Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on the history of the zero waste movement and its impact; see part 1 here. Our three legacy movements — recycling, anti-incineration and zero waste — are working expeditiously to reach 90% diversion with no incineration, organics out of landfills and no toxics in our packages or products. Communities, businesses...

The recycling, anti-incineration and zero-waste movements offer successes and lessons from the past several decades.

By refocusing on upstream sortation, smaller processing facilities and other strategies, communities can help ensure collected materials remain in regional markets.

Reuse-focused retailers across the country are seeing greater demand in the wake of COVID-19, a fact that is allowing them to bring benefits to surrounding communities in multiple ways.

It may not receive a lot of media attention, but corporate concentration in America’s waste industry negatively impacts the lives of nearly all Americans and contributes to a range of economic and environmental burdens. For millions of consumers, “Big Waste” is driving up prices, potentially adding billions of dollars to our solid waste bills while inflicting severe damage on our...