With expanding urban populations and evolving consumption patterns, cities are faced with challenges pertaining to waste management. Traditional approaches centered on collection and disposal currently seem inadequate in the face of serious environmental concerns and resource scarcity. Waste management has become a focused topic to address, being introduced as a key strategy towards circular economies. The Zero Waste concept hopes to transform the way cities manage urban waste and build supportive cultures around it.
Aside from being a memorable phrase, the Zero Waste concept describes a philosophy around redesigning community relationships to resources and waste. It steps away from traditional waste management practices and their narrow views of effective disposal. The practice proposes a circular system where discarded materials are reimagined as resources with another life, completely eliminating the very concept of waste.
