Atlanta brings in waste-free zone

The EPA is working with a collection of local organisations to introduce a waste-free zone in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

Atlanta Recycles, the Green Foodservice Alliance, and the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division of the Department of Natural Resources are collaborating to remove food waste from the city's downtown area. It already has pledges from more than 10 participants, including the Hyatt Regency and the Georgia World Congress Center, to recycle spent grease and to compost or donate waste food, according to the EPA.

"In addition, Levy Restaurants, the official foodservice operator of the Georgia World Congress Center and the Georgia Dome, signed a contract on 3 February with Washington, DC-based EnviRelations, LLC – a partner of Closed Loop Organics – to begin composting food items from the two facilities for the next year," said the EPA in a statement.

The participants hope that 34 tons of organic waste will be diverted from landfills each month, and 20 tons of compost created. The second phase of the project will extend it to other areas in the convention district. The third phase will see it reach other communities outside that district, while phase four will target other areas of Georgia.

Atlanta's plan may be the first zero-waste initiative in the south east, but other municipalities in the US have been leading the charge. For example, Oakland adopted a zero waste strategic plan in 2006. "Zero waste" may also be an anomaly, however, as some wastage is bound to remain. The Oakland project calls for a reduction in solid waste from 400,000 tons in 2005 to 40,000 tons in 2020.