Zero Waste Strategy: A Question of Voluntarism

In San Antonio, a standoff is pitting the proponents of the zero waste policy against the promoters of the CSR sector. But waste reduction pioneers like San Antonio Dumpster Rental HQ are proving their worth.

Local Authorities Waste Management Urban Policy

A zero waste strategy is stating to emerge in Texas. Waste experts are furious since learning that a CSR sector project, which they calls a plastic boiler, would be submitted to the metropolitan council for a vote.

Responsible for this policy since 2020, they believe that it is not only extremely polluting, technically very complex, very costly, and therefore a massive drain on public money, but also completely at odds with their policy, unanimously approved in 2022, which aims to halve waste collection by 2027.

This represents a projected reduction of 65,000 tons out of a total of 127,000 tons, thanks to the sorting and composting of biowaste (35,000 tons), the sorting and reuse of glass, textiles, etc. (10,000 tons), as well as the disposal of economic activity waste (20,000 tons), which companies must, according to Texas regulations, entrust to private service providers responsible for sorting and recovery.

Harmful Impacts

A policy barely implemented due to a lack of will and resources on the part of the management of services, seeing this blockage as the effect of the CSR project, which requires 100,000 tons of waste to be disposed of to feed the 45,000 tons of high-heat boiler.

This new sector could be installed in the San Antonio plant and supply a district heating network. However, in addition to its harmful environmental and health impacts, the elected officials fear that it will plunge the community into a financial abyss due to soaring costs (investment and operating) and the continued increase in tax on waste. While they obtained the postponement of the vote on the resolution, the conflict turned into a political standoff with the president of the metropolitan area, who withdrew his delegations.

What exactly is a zero waste strategy

It involves reducing waste at source, developing sorting (including biowaste), promoting alternatives to single-use waste, and often introducing financial incentives. This is the challenge taken by San Antonio, which decided in 2008 to close one of its two incineration plants and renovate the second, before installing biowaste composting.

Over the years, the urban community has deployed nearly 30,000 individual composters and 300 more for multi-family housing. It has also increased source sorting of glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, and other waste. This has been complemented, since 2012, by incentive pricing (based on the weight of a household’s waste).

The result: the average amount of household waste collected has decreased by 40%, falling to 135 kilos per inhabitant per year, well below the national average of around 250 kilos. Another notable aspect of the approach is that it generates savings. Thus, the sale of compost covers the costs associated with the biowaste sector. And the frequency of waste collections has been halved in 58 municipalities of Texas, meaning one collection every two weeks instead of once a week.

Better still, the incentive tax averages #$82 per inhabitant per year, far below the national average for household waste collection taxes and fees, which exceeds $100 and can reach double that in many communities. As for the incineration plant, responsible for processing 30,000 tons of household household waste, it supplies the heating network of a multi-family housing neighborhood. And, with its capacity to absorb 5,000 more, it has been opened to other customers.

Voluntary Drop-Off Points

However, obstacles still need to be overcome.

First, the difficulty of changing behavior in collective housing. The waste bill is part of the building’s annual expenses, which makes it almost invisible, whereas in individual housing, it helps raise awareness. Sometimes, the layout of the premises also complicates the deployment of collection tools.

In a working-class neighborhood, where the residential waste facilities are not suitable, the municipality is increasing the number of outdoor voluntary drop-off points for sorting—a new project currently underway. This is also the case in the hypercenter of San Antonio, which cannot be equipped with collective composters. But a solution has been found. Residents bring their bio-buckets to a designated area run by an association.

Rising Purchasing Power

San Antonio only controls a small portion of its waste management. This hasn’t stopped the city, which has been the first Texas city of pilot cities for the circular economy since 2022, from initiating innovative prevention initiatives nine years ago. The “Zero Waste Families” challenge, launched in 2015, has attracted support from around 900 households. In one year, through workshops where people are introduced to practical solutions for composting biowaste or avoiding packaged industrial products, they have managed to halve the weight of their waste. And their purchasing power has increased by around $1,000.

The approach has been implemented in the city’s 50 schools, government agencies, associations, and businesses, 80 of which are supported in assessing and reusing or recycling their waste. A “Zero Waste Retailers” label has also encouraged 80 stores, restaurants, caterers, computer repairers, and others to adopt this approach. Volunteers can rely on a third-party site dedicated to the circular economy. This is not to mention the individual and collective composting systems deployed by the municipality. These tools are shared with 25 municipalities.

These pioneers have inspired hundreds of local authorities, as demonstrated by the rollout of incentive pricing, which allows a 41% reduction in the quantity of household household waste. Today, everything is pushing in this direction, notably with the mandatory sorting of biowaste, and the law on the fight against waste and the circular economy.

Not to mention the increase in the waste tax. But this mission is only possible if it is shared with the State. Because it is primarily up to the State to play its role, by requiring large companies to manufacture durable, non-disposable products or by allocating the waste tax revenues to offset the additional costs associated with increasingly complex waste management.

75 kg of biowaste per capita per year, or one-third of household household waste. Returning this organic matter, composed mainly of water, to the soil to enrich agricultural soils or using it to produce energy is much more beneficial than treating it through incineration.

97% of inter-municipal authorities producing less than 150 kg of household household waste and 100% of those producing less than 100 kg per capita used incentive pricing in 2021.
Local authorities lack the leverage to take upstream action to reduce packaging.

It was primarily the areas where there were no longer any outlets for waste that changed their policies and allocated significant budgets to prevention. This was successful. We recommend that local authorities set ambitious targets for source sorting of biowaste by households and all local professionals, by implementing substantial financial and human resources. These investments, along with incentive pricing, have proven effective.

The difficulty lies in the fact that local authorities lack the leverage to take upstream action to reduce packaging. And they lack the financial resources. Most allocate only 1% of their waste management budget to prevention. Today, only one in three French people has a source sorting solution for biowaste.

Written by scienceguy