“Why are we building new ways to dispose of garbage, when what we ought to be doing is finding ways in which to reduce the amount of garbage?”

Iowa has a great group of citizens who are really committed to the environment. And we’ve been working for a long time to try and improve a lot of different things about the way in which we deal with environmental issues and into the concept of sustainability, which brings environment, economy, social justice and community together. So this is simply one step in making that happen. The Zero Waste Strategy is designed to really take the next step beyond recycling. Lots of people recycle. What we’re talking about is waste reduction and moving to the next stage, where we actually reduce the amount of waste that’s sent away to the landfills.

Think Green Iowa’s mission is to create, promote and implement programs that maximize management and conservation of resources while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.  It is our goal to persuade citizens, businesses, and governments in the Polk County region to adopt a Zero Waste philosophy.

Often materials used to create products and provide services generate waste by-products that end up in landfills, streams, oceans, and the air.  Zero waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource-use systems in such a way that waste is reduced to zero. Put simply, we believe that all discarded materials have resource potential.  Zero Waste focuses on reducing waste and reusing products, then recycling and composting the rest (Recycle, Reuse, Reduce)

 

Zero Waste Cycle

 

 

Board of Directors

 

Andrew Leniton - President

Annette McCarthy - Vice-President

Larry James, Jr - Secretary

Creighton Cox - Treasurer

Kim Howell - Founding Director

Chad Ziesman

Jon Kallen

Charles Wittmack

Next Board Meeting is on September 7, 2010, Smokey Row Coffeehouse @ 5:30pm.

For more information click here to e-mail us.