Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

Zero Waste: It’s Easier Than You Might Think

Story by Kathleen McFadden

The concept of zero waste is getting plenty of attention these days in Boone and Watauga County. The members of the Boone Town Council passed a resolution supporting the zero waste initiative and frequently discuss implementation strategies, the Watauga County Cooperative Extension and the Watauga County Democratic Party now hold zero waste events, the Watauga County commissioners are considering a zero waste resolution and discussed implementation strategies at their pre-budget retreat, and zero waste will be an agenda item at an upcoming joint meeting of the Watauga County commissioners, the town councils of Boone and Blowing Rock and representatives from Appalachian State University.

Sometimes an idea takes off. And credit for this one largely belongs to Jasmine ShoShanna, chair of the Zero Waste Task Force, who has taken the zero waste message and the resolution to elected officials again and again for the past several months in an effort to encourage us to pay attention to what we’re throwing away.

The idea of reducing our weekly personal and business garbage output from its current level—one bag? two bags? more?—to nothing leaves some folks shaking their heads and walking away from the concept, but zero waste doesn’t actually mean zero.

Zero waste means reducing the output, and the Zero Waste Task Force’s goal for this year is to reduce the amount of garbage Watauga County trucks to the landfill in Johnson City by 10 percent—a goal that Watauga County Manager Rocky Nelson considers quite doable.

Zero waste also means rethinking daily habits. In a recent casual conversation, Boone Town Council member Lynne Mason commented that she has started packing her lunch in reusable containers instead of using plastic wrap and baggies. “It’s so easy,” she said. At the Watauga County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday night, Commissioner Billy Ralph Winkler said that he had stopped using disposable Styrofoam cups at Watauga High School and the result, he noted wryly, is that he now has to wash dishes. Commissioner Winston Kinsey suggested that the new high school become a lead school in the zero waste initiative.

In her appearances before elected boards, ShoShanna has said that she reduced her personal garbage output by 60 percent by paying attention to packaging and buying products that are not overpackaged, by recycling and by composting. ShoShanna strongly advocates backyard composting as an easy, effective and beneficial way to dispose of a significant amount of household trash, including paper products and food waste.

Elected officials are listening.

The Town of Boone now offers compost bins free of charge to town residents and is supporting a public awareness campaign to encourage residents to reduce their waste.

At their pre-budget retreat earlier this month, the commissioners agreed by consensus to consider hiring a full-time recycling coordinator in the 2007-08 budget. Nelson told the board that the new position could be a break-even proposition, with the increased recycling revenue offsetting the coordinator’s salary and benefits costs. The board will make the decision about the position during their budget workshop sessions on May 9 and 10.

In addition, the board directed Sanitation Director J.V. Potter to include the cost of depositories for used batteries at all the county’s convenience center sites to encourage residents to safely dispose of their batteries instead of dropping them in the garbage can. Mountain Keepers President Nancy Reigel made that suggestion.

The commissioners have also enlisted Watauga County Cooperative Extension in the effort, tasking Extension with leading an education and awareness campaign.

Small efforts? Sure, but small efforts among lots of people add up to big results. And in addition to the environmental benefits, garbage reduction can translate into big savings for the county. The fewer tons of waste that are trucked to the landfill mean fewer tax dollars going straight into the ground.