Healthy Indoors 53
Miss Sustainable
Continued from previous page
gone by, it still hasn't hap-
pened, and the only way Phoe-
nix businesses or apartment
buildings get recycling is if they
pay the private solid waste
company to provide it.
I think this is bullshit.
On the flip side of this, I will
say that I personally know
several people in the Phoenix
Public Works Department who
are fantastic humans doing
good work and whose hearts
are in the right place. What
they've done so far is a step in
the right direction, albeit a tiny
baby step when compared to
other cities, but we'll delve into
that a little deeper below.
I believe this city ordinance is
more of a political power play
than anything else, and would
love to see the list of politi-
cal contributions made to City
Council member campaigns
from private solid waste big-
wigs.
So how does the 6th largest
city in the United States com-
pare with the 5 bigger cities
with regard to waste diversion
goals? Let's start with Phoenix
and count down from there.
#6 – Phoenix, Arizona – Popu-
lation: 1,488,750 (2012 esti-
mate)
Goal: 40% by 2020
2011-2012: 13%
http://sustainability.asu.edu/re-
search/project/737
#5 – Philadelphia, Pennsylva-
nia – Population: 1,547,607
(2012 estimate)
Goal: Zero Waste
2011: 77%
http://www.phila.gov/green/
PDFs/Greenworks2013Pro-
gressReport_Web.pdf
#4 – Houston, Texas – Popu-
lation: 2,160,821 (2012 esti-
mate)
Goal: 75%
2013: 14%
http://www.houstontx.gov/
onebinforall/City_of_Hous-
ton_Mayors_Challenge_Appli-
cation.pdf
#3 – Chicago, Illinois – Popula-
tion: 2,714,856 (2012 estimate)
Goal: Zero Waste
2009: 45%
http://www.cityofchicago.org/
city/en/depts/streets/supp_info/
zero_waste/2009_chicago_
wastecharacterizationstudyan-
dwastediversionstudyres.html
#2 – Los Angeles, California –
Population: 3,857,799 (2012
estimate)
Goal: Zero Waste
2012: 76.4%
http://www.forester.net/pdfs/
City_of_LA_Zero_Waste_Prog-
ress_Report.pdf
#1 – New York, New York –
Population: 8,336,697 (2012
estimate)
Goal: 30% by 2017 & 75% by
2030
2012:15%
http://waste.ccacknowledge.
net/sites/default/files/CCAC_
images/events_documents/
City%20Assessment%20-%20
New%20York%20City,%20
USA.pdf
* If anyone has data more cur-
rent than what I found, please
don't hesitate to share.
So, what I've learned from this
is that Phoenix is at the bot-
tom of the barrel with regard
