TALZ – Taking A Lead on Zero Waste
Zeroing in on Waste Reduction to Implement a
Long Island Regional Zero Waste Plan
Vision
To create a circular society which mimics the functions of the natural world where what little waste we produce is simply food (organic) or feedstock (technological) for something else, by providing the means to the goal for no waste to be sent to landfills, incinerators or the ocean.
Mission
To establish systems that incorporate a sustainable end-of-life for all materials — re-use, recycle, re-purpose, or safe and healthy re-integration into natural systems as a path to get to zero waste.
Goals
To convene all stakeholders to find the solution and test them via pilots and monitoring.
To do this now, not in a year or 10 years, by acknowledging the crisis confronting Long Island — really, the Earth — with this as a template.
Who We Are
In the shadow of the impending Long Island waste crisis looming due to the legally-mandated Brookhaven Landfill closure in 2024, we are a consortium formed as a working umbrella group to develop rapid and inclusive alternative solutions to managing and reducing waste. We are formed to help Long Island, and the State, develop — and more importantly — implement a Long Island Regional Zero Waste Plan.
What We Do
We are in a race against time to allay an impending crisis that those of us who are awake at the wheel can see. Our goal is to create, with the help of the NYS Legislature, a central platform coordinating and connecting all Long Island entities and experts managing waste with policy makers and the public.
All those joining us to achieve Zero Waste are invited to a planned series of open forums leading to a variety of programs in order to wrestle with the complexities of establishing a zero-waste ethic in the face of an economy based on the conflicting opposite — a throw-away culture with an economy that supports it. No small task. With your help, though, we can do this.
Why We’re Unique
Any entity can hold hearings and forums. What is unique about ours is that woven into the fabric of every mini-symposia we conduct is the promise of a rapid plan and test for greater success in whatever waste management practice we will be focussed on.
Based on the outcome of each session comes the establishment of well-designed trials within our waste industries or management districts which choose to participate — there are 16 Local Waste Planning Units on Long Island overseen by the NYS DEC. The idea will be to test success or failure of the consensus ideas on a pilot basis that will be developed and monitored, not in terms of years, but rather months, offering measurable results and suggestions for change to better systematic approaches.
Compared to the many decades of waste recommendations and commissions held within Long Island’s past, whose results have never been activated, we consider this unique. We invite you to join us in this journey, crafting solutions via the many ways we will offer, testing the systems we will arrive at, developing measurable success. You can do this at whatever level you are at — individual household, business, waste manager, industry, expert, or official.
Contact Us
Simply let us know of your interest, or, if you are a commercial or environmental organization, even as an individual, your Zero Waste path already taken, by emailing us at: contact@talzli.org
Thank you,
Karen Blumer, President, Open Space Council
Mark Haubner, Policy Committee, Drawdown East End