Zero Waste - the third generation resource theory

Perhaps everyone knows that the Lions charity has taken it on themselves to collect used and unwanted eyeglasses for passing on to people in need of eyeglasses but unable to obtain them, in many countries.

Should this be called a Zero Waste project? My answer is "No". It is wonderfully well-intentioned and effective for the people who benefit but it is a drop in the ocean from the Zero Waste point of view. Worse yet, it is a poorly conceptualized program. Not from the point of view of any of the participants, who help others or who regain their sight. But it is not near what it should be.

Zero Waste is not based on taking discarded and unwanted goods and trying to do something better with them than turning them into garbage. ZW doesn't use garbage disposal as a standard for judging anything. ZW relies on designing programs, processes and products to never face the discard-or-not decision. To do this it uses a comprehensive set of principles (found on www.zerowasteinstitute.org).

Eyeglasses could, and should, be redesigned for reuse right from the start. Today they are designed for optical function and personal style with never a thought for what may happen to them later on. In fact, some subtle design choices are made to prevent them from being reused, or to insure early and unrepairable breakage. ZW principles, especially modularity, standardization of parts and chain of history could enormously enhance their ability to be repaired and conserved. Even more, the process of selling, repairing and collecting them for reuse could be made routine and universal, even more so than today. The smooth passage of a product into reuse channels should never be the province of a charity, but should be understood by everyone to be the intended and paid-for-in-advance fate of unused eyeglasses (and everything else).

To sum up, a world based on Zero Waste analysis would not be dependent on last minute scrambling to collect any product for reuse. As useful as eyeglasses can be, they are only one of fifty thousand or more valuable products that can serve people in their extended lives. It is our job to redesign the whole industrial and commercial world so that everything is run thru the filter of Zero Waste before it is put onto the marketplace, not just one product here or there.

Let us not fall into the trap of praising the eyeglass reuse program so highly that we  forget about all the other products and processes that are similarly crying out for redesign along ZW lines. Because of the lack of redesign features, eyeglass collection could even be said to be a step in the wrong fundamental direction. A harsh judgment admittedly, but we need to sharpen our thinking to make critical distinctions.

Nothing in this discussion says to stop the program. Of course real people are suffering today and need the glasses. They can't wait for a better analysis to take over. This is a great medical and compassionate program but not a zero waste program.