The Zero Landfill Initiative (ZLI) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to moving communities and enterprises away from landfilling, and toward resource recovery and environmental protection

Our Projects are geared towards achieving these objectives.

Foundation:

• Promote sustainable circular economic models with a focus on waste prevention and resource recovery across the public, private and non-profit sectors;
• Acknowledge that a “zero waste to landfill” state is possible; a “zero waste” state is not. Based on natural and man-made evidence, zero is an unattainable number;
• Support and promote resource efficient, economical and sustainable diversion such as source reduction, re-use and recycling (the 3Rs);
• Acknowledge that after conducting the three Rs, sizeable amounts of material remain to be managed. Presently, Americans recover less than a third of the 410 million tons of “garbage” they generate each year -- leaving more than 300 million tons of material wasted in landfills (BioCycle, US EPA &other sources);
• Recover, 4th ‘R’, resources (Materials and Energy) from these otherwise “waste” materials using proven, resource efficient, market-oriented options;
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• Protect future generations, by moving toward sustainable circular economies, where natural resources are protected and conserved, and resources used in products and services are recovered
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ZLI reflects growing consensuses that:

• There are no such things as “waste” and “garbage”; rather, there are only recoverable (4th R) materials left, after source reduction, re-use and recycling (the 3Rs) are completed, and
• Landfills are the least sustainable, least resource-efficient way to handle these materials.
• Countries that have or are engaging directives establishing zero landfill objectives are evidence for economic-ecologic sustainable circular economies, adding valuable jobs and revenues to the local economies while protecting irreplaceable resources.

Economic and Ecologic Benefits: