Towards a Zero Waste Future in Southern California

About

“Resolving our society’s trash problem is one of the major environmental challenges of our time. In Los Angeles County, this crisis has reached urgent proportions. As one of the largest waste markets in the country, Los Angeles County generates 23 million tons of waste and recyclable materials and sends over 10 million tons of waste to landfills each year.” – From Don’t Waste L.A. Report written in 2011: A Path to Green Jobs, Clean Air and Recycling for All.

In 2017, the City of Los Angeles passed a Zero Waste Program with goals to “reduce landfill disposal by 1 million tons per year by 2025 and reduce waste by 65 percent in all 11 of the City’s new service zones!" Likewise, Los Angeles County’s draft for the sustainability plan pledges to “take aggressive action towards a zero-waste future.” The county’s plan articulates “a complete, lifecycle approach to extraction, production, and consumption addresses how resources are extracted, how products are made, how they are consumed and how remaining resources are recovered and recycled. By examining

This convening will bring together leaders from across the lifecycle to analyze how various sectors are working toward a zero-waste future in Southern California, including areas related to food waste, plastics (and their connections to fossil fuels), and their impact on the environment (in landfills, oceans, and communities). We will explore what they are learning, how they have overcome challenges, and what has had the most positive impact. You’ll also learn how they’re working in partnership across organizations and issue-areas to accomplished shared goals. After the formal program, we invite you to continue informal conversations over lunch, which will be served.

The SCG Environmental Funders Group meets a few times a year to educate prospective and current environmental funders about environmental challenges and opportunities in Southern California as well as fostering collaboration and to share successes and challenges. Please contact Katy Pelissier at katy@socalgrantmakers.org for more information.