Zero Waste

Building on Success: Zero Waste in 2005

At EGA we believe in walking our talk. Each year we work with the retreat site to encourage the best environmental practices, during our retreat and beyond. For the past two years we have worked with a team of consultants to successfully implement Zero Waste practices at the EGA retreats.

“Zero Waste” refers to a set of principles and systems to reduce both the volume and toxicity of waste. Within the setting of our retreats, EGA has adopted a Zero Waste target of reducing waste going to landfill by at least 80% and ensuring no waste is incinerated from our meeting. We began by designing waste out of the system, greatly reducing the amount of paper and materials used, and reusing as much as possible. By reducing the use of materials and recycling intensively, 2003 participants exceeded our initial target by reducing the amount of waste from the retreat going to landfills by 83% and nothing was incinerated. In 2004 EGA also offered a carbon-offset program through which retreat participants could invest in renewable energies to offset the environmental impact of their flights to the conference.

This year we will continue to build on our previous success and challenge ourselves to achieve even better results. Mohonk Mountain House shows a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and has worked closely with us to reduce the impact of our retreat. We are working both within EGA to prevent waste from being produced at the retreat and with their waste-management and recycling companies to ensure that the waste that is produced at the retreat will be reused, recycled or composted.

In line with EGA values, we have tried to design every aspect of the retreat to take advantage of best practices and materials to make the most sustainable event possible.

Here are some of the additional steps we are taking:

Food We pride ourselves in working with each retreat site to achieve a menu that maximizes the use of locally grown, organic food, with delicious results. We will work with Mohonk Mountain House to compost any food waste and avoid single-serving items to minimize the amount of packaging used to produce our meals.

Materials We strive to reduce the amount of paper and materials used for the retreat, producing fewer, shorter printed materials and relying as much as possible on web-based and electronic information. We also ask participants to refrain from bringing unrecyclable materials—such as disposable batteries or PVC plastic folders—to the site. And, as always, we reuse as many materials as possible, including the plastic name badges.

The best part is you get to participate. Remember to sign up for carbon-offset on the EGA website before the retreat.  At the retreat site, watch for clearly labeled recycling bins and instructions for helping to achieve our Zero Waste goal. And please bring your laptop or extra disks so that you can exchange information electronically at the retreat (and save the weight of carrying all that extra paper back home). At the end of the retreat we’ll calculate how much waste we have prevented and see if we can continue our progress toward a Zero Waste retreat.

Special thanks to Ann Leonard of GAIA and Linda Smith of Environmental Resource Specialists for their commitment to this year’s Zero Waste retreat.