County Council Accepts Sustainability Commission’s Zero Waste Plan
The Delaware County Council has accepted the county Sustainability Commission’s zero waste plan that promises to work towards an 82% reduction in solid waste, increase the efficiency of the county’s waste disposal practices and reduce costs.
Rebecca Yurkovich, the county director of sustainability, presented the plan at the Sept. 17 council meeting. The plan has been three years in the making, featured 20 listening sessions and three public workshops to explain the zero waste concept to the public and gather ideas and opinions from hundreds of people.
Three main advisory groups — the Sustainability Commission, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and the Zero Wate Subcommitee — provided feedback from the listening sessions and workshops.
The plan is described as “an aspirational vision for the future” that furthers Delaware County’s commitment to becoming a more sustainable and resilient community. The Sustainability Commission and county Sustainability Office is tasked with protecting the county’s most vulknerable residents from the impacts of climate change. Those efforts range from planning to mitigate flooding in Darby and Sharon Hill from extreme weather events to electrifying the county’s fleet of vehicles to helping public schools reduce food waste to providing recycling bins to smaller communities.
The zero waste component is geared toward recycling, composting, diverting and reusing building materials, improving energey efficiency and reducing the amount of waste that goes to incinerators and landfills. It was developed in conjunction with the Delaware County Solide Waste Authority’s 10-year plan, whic is still being finalized.
Council members unaninmously accepted the plan. Councilman Kevin Madden called it “a major milestone,” and Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaeffer thanked the dozens of people who have spent hours and hours of their time to putting the plan together.
“I’m really proud of what came out of it and proud to accept it tonight,” she said.
Councilwoman Christine Reuther said the plan wasn’t everything everyone wanted, that it was not perfect and that council would have to find a way to pay for it.
“Trash is a really complicated business. We cannot do it perfectly but we have to do as much as we can imperfectly,” Reuther said. “I think this plan is moving in the right direction.”
Jodine Mayberry for the Clearinghouse. Photo by Jodine Mayberry – Swarthmore Coop composting program.
