Zero Waste

Our economic model now is linear. We take resources, make a product, sell it, and when it is used up, throw away the remains.

More than half the plastic in the world is made in the United States. The sheer amount of oil that goes into making that plastic is mind-boggling to contemplate, particularly when you consider how finite oil is as a resource.

Traffic rotaries, also known as roundabouts, are an alternative solution to traffic lights. The way they work is that traffic feeds into a circle, and drivers exit at the road they want to take.

If you're going to get your haircut, wouldn't it make sense to do something worthwhile with it, instead of just throwing it in the garbage? Lots of people with long, lustrous locks donate their hair every year to make wigs for good causes. Whether it's for children with conditions that cause their hair to fall out, or for adults suffering hair loss because of cancer treatment, it seems like a fairly simple process.

The goal of zero waste might sound like a lofty and idealistic one, but it is easier than you might think. Like any other policy change that a business undertakes, there are a few basic steps to ensure success.

Welsh poet John Dyer first used the term "cradle to grave" in the 1700s. Modern industry has a new spin on the term in the cradle to cradle model, or C2C.