I'm an unabashed zoning nerd in the planning world. I get excited reading about other cities' municipal codes and how they approach parking, special zones, watersheds, etc.,
But now I've morphed into a whole new kind of nerd, solid waste management nerd.
No, not poo. Garbage. Garbage of all kinds. And does all waste have to go to waste?
My interest started reading William "Bill" McDonough's book, Cradle to Cradle. McDonough proposes a world where we don't do less bad, but we do more good. Shoes wouldn't get thrown away, they'd be sent back to the manufacturer who would reuse all of the materials. Couches could be re-cycled, not downcycled or upcycled, but literally re-cycled.
My nerd flag grew bigger when a representative from the EPA came to visit my school and talked about anaerobic digestors- taking food waste and turning it into energy. Even taking dairy waste (OK this time, poo, or cow farts/methane and harnessing the inherent energy) The wheels in my head began spinning furiously with possibilities.
Some day, hopefully, maybe in Utopia, we can have a zero waste world.
I was stupid excited when I discovered that LA is making advances in solid waste alternative technology. If you're as nerdy as I am, feel free to read on-
http://planning.lacity.org/Code_Studies/SWAT.pdf
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