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Welcome
to the Zero Waste Alliance.
As
CEO of a company that engaged all employees in the development of an
environmental management system, I saw the benefits the company reaped
from its efforts.
Benefits included significant financial savings, great morale,
excellent relations with the community and regulators, and many
environmental improvements.
Compliance became the minimum acceptable goal and the majority of
improvements went beyond compliance requirements.
During
the process of engaging all employees and developing our system I came
to understand that the environmental situation facing mankind is much
more serious than I had thought. This understanding motivated me to
apply my energy to assist other organizations in starting their own
programs to get the same benefits.
The result has been the development of the Zero Waste Alliance, a
non-profit organization that brings a large variety of resources to
assist organizations in the development and implementation of programs
to obtain the benefits mentioned above.
My
experience has shown that for best results, organizations should develop
such programs using primarily internal resources.
As a result, the work of the Zero Waste Alliance is heavily
educational in nature, assisting in the development of internal
resources for organizations.
The Alliance also has an extensive network of resources and can
provide personnel to assist directly.
A
guiding principle for the Zero Waste Alliance is that just as nature is
cyclical with no waste, our industries and society can be similarly
cyclical and not allow toxic or hazardous materials to build up in
nature. Work within an organization to eliminate all forms of waste is a
path to greater competitiveness and environmental improvement. An
aggressive environmental strategy beginning with product and process
design, can make it possible to reduce or eliminate the need for permits
and compliance obligations.
The Zero Waste Alliance can help your business achieve these
benefits.
It
is critical that we work in all arenas, business, government, education
and our communities to secure a healthy environment for future
generations.
Government has the opportunity to provide incentives and support
and the educational system can prepare future generations to meet the
challenges.
However, businesses alone have the research and development and
other resources to make critical changes that are needed.
Consider
the following question...
“We
do much to prepare our children for the future,
but
are we doing enough to prepare the future for our children?”
I
believe we must do both.
For
more information, please contact us at the address below.
--Larry
Chalfan
Zero Waste Alliance
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 210
Portland, OR 97204
503-279-9383 Telephone
503-279-9381 Fax
info@zerowaste.org
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