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Racing To Zero

Plastics & Pollution • 55m

Directed by Christopher Beaver • Documentary • 2015 • 55 minutes

Only one third of the waste in the United States is recycled or composted. Why? Industry, through its practice of planned obsolescence, plays a major role; our lives are almost totally dependent on unrecyclable petroleum products. In order to reach zero waste, we need to change our relationship to garbage and view the things we discard as resources, rather than waste.

RACING TO ZERO examines our society's garbage practices in terms of consumption, preparation, use and production, and discovers some amazing solutions in San Francisco, which is successfully taking the necessary steps to reach zero waste. Cities all over the United States have instituted zero-waste policies of their own, and it is through these mandates that we are challenged to think differently about not only how we handle our garbage, but what it can become.

Tags
american (u.s.) studies, americas, apartment recycling, area studies, art from trash, biological hazard materials, biology, bullfrog films, business, carbon footprint, changes in living and consuming patterns, climate change, climate1, composting, composting in chinatown, corporate responsibility for compost, cradle to cradle, creative repurposing, development, doc, ecology, electronics recycling, energy, engineering, environment, environmental design, event recycling, expository, garbage as resource, garbology, glass recycling, goodwill, government policy, green citizen, increased recycling, inspection of bins, labor and economics, local economies, making compost, mayor edwin lee, neighborhood recycling, non-incineration biogas for energy, north american studies, ovid, ovid_ca, planned obsolescence, plastics recycling, pollution, producer responsibility, psychology and mental health, racing to zero, recology, recycling and waste, recycling construction debris, recycling organics, recycling tour of city hall, redwood landfill, relationship to garbage, resource planning and management, resources not waste, robert haley, robert shaffer, ruihong zhang, s_0035, s_0045, s_0079, s_0089, s_0092, s_0127, s_0180, s_0232, s_0243, s_0247, s_0260, s_0263, s_0280, s_0447, s_0514, s_0608, s_0642, san francisco, science and technology, social psychology, social studies, sociology, sustainability, textile recycling, the, the american west, title_nopqrs, title_r, toxic materials, united states, unrecyclable petroleum products, urban studies, wastebusters, william rathje, world regions, zero waste, zero waste and climate change. school children lead the way

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