Please sign this open letter to be delivered to climate negotiators in Copenhagen. The new climate treaty must support efforts to increase recycling through the informal sector, instead of funding incinerators and landfill gas systems.

GAIA member Yuyun Ismawati, of BaliFokus in Indonesia, has won the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize for her groundbreaking work in creating community-based waste management systems.

C. Jackson, Member of the European Parliament, appointed rapporteur to the Waste Framework Directive was working as a "consultant" for a the waste company "Shanks" in what it is a clear conflict of interest. In these Worst Lobby Awards contest you have the opportunity to learn about the obscure practices that some lobbying companies and politicians perform in Brussels and which hamper the European democratic project.

Russian scientist Olga Speranskaya successfully transformed the NGO community in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) into a potent, participatory force working to identify and eliminate the Soviet legacy of toxic chemicals in the environment.

The GAIA Family congratulates three GAIA Members for the recognition given by the Goldman Environmental Prize for their commitment towards a just and toxic-free future. You are truly inspiring Olga, Rizwana and Yuyun.

In June activists in countries such as the Philippines, Canada and the United States took action to call attention to the findings of a groundbreaking new report. The Stop Trashing the Climate report, written by GAIA, the Institute for Local Self Reliance and Eco-Cycle, provides compelling evidence that preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting programs — that is, aiming for zero waste — is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies available for combating climate change.

Parma is known all over the world for its Parmesan Cheese, Parma ham, wine and pasta but the local authorities are threatening to build an incinerator a stone's throw from the city centre. This will not only jeopardise recycling, composting and the health of the citizens, but also the credibility and safety of Parma's food industry, the main pillar of the local economy. Please put pressure on the administrators and food producers so that they demand the authorities stop this project and go for a sustainable solution.

The people of Kitakyushu are working together to create a recycling-oriented community that produces no waste.

“L’escalfament Global. Incineració De Residus, Solució O Problema?"

GAIA warns about the nomination of Connie Hedegaard as EU commissioner for climate action because of her support to a dirty technology such as incineration. When compared the emissions of an incinerator produce more CO2 [1] than a gas or coal power plant.

S. Ushakumari is a horticulturist who has been working with a public interest research organization for the past 20 years. Part of her life’s work is also a movement that is sweeping the globe: zero waste. Ultimately, zero waste aims to create a society that lives sustainably on a finite resource base. In the process, it strengthens local economies with jobs, reduces energy demands and thus climate change, and saves local governments money that is spent cleaning up industries’ messes.

Environmental and public interest groups across the continent applauded the announcement that a new Massachusetts waste plan will retain and strengthen the moratorium on increased incineration of municipal solid waste, and introduce new measures to reduce waste dramatically.

Entre tanto traje, corbata, sonrisa kolynos como si nada pasara y el mundo tuviera todavia otro mundo remplazable que lo estuviese aguardando, los recicladores de india y america latina les enseñaron ante el grito de "vamos a reciclar y no a incinerar" como se vienen ganando la vida dignamente desde hace decenas de años. Parece de no creer, pero todos los medioambientalistas del mundo y delegados oficiales de las diferentes naciones, no consiguen embocarle al buen recipiente diferenciado de residuos, y toda la cantidad de desechos que producen todas estas personas por dia en el Bela Center (sitio donde se desarrolla las Negociaciones de esta Conferencia numero 15) termina mezclado entre 4 tarros diferentes, para plastico, papel, organicos, botellas y otros.

Ignored, marginalised or despised in many countries, wastepickers from Asia, Latin America and Africa have come together in Copenhagen to lobby for recognition as unsung heroes in the fight against climate change.

Copenhagen, 7 December 2009 – Fifteen million people worldwide make a living from waste picking. They collect, sort, clean and in some cases, process these recyclables, returning them to industry as an inexpensive and low-carbon raw material. Wastepickers are incredibly efficient recyclers – and can achieve recycling rates higher than 80%. Their recycling work reduces emissions up to 25 times more than incineration does. Wastepickers significantly reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions through recycling rates, and could further reduce emissions given proper support.

Wastepickers from Pune, India share their insights on Climate Change. Video created by KKPKP.

Wastepickers from Pune, India share their insights on Climate Change. Video created by KKPKP.

3 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark. As the world’s governments convene here in Copenhagen to solve the unfolding climate crisis, polluting industries are putting up a fight. The incinerator industry, one of the world’s dirtiest, is trying to repackage itself as a “climate solution” in order to grab climate subsidies meant to support the development of clean technologies.

New Film by Story of Stuff Creator Offers Provocative, Humorous Look at CAP & TRADE on Eve of Copenhagen Summit San Francisco, CA -- The Story of Stuff Project and Climate Justice Now!—an international network of climate justice advocates—will release The Story of Cap & Trade, a 9-minute animated film on carbon trading, on December 1st worldwide at www.storyofstuff.org.

