Our Waste Program advocates for more responsible production and recycling of consumer products and packaging to preserve the Earth’s limited natural resources. We want to reduce and then eliminate waste, especially in the post-consumer phase through adoption by companies of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies.
We engage companies in the consumer packaging and electronics sectors to move them towards more responsible practices emphasizing:
- Maximizing the efficiency and productivity of all resources used
- Adopting extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies
- Quantifiable efforts to eliminate waste
- Responsible disposal and recycling practices at the end of a product’s useful life
There are hopeful signs of progress and As You Sow plays a leadership role moving corporations towards greater responsibility for the materials they produce.
You can find all our recent waste resolutions on our resolutions table.
Designed to Be Waste
Designed to be Waste addresses the issue of composite laminate/aluminum foil pouches and similar packaging that cannot be recycled and will be landfilled for hundreds of years. It is counterproductive to the development of a circular materials economy to use these unsustainable pouches when better alternatives have been around for decades. For more on As You Sow’s work to get companies to phase out pouches and other unrecyclable packaging, read about our engagement with Kraft Foods and Mondelez International.