21st Century Policy Project

Future Search Conference Issue: Sustainability

Issue Definition and Scope

What does or should current thinking about "sustainable development" mean for solid waste management? Sustainability means "creating economic, ecological and social prosperity while ensuring that future generations have the same opportunity to create their own prosperity." Achieving this goal depends on society fundamentally changing the way it views waste, by moving from a disposal-driven "cradle-to-grave" system with significant negative impacts toward a more benign "cradle-to-cradle stewardship" system.

Background

Discussions about taking a holistic, systems approach to solid waste management, one that incorporates factors such as impacts of extracting virgin materials and disposing discards in landfills, date back decades. However, most products continue to be manufactured, used, and discarded with little consideration of these factors. Recently, though, a paradigm shift has begun. In 1987, the United Nations defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." At the same time, initiatives such as the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory and global ISO 14000 Environmental Management System standards were coming into play. These and other driving forces have led policy makers and corporate leaders to pay heed to related concepts such as pollution prevention, resource efficiency, industrial ecology, design for the environment, and producer responsibility. Companies such as Interface and Xerox have even changed their corporate missions from selling products to selling the product’s function, such that they reduce impacts on natural systems while increasing their own profitability.

Issue Questions

• How should solid waste and materials management be integrated into a sustainable development policy framework and, conversely, how should emerging global policies be factored into decisions about solid waste and materials management?
• How should the policy framework for solid waste and materials management be structured such that long-term costs and benefits of different management options (across multiple media and resources) are valued and factored into decision-making?
• Upon which guiding principles should the Board’s programs be structured to foster sustainability? Should the Board change its focus from a disposal-driven system to a performance-based cradle-to-cradle materials management system?
• What is the role of the CIWMB in moving the state and nation toward policies and programs that implement the sustainability ethic?
• What role should government play in improving feedback mechanisms such as fiscal incentives (e.g., taxes, fees, tradable credits) and information tools (such as disclosure, EMS and producer responsibility guidelines) to stimulate individuals, businesses, industries, growers, and government to adopt sustainable practices and initiatives?
• What statutory and/or regulatory authority does the Board need to develop programs that implement sustainable practices and initiatives (e.g., to ensure that products are manufactured for reuse, that credits are provided for long-term environmental benefits, etc.)?
• What is the role of the public sector in partnering with the private sector to implement sustainable development policies and programs?
• What are examples of performance metrics that we can use to track progress?
• How can we mitigate the waste management problems that may arise from large-scale environmental changes, e.g., population increase, global warming, etc.?

Last updated: October 18, 2007