Some of the poorest people on the planet – the waste pickers from India and Latin America – are planning to lobby world leaders at the Copenhagen summit on climate change next month.

November 28 (PNA), Manila, Philippines- Two major health and environmental networks made a pitch for green jobs through innovative Zero Waste programs that create sustainable livelihood from discards. At a seminar held last Thursday in Quezon City that attracted some 50 people, mostly community women, the EcoWaste Coalition and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) drew attention to the tremendous job potentials from clean recycling.

26 November 2009, Alaminos City, Philippines. A visiting Indian national who has been working with rural tourist destinations in crafting Zero Waste programs boosted the ongoing drive of the government and people of Alaminos City to win the war on garbage.

Warsaw, Poland -- An announcement from the Polish city of Bydgoszcz that it plans to end its waste separation collection scheme by the end of this year end has been criticised by CEE Bankwatch Network's member group Polish Green Network. The proposed move comes as Bydgoszcz looks to become the first Polish city to receive EU funds for the development of a new waste incinerator by 2012. [1]

China's burgeoning middle class has lodged its first mass challenge against the government by staging a large environmental protest in southern China.

DISHA has joined groups around the world in pushing for Zero Waste as a climate-friendly choice over waste disposal technologies such as landfills and incinerators, including “waste to energy”, plasma, gasification, and cement kiln incineration.

Though born of idealism, the zero-waste philosophy is now propelled by sobering realities, like the growing difficulty of securing permits for new landfills and an awareness that organic decay in landfills releases methane that helps warm the earth’s atmosphere.

(Parade lion waste monster to warn people of health and environmental hazards of wasting) In an audacious demonstration of solidarity and resolve, environmental advocates today vowed to redouble their efforts in pursuing sustainable consumption and Zero Waste solutions to help avert the climate crisis.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Recycling Works! campaign (RW), a coalition of labor, environmental and community organizations applauds Senator Carper as well as Boxer and Kerry for recognizing recycling as a key climate strategy. RW calls the inclusion of state recycling programs in the new Senate climate bill an important step towards rebuilding the economy, and looks forward to working with the Senate on details of these programs.

A pro-incineration expert brought in by Metro Vancouver to speak at a series of public forums once testified as a tobacco industry witness that there was insufficient evidence to link smoking to lung cancer.

30 September 2009, Quezon City, Philippines. An international coalition of public interest citizens’ groups has called for local,national and global support for Zero Waste as key component of the country’s strategy to mitigate climate change and disaster.

Words & music by Ro J Goodwin In this world of insanity We just need a little purity We are sick with pollution And we don’t want their solution We’re not asking for charity All we want is some clarity Burning waste for the sake of wealth Makes no sense if you lose you health

A new report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests that way Americans procure, produce, deliver and dispose of goods and services — what the agency refers to as “materials and land management” — accounts for 42 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Sign up Petition. Ban the Burn in Scotland

15 September 2009, Alaminos City, Philippines. The City of Hundred Islands is taking further action to promote a vibrant and eco-conscious city by embracing and nurturing a vision en route for Zero Waste.

The city council of Zagreb is planning to build an incinerator. The Croatian wing of Friends of the Earth "Zelena Akcija" (Green Action) is informing the public of the negative consequences of such an extremely polluting and expensive way of disposing waste, now the people of Zagreb still have time to react to the plan.

Ontario activists celebrate as Site 41 put on hold for a year and vow to fight on to make shutdown permanent.

Controversial plans for a £43m waste incinerator in Invergordon have been rejected by Highland Council.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives / Global Anti Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) would like to invite our members and allied groups to join our 8th Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration on September 30, 2009.

10 reasons why gasification, pyrolysis & plasma incineration are not “green solutions”

09 June 2009. Bonn, Germany: The Clean Development Mechanism’s waste projects undermine the livelihoods of poor people and increase greenhouse gas emissions, say a group of grassroots recyclers attending the United Nations climate change negotiations.

“We urge the government to champion Zero Waste as an essential and most practical strategy to ease the accelerating climate change. We need to move away from waste disposal to resource conservation through expanded recycling and composting,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

Groups say no to special interest handouts for garbage burners

The incinerator industry is pushing hard to have municipal solid waste incineration added to the renewable standard in the Waxman-Markey climate bill and in the Senate's renewable energy standard.

The negotiations about the potential new bio-waste directive are facing serious difficulties and we really risk not having a bio-waste directive at all. As you know most of biowaste in the EU is either landfilled or incinerated and the since the landfill directive is getting bio-waste out of landfills without saying where it should go, the reality is that it will end up in incinerators instead of being composted. Therefore we need to act to put pressure on the environment ministries to ask the European Commission to prepare a bio-waste directive.

