Clean the New Green: Zero in on Zero Waste
IRVINE, CA -- Earth Resource Foundation, an authority on sustainable zero waste solutions, has announced today the return of their “Zero in on Zero Waste” business conference to be held June 5 at the Ford Motor Co. in Irvine.

The one-day event will show Orange County businesses how reducing their waste stream can really make a lot of cents. Registration details are available at www.earthresource.org.

More than 200 business professionals from all over the state of California will converge at the conference aimed at reducing a company’s waste stream. Case studies will be presented by members of the Southern California business community who have moved towards Zero Waste and saved millions of dollars.

These real life examples demonstrate how company-wide environmental practices positively affect the environment while adding high dollar value to a firm’s bottom line, and improving corporate image.

“This year, clean becomes the new green,” said Seri McClendon, co-founder of Clean Agency in Pasadena, a partner of Earth Resource Foundation. “Establishing a clean protocol for how a firm conducts its business is essential in surviving and thriving in an evolving sustainable marketplace.”

So what is zero waste? And how can it be achieved?

Earth Resource identifies zero waste as a commitment to the triple bottom line: people, planet, profits. It is the recycling of materials back into nature or the marketplace in a manner that protects human health and the environment.

Ricoh Electronics, Toyota, and Fetzer Vineyard are just a handful of the many already adopting zero waste strategies to give their bottom line a boost. At last year’s conference upper management for all three industry leaders spoke on behalf of their newly adopted environmental policies. At the top, insists Earth Resource’s Executive Director, Stephanie Barger, is where zero waste initiatives must start.

“Anyone can learn to become a sustainability leader,” said Barger “Zero waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary – once this is understood, the rest is nothing more than an application of the theory.”

The journey towards zero waste begins with an audit that calculates the amount of waste being discarded by a company. Conducted top to bottom, the audit looks at everything from the energy needed to run the building to the contents of an employee’s trash bin. Leadership in the journey towards zero waste is essential, once the value of money, people, and planet is realized then the journey can begin.