waste can contribute to the formation of green- house gases. To lower greenhouse gas emissions from these actions, as well as for other envi- ronmental benefits, EPA is encouraging waste reduction efforts through its WasteWise program. EPA REGION 1 LIBRARY JFK FEDERAL BLDG. WHAT Is WASTEWISE? $ince January 1994, EPA has been working in partnership with American businesses; state, local, and tribal governments; and institutions to reduce municipal solid waste. Presently, more dian 800 organizations are WasteWise partners. Partners are located all across the country and represent a variety of business, civic, and industrial sectors, ranging from small local governments to Fortune 1000 corporations. Through the WasteWise program, partners make a voluntary commitment to implement or expand a solid waste reduction program with three complementary components: • Preventing waste. The cornerstone of WasteWise is waste prevention, which means using less material to do the same job or produce the same product. WasteWise partners commit to implement- ing three significant waste prevention activ- ities of their choice. • Recycling. By recycling, WasteWise partners divert materials from disposal. They commit to initiate, expand, or improve company programs to collect recyclables. For to an existing program or boost recycling rates by educating employees or the community. • Buying or manufacturing recycled products. WasteWise partners can play a key role in assimilating recycled materials into consumer markets. They commit to purchasing products with recycled content. Manufacturers may also raise the percentage of postcon- sumer materials in the products they make. WasteWise partners design their own solid waste reduction programs, tailored to meet their needs and operations. Partners monitor their progress during a 3-year peri- od and report annually to EPA on their accomplishments. The WasteWise program helps participating organizations discover waste reduction opportunities and set waste reduction goals. Partners have access (through a toll-free helpline) to WasteWise representatives, who provide personalized assistance, and to a wide range of waste reduction publications and electronic sup- port services. EPA also publicly recognizes individual organizations and program suc- cesses. Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber. ------- How DOES WASTEWISE HELP REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS? The three cornerstones of WasteWise— waste prevention, recycling, and buying recy- cled—are among the most effective ways to slash die greenhouse gases traceable to municipal solid waste. WasteWise partners divert millions of tons of material from disposal each year. They also attain higher levels „ of efficiency by using only ^ the materials * they really need. And as these organi- zations prevent more waste and recycle more materials, fewer greenhouse gases are emitted into the ' atmosphere. For mo information on WasteWise, call the WasteWise helpline at 1-800-EPA-WISE or go to www.epa.gov/wastewise. For more information on climate change, including climate change and waste reduction, you can access EPA s Web site on global warming at: www.epa.gov/globalwarming. Waste prevention, in particular, can greatly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by conserving raw materials and the energy expended to retrieve, process, and manufacture them into products. In addition, waste prevention keeps materials out of landfills and incinerators. Certain materials gener- ate greenhouse gases as they degrade in landfills or burn in incinerators. Overall, waste prevention provides more climate change benefits than any other waste manage- ment option. By boosting their recycling efforts, WasteWise partners keep valuable materials out of landfills and incinerators. In particular, many organizations have increased their recy- cling of office paper and corrugated containers. Keeping paper products out of landfills cuts methane emissions. Recycling used paper saves energy and can leave more trees standing in the forest. Trees take large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in wood. WasteWise partners are also encouraged to manufacture or buy products made from recyclable materials. This helps ensure that recyclables, rather than raw materials, are used in manufacturing processes. Typically, manufacturing products from recycled rather dian virgin materials con- sumes less energy. How much of an impact is WasteWise having on climate change? In 1997, Waste Wise partners documented some 816,000 tons of waste material reduced, including corru- gated cardboard, wood, metal, and paper. They also recy- cled over 6.8 million torts of waste, including steel, wood, paper, cardboard, and other items. In climate change terms, this is having a tremendous impact: The combined recycling and waste prevention efforts of the WasteWise partners in 1997 alone prevented nearly 5.2 million met- ric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE, the basic unit of measure for greenhouse gases) that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere. That's like preventing the average annual emissions from electric power ton- sumption of roughly 3.1 million households. ------- |