As delegates from governments, industry associations and public interest groups start to converge in Geneva for the second International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM2), a global coalition today released a “Citizens’ Report” calling for robust and faster action towards chemical safety.

April 2009 letter to the US House and Senate urging a strong and safe renewable electricity standard (RES)

Working to reduce the impact of Bangladesh’s exploitative and environmentally-devastating ship breaking industry, leading environmental attorney Rizwana Hasan spearheaded a legal battle resulting in increased government regulation and heightened public awareness about the dangers of ship breaking.

Olga Speranskaya, Moscow, Russia: Russian scientist Olga Speranskaya transformed the NGO community in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia into a potent, participatory force working to identify and eliminate the Soviet legacy of toxic chemicals in the environment.

NOTTINGHAM, England, April 13 (UPI) -- More than 80 British environmentalist protesters were arrested Monday for allegedly attacking a waste-to-energy incinerator, police say.

Pieces of Zero: GAIA Zero Waste Study Tour Report held August 16 to 20, 2009 in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India.

This report focuses on the contributions of reclaimers to social and environmental sustainability. It explores the work that reclaimers do, how they use salvaging of commodities from the waste stream as a way to support themselves, and how they are being affected by municipal waste management policies.

26 February 2009. An environmental group yesterday called on the government to ban polyvinylchloride (PVC), saying it was harmful to humans and the environment. “PVC is the second most commonly used plastic in Taiwan. Its life cycle — from production, usage, to disposal — is a direct and indirect threat to human health,” Taiwan Watch Institute secretary-general Hsieh Herlin said.

18 February, 2009. Naples, Italy. Around 150 experts, professionals, government leaders and environmental activists from more than 20 countries around the world gather in Naples, Italy for the 5th Zero Waste International Dialog from February 18 to 21, 2009 to tackle waste issues.

THE COMPANY behind a €250 million waste-to-energy plant proposed for Rathcoole in west Dublin is to meet its advisers this morning to see if there is any future for the plan, following announcement of its rejection yesterday by An Bord Pleanála.

Thanks to everyone who made the Zero Waste Communities Conference a success! We will be posting information and photos from the conference soon so check back for updates!

A new study released today around the world shows that the burning of mercury-added products contributes upwards of 200 tons of mercury to the atmosphere every year, comprising 10 percent of the mercury that enters the earth’s atmosphere through human activities.

A string quartet today serenaded the members of the House of Representatives, calling on solons to sign a Parliamentarians' Petition urging the Austrian government to cancel the P503-million loan used to fund for the defunct Austrian Medical Waste Incinerator Project.

The "Handbook on Waste Management in Rural Tourism Areas" is being published by Thanal and the United Nation Development Program to help NGOs and Local Governments to assist communities to manage discards in the Endogenous Tourism Project sites.

The first national civil society community exchange against cement kilns was held in Port Elizabeth in October On Monday, October 27th, 25 community representatives from throughout South Africa1 met at the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro for the first national cement community exchange, hosted by groundWork, of people affected by cement operations nationally. The idea of bringing together communities faced with similar environmental problems is mainly for them to share and exchange information about their local struggles A key consideration, however, is also to build their ability to participate in democratic environmental governance with all key stakeholders including government, industry, labour and citizens.

Santa Fe, New Mexico -- Lannan Foundation announced that it has recognized five human rights advocates with Cultural Freedom Awards for 2008. Recipients of the awards represent the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

BEIRUT: On the occasion of the Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration, youth activists on Monday urged Lebanese consumers to use fewer disposable plastic bags in an effort to curb accelerating climate change and damage to Lebanon's ecosystems.

Groups united within the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), urged governments to adopt Zero Waste as an essential strategy to spur dramatic reduction in GHG from landfills and incinerators. As part of the yearly Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration, at least 165 groups from 39 countries seeking environmental, climate and economic justice wrote to their government negotiators and conducted activities to urge governments to incorporate Zero Waste as a central strategy to fight climate change.

Environmentalists Exhort Citizens to Defend Climate 1 December 2008, Manila, Philippines. As thousands of government officials, civil society advocates and other participants gather in Poznan, Poland to negotiate a new climate change treaty, a global alliance of public interest groups press for decisive steps to cut green house gas (GHG) emissions from dirty waste disposal practices. Groups united within the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), including the EcoWaste Coalition of the Philippines, urged governments to adopt Zero Waste as an essential strategy to spur dramatic reduction in GHG from landfills and incinerators.

Popular Mechanics discusses recycling, it's history and the economic and energy saving benefits that we see from it

Popular Mechanics shows the huge economic and energy saving benefits of recycling.

GAIA's position paper on waste and climate change calls for Zero Waste strategies to address global warming and rejects the false solutions of incinerators and landfill gas collection.

