Californians Against Waste

Mission:
Californians Against Waste is dedicated to conserving resources, preventing pollution and protecting California’s environment through the development, promotion and implementation of waste reduction and recycling policies and programs.

Who we are:
Founded in 1977, Californians Against Waste is a non-profit environmental research and advocacy organization that identifies, develops, promotes and monitors policy solutions to pollution and conservation problems posing a threat to public health and the environment. Californians Against Waste’s history has demonstrated it to be the nation’s oldest, largest and most effective non-profit environmental organization advocating for the implementation of waste reduction and recycling policies and programs.

What we believe:
Californians Against Waste believes that when manufacturers are required to internalize the environmental externalities (costs) of material extraction, processing and manufacturing pollution, and end-of-life waste management in a product price, the market-place motivates them to reduce consumption, replace virgin resources with recycled materials, reduce toxicity and waste, design for maximum life and recyclability, and generally improve sustainability. This concept of Extended Producer Responsibility lies at the root of virtually every legislative policy that CAW has pursued for the last 30 years.

Our work includes:

• The development of policies and incentives to motivate manufacturers to reