Why Zero Waste is Just More Greenwashing

If manufacturing businesses and the politicians were really serious about reversing the effect of climate change and the environment in general there would be a state-of-the-art recycling center in every supermarket, and retail location that produces mass waste.

Better yet if corporations and politicians were really serious about climate change and the environment they would not be spending billions lobbying one another to continue manufacturing unnecessary packaging and trashing the planet with plastic bags, disposable water bottles, and all the other so-called convenience containers. 

They would also quit lying to the public about reaching zero-waste -- decades from now. It's called GREENWASHING. And the sooner we learn to separate the bullshit from reality, the better off we will be. But we have a long way to go because about 90% of what we hear, read and see from all media sources is complete bullshit! They have created a charade that serves their own interests but misleads the public creating a culture of lying. It's considered, sensational rather than informative. It prints the news but not the truth. It has become a stage on which the actions of the government were a series of dramas.

PART II
Living a zero-waste lifestyle takes a certain set of privileges that aren’t often addressed. If you are worried about putting food on your table (like 40 million Americans are) or live in a food desert (like 23.5 million Americans do), you probably can’t afford to be concerned about what type of packaging your food comes in. Even if you wanted to, if you live in a food desert or rural area that doesn’t have a basic grocery store, you probably don’t have access to the specialty stores needed to shop in bulk.

PART II Recycling is a fraud.  

Large manufacturing companies love to get into our heads through their TV commercials and tell us about their own recycling mission statements and to encourage us to recycle, recycle, recycle so they can keep producing more and more junk to be recycled.

Our output of waste far exceeds our ability to process it.  There are some that consider themselves to live zero waste if they only buy recycled products. In truth, in America (and many countries), we aren’t set up to efficiently recycle. Only 9% of products are actually recycled- which means that the other 91% is going to landfill, being burned (and releasing toxic fumes), or ending up in our waterways. 

It’s really easy to put carbon pollution into the atmosphere but really hard to take it back out and safely bury it for the long term. Nonetheless, the promise of carbon capture and net-zero emissions decades from now allows politicians to kick the can so far down the road you can barely see it. That’s another masterful delay tactic.

We must hold our policymakers accountable for representing the public interest rather than polluting interests. This is the last best opportunity for averting climate disaster.