18 November 2008 Quezon City. Members of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and the Ecowaste Coalition today called on the Philippine delegation to the upcoming climate talks in Poznan, Poland to take up the cudgels for the climate by pushing for the quickest and cheapest strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

El Concejo Municipal de la ciudad de Rosario, Provincia de Santa Fé, aprobó la ordenanza de Gestión Integral de Residuos Sólidos Urbanos basada en el concepto internacional de Basura Cero. La ordenanza prohíbe la incineración.

6 November, 2008, Bulgaria. The environmental assessment (EIA) of a waste management project proposed by Sofia municipality to deal with the Bulgarian capital's chronic waste problems has been criticised by Bankwatch's Bulgarian member group Za Zemiata for failing to consider an alternative waste management scenario officially submitted by NGOs in collaboration with experts and researchers from Europe and the U.S. Such a procedural breach of Bulgarian EIA legislation should, believes Za Zemiata, rule out vital EU funding that the authorities in Sofia are seeking for the EUR 175 million project. [1]

1 October, 2008. Croatia. Protests against a EUR 40 million waste management centre planned for development in the Croatian tourist hotspot of Istria have been taking place in Zagreb. The justifications for the project remain unclear particularly in view of the fact that local recycling targets are set at a regrettably low rate of 23% by 2015 and that the center's capacity is 50 percent higher than needed, according to the Croatian Waste Management Plan. The proposed site for the project is one kilometre from the sea and three kilometres from the ancient city of Pula.

8 October, 2008. Environmentalists and anti-debt advocates trooped today to the House of Representatives to ask lawmakers to strike out in the proposed national budget the payment for what they call an illegitimate debt to Austria involving the Department of Health's purchase of twenty-six medical waste incinerators in 1997.

My friends often don't believe me when I say I can spend an entire evening listening to stories about garbage and be completely mesmerized. That's because they haven't met Annie Leonard. She has been relentlessly explaining the absurdity of our throwaway culture to me and many others for decades. While her mastery of detail is impressive, it's her passionate style that transforms bleak facts into emotive stories that compel you to take action.

We, representatives of the undersigning organizations, members of the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance/Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), after celebrating our meeting to analyze, discuss and exchange information on the growing waste problem in Latin America and The Caribbean, in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, in August 22-24th, 2008, declare: - Waste is the symptom of a problem: a predating and frenetic production and consumption system that devastates the environment and the communities as a result of overexploitation of natural goods, polluting production processes, overconsumption and polluting waste management and treatment practices. The other side of this system is social injustice, retrocession in terms of the acquired rights, increasing violence and poverty, fostering individualism and an unlimited and imposed development.

12 August 2008, Thiruvananthapuram, India, Grassroots community leaders and activists working on sustainable waste solutions threw their support for Zero Waste over ‘waste to energy ‘ (WTE) incinerators, saying that incineration not only threatens public health and the environment but also deprives rag pickers of their livelihood.

Amid intermittent rains, public health and environmental justice groups on August 5 held a funeral march at the Philippine Senate to symbolize death to the environment and economy with the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

Wael Hmaidan, executive director of IndyACT, said "Climate change threatens our security and our economy more than any political problem we have at home or abroad, but unfortunately it is not considered as a priority by any of the political parties in Lebanon."

Laila Iskandar of the firm “Community and Institutional Development” talks about garbage recycling in Cairo, Egypt. “What it strikes me about the recyclers of the world (the garbage collectors, the scavengers) is that they delight in recovering what we, with such great disrespect, throw away,” Iskandar said.

In the heart of Accra - in an area called `Abgogbloshie’ - lies one of the most toxic and polluted sites in Ghana. This is where all the discarded electrical gadgets are dumped.

Bharati Chaturvedi, the director and cofounder of Chintan, a small Indian NGO that provides education to waste-pickers, claims that more than 1 percent of Delhi's population sifts through garbage, recycling as much as 59 percent of the city's waste. "These waste-pickers are providing a public service—for free," she says.

IN LATE 2005, the City Council in Buenos Aires, Argentina unanimously passed a law, “Integral Management Of Solid Urban Waste,” a Zero Waste law.

Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick said the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority (GDRRA) will not exercise its option to purchase the waste to energy facility, which is the largest incinerator in the world. This could lead to the closing of the incinerator. Plans are in the works to create a pilot curbside recycling program.

At least 2,000 people march in the streets of San Sebastian in the Basque Region of Spain to protest against the construction of an incinerator.

On June 17, 2008, the European Parliament approved a weak, industry-friendly Waste Framework Directive.

le 7 juillet 2008, Baie-des-Chaleurs, Canada. - La vente de l'incinérateur de sol contaminé de Belledune par Bennett Environmental Inc. est un aveu d'échec de la part de la compagnie.