[greenyes] ALL/Please support a Zero Waste law for Buenos Aires city!!

["Cecilia Allen" <cecilia@no.address>]

** Sorry for cross-postings**

Dear all,

As you know, the city council of Buenos Aires (Argentina) is working on a Zero Waste law that sets the goals to divert 50% of the waste going to landfills by 2010, 75% by 2015 and achieve Zero Waste by 2020. The law would also ban MSW incineration. 

The Ecology commission of the Council is drafting the law and the process is entering to its final stage. We think they intend to have the final text ready by next Wednesday (July 6) and, unsurprisingly, the landfill and incinerator lobbies are working harder and harder to weaken the law. That is why we need your support in showing our representatives that a Zero Waste law for Buenos Aires city is the way to go, that the world is watching, and there are many experiences that prove that moving towards ZW is possible and desirable to stop wasting resources and polluting the environment with landfills and incinerators. 

Below is a template letter for you to send to the Ecology Commission of the Buenos Aires city Council. If you want to write anything else, or if you are working on a ZW plan in your community and want to add a few lines mentioning that experience, it would be very helpful. Please send the letter with your NGO´s letterhead to the following email: comisionecologia@no.address   The deadline is next Wednesday June 6. 

Thank you all for your kind support!

Cecilia



Dear members of the Ecology Commission of the Buenos Aires city Council,

Aware that the city of Buenos Aires is working on a Zero Waste law that aims to take the municipal solid waste disposal in landfills down to Zero by the year 2020, we write to congratulate you for this great initiative and provide our support on this progressive task. 

It is becoming more evident worldwide that Zero Waste is a sustainable alternative to polluting and wasting methods such as landfills and waste incinerators. It is a new planning approach for the 21st Century that seeks to redesign the way that resources and materials flow through society, taking a 'whole system' approach. Its integral vision, that includes measures to both maximize recycling and composting and minimize the quantity and toxicity of the resources we discard, provides what´s necessary to move towards a closed circuit of materials and protect natural resources. As opposed to landfills and incinerators, the Zero Waste concept understands that discarded materials are not waste, but a precious resource that can be recycled into the market and the nature creating jobs and building a responsible society. 

Many communities around the world have adopted Zero Waste plans, and are showing us that Zero Waste is a desirable and feasible alternative to the current model of wasting. We congratulate the city of Buenos Aires for leading the way to a better use of resources, and wish you the best in this very important and necessary initiative. 

Sincerely,