We envision a community that continually reduces its waste by reducing, reusing, and recycling all materials possible, providing opportunities and incentives to do so for members of all socio-economic groups.  Our community will actively work to become a Zero Waste Community. 
​​NEW! Home ReSource, Zero Waste Missoula, and partners have collaborated to publish the incredible ZERO by FIFTY Missoula website: our community's one-stop shop for all things zero waste! Check it out for info on the ZERO by FIFTY plan, service providers, events, and a tool to answer all your "how do I recycle this?" questions.
Where we're heading:​
  • On August 6th, 2018, the Missoula City Council Adopted ZERO by FIFTY unanimously! Check it out: ZERO by FIFTY: Missoula's Pathway to Zero Waste
  • The City is already collaborating with partners, advising and supporting residents and businesses with their own Zero Waste initiatives, and gathering resources for widespread plan implementation. We hope this plan will be a framework to inspire ideas, innovation and action as Missoula pivots toward becoming a Zero Waste community. 

TOP STRATEGIES
from our Community Climate Smart Action Plan

Build Support for Waste Reduction Across Sectors
Discover opportunities for local government, institutes, businesses, and organizations to lead Missoula toward Zero Waste
  1. Partner with City Council champions to develop a Missoula Zero Waste Resolution to present to City Council. [Completed in February 2016]
  2. Encourage local entities already committed to sustainability to prioritize community-wide waste reduction in their strategic objective. 
  3. Engage business community in recognizing opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship as Missoula moves toward Zero Waste. 
Investigate Community Waste Behaviors and Barriers to Waste Reduction
PictureLeo and Climate Smart's Solar Charging Kiosk created at Spon Con.
Develop an understanding of current behaviors, needs, and perceptions to support program development and steward a shift toward a culture of waste reduction in Missoula.
  1. Conduct a community survey. [Food waste survey ongoing]
  2. Host focus group discussions about waste. [Fate of the Plate held in March 2016, more events to come!]
  3. Identify behaviors and barriers that can be addressed via education, policies, and/or programs. 
Foster Community Understanding of Benefits of Waste Reduction
Identify opportunities for community education particularly in support of any new waste reduction policies adopted by the City of Missoula.
  1. Outreach to the community around waste reduction with a balance between local issues and general information. 
  2. Educate community leaders as to best practices for waste reduction incentives and disincentives for wasting.  [ongoing]
  3. Advocate for a Zero Waste community that values transparency and clarity in its waste reduction policies, programs, and practices. 

Work with City Council to adopt a Zero Waste Resolution

Passed on February 8th, 2016, the resolution:
  1. Declares to the community that the City is committed to reducing waste;
  2. Establishes a community-wide waste reduction goal and timeline with benchmarks; 
  3. Invigorate the development of policies, programs, and incentives to promote waste reduction activities and opportunities. Possibilities building on the resolution include programs to increase deconstruction practices, a community-wide food scraps composting program, bans on plastic bags and Styrofoam, expanded household hazardous waste collection, and increased opportunities for recycling.

Zero Waste Missoula

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Zero Waste Missoula represents the diverse support for waste reduction that already exists in our community. It is a group of Missoula businesses, nonprofits, and individuals dedicated to working with the Missoula community to conserve and recover all landfill-bound resources and to utilize discards in ways that contribute productively to natural systems and our local and regional economies. See zwia.org for a comprehensive definition of “Zero Waste”..

Zero Waste Missoula is working with the Missoula County Public Schools district to find and implement waste reduction opportunities and expand Zero Waste education programs.  Check out Home Resources Zero Waste Ambassadors Program which plans to expand to all Missoula public schools. 

Zero Waste Missoula Members: 
Heath Carey, Katie Deuel, Jeremy Drake, Becca Boslough, Kirsten Gerbatsch, Jessica Dellarossa, Bradley Layton, Jenny Mish, Martin NoRunner, Graham Roy, Beth Schenk, Stephon Smith, Will Halliburton, and Tim Zalinger

Ready to get involved?

Contact the Climate Smart Missoula Team at
​info@climatesmartmissoula.org 
​
To get involved with Zero Waste Missoula, please contact Jeremy Drake (jeremy@homeresource.org) for more information.

Our Work, in a Nutshell:
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News and Resources:

Our 2019 March monthly meetup on Zero Waste was jammed packed. Read about the discussion on our blog 

Read up on Home ReSource's Zero Waste Ambassadors Program--it's inspiring to see fifth-graders so engaged in zero waste!

What's up with glass recycling in Missoula? Read our piece in the Sustainable Missoula column to find out.

The Missoula Wastewater Treatment Plant is using a methane-powered generator to produce 25% of its electricity each month from our city's waste. Check it out!

In August 2018, the Zero by Fifty plan was adopted unanimously by City Council! Read the whole plan.

The kids at Franklin School are right on: "Franklin students aim for 'zero waste'" 

In 2016, Home ReSource convened the "Fate of the Plate" where over 40 stakeholders discussed reducing wasted food and keeping food out of the landfill. Check out their report!

In February 2016, Missoula City Council passed a Zero Waste Resolution that calls for community waste reduction goals and a Zero Waste Plan. Read about it in the Missoulian! 

​Missoula is a model for progress! Check out Eco-cycle Solutions Zero Waste In Action Case Study #2

Outside Missoula:

Reminder that we can't recycle our way to zero waste: China doesn't want our plastic.

Oakland, CA schools are taking on food waste in their cafeterias!

The City of Austin is taking bold new steps to go Zero Waste by 2020!

Brussels wants to ensure that every piece of packaging on the continent is reusable or recyclable by 2030.

​Reducing "post-harvest losses" is key to meeting future food needs: great summary of the problem of wasted food from Quartz.

These 10 cities are getting rid of garbage.

Why Americans Lead the World in Food Waste

Check out these neat guides on avoiding food waste from the Center for Biological Diversity.