Los Angeles has always been a place for those with big dreams. Need proof? I have two words for you: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the city is tackling something that would be a dream come true: becoming a "zero waste" city.

Zero waste is a concept that has been growing in popularity lately, though it has been practiced by nature since the beginning of time. In nature, there is no waste. Everything that is produced becomes food for something else at the end of its life. For nature, there is no need for landfills or dumps, because nothing is thrown "away."

It’s hard to imagine that a city of 3.8 million people could accomplish this same thing, but that is exactly what Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council have in the works. The Solid Waste Integrated Resources Plan, or "SWIRP," will represent a 20-year master plan for the city’s solid waste and recycling programs. Its goals include:

• eliminating the use of landfills,
• developing alternative technologies for long term waste disposal,
• increasing recycling and resource recovery, and
• converting the entire Sanitation fleet to clean fuel Liquid Natural Gas vehicles.

In developing the plan, the city is seeking input from Angelenos from all walks of life, and is holding meetings for citizens to provide that input. Though several meetings have already been held, two more opportunities to get involved are coming up:

• South LA: Saturday, August 25th at 10am at the Exposition Park Intergenerational Community Center (EPICC)
• Harbor: Monday, August 27th at 6pm at Peck Park’s Community Meeting Room

Gathering this stakeholder input is just the first phase of the program. In Phase II, a document will be produced that outlines the city’s objectives for some important and far-reaching areas: sustainability, resource conservation, source reduction, recycling, renewable energy, maximum material recovery, public health and environmental protection. These areas affect absolutely everyone, from businesses to consumers. Everything will be impacted, from the manufacturing and packaging of products, through the use of those products, on to their disposal through recovery or recycling.

Implementation is scheduled to begin in 2009, which is just around the corner when government is concerned. Can we do it? You may say I’m a dreamer, but (thankfully) I’m not the only one…

Photo: Garbage at Los Angeles’ Recycling and Transfer Station