Public Workshops: On the Road to Zero Waste in Oceanside

October 20, 2011

The Oceanside City Council unanimously adopted Zero Waste as a goal, and hopes to reduce the amount of materials landfilled by 75 percent by the year 2020.  To help it develop a plan to achieve Council's goal, the City is holding public meetings in November to get the best ideas from residents and businesses.

This will help create more jobs by recycling more, and help residents and businesses save money by throwing less away.  The Zero Waste Plan will provide a road map on how we should move down the road to Zero Waste.

Every Zero Waste Business has saved money, become more efficient, reduced its liabilities, and helped reduce greenhouse gases at the same time.  The plan will be designed to help businesses in Oceanside obtain those benefits.

The City has organized a series of four public meetings to help residents and businesses to:

• Learn how Zero Waste initiatives create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities;
• Discover how their business can save money by better managing resources;
• Find out how Oceanside has already diverted 66 percent of all discarded materials from landfilling; and
• Find out how residents can get involved in efforts to support policy and programs to increase recycling and reduce waste disposal, and ultimately support our City’s Green Oceanside sustainability initiatives. 

The meetings will all be held at 300 North Coast Highway, in the Civic Center Community Rooms.  Each of the meetings will include some background on Zero Waste, but will then focus on different aspects as follows:

November 1, 2011

3:00 pm – Recycling (understanding new state mandates requiring all apartments and major businesses to recycle)

6:00 pm – Reuse (increasing support for local thrift stores and antique and repair shops)

November 17, 2011

3:00 pm – Composting (turning yard trimmings and food scraps back into soil)

6:00 pm – Reduce (eliminating poor product design and marine debris, such as plastic bags and polystyrene take-out containers)

For more information, contact Colleen Foster at 760-435-5021, cfoster@ci.oceanside.ca.us. The meetings are all free, but the City asks that people RSVP to: www.tinyurl.com/zerowasteoceanside

( News Release )