Capstone Project Update - Recycling: Overcoming a Bunker Mentality

I find it fascinating that in our state’s efforts to create a sustainable future, we are inadvertently negatively impacting the environment and health of our global neighbors. The central issue revolves around the economic cost of disposing of waste and who should bear this burden and how this burden should be distributed across societies. Is waste truly a public good and can we expect recycling to be run as a purely for-profit enterprise and is this compatible with environmental sustainability?

To address these complex issues, I would like to lead a class or speak at an assembly to address how California and Pasadena’s Zero Waste targets both positively and negatively impact our local and global community.

One way that I could do this though showing the award-winning Kofi & Lartey documentary and follow up with a brief discussion about what can be done to reduce e-waste and waste in general. I have emailed Ms. Harriette Wright and she said that she would be willing to share the documentary for a local screening.

Another approach would be to put together a brief presentation about the positive and negative impacts of California’s Zero Waste Initiative and to follow it up with a discussion. I think that this would be a great debate/discussion topic for a 9th Grade World Cultures Class (particularly the classes on Africa and Asia as these are key destinations for US waste), Ms. Hamilton’s Global Perspectives 10th grade English class (covering the damaging legacy on Africa and Asia of colonialism) or perhaps the AP English City of Angeles Class (where I could touch upon the issues around state-wide Zero Waste policies and how this impacts our local city and the global community).

Additionally, in order to reach out beyond the Poly community, I am working on finding a contact within the City of Pasadena to see if we can work together to address the issues surrounding our state’s Zero Waste targets.

At the highest level, the main questions I am hoping to illuminate through my Capstone Project are:

1. How much waste does California produce and why should we care?
2. How and why is the average amount of waste per resident increasing? 
3. What is California’s Zero Waste Initiative? 
4. What are landfill diversion targets? How are they set and how do cities implement and measure these targets?
5. Where does waste go? What happens to recycling?
6. What is the economic, human, and environmental impact of waste on a local level? On a global level?
7. What are the economics of the CA Zero Waste Initiative and should waste disposal be a public or private good?
8.  What are the ethical issues surrounding the Zero Waste Initiative?
9. What can/should we do now that we know how our waste impacts our global community?
10. What are our next steps in this local and global conversation?

Thank you for reading about my journey as I join with our school and community to better understand the positive and negative impacts of California's, and more specifically,  Pasadena's, Zero Waste Initiatives. Let's see what we can do to expand and influence this important conversation on managing our waste stream locally with a understanding of its significant impact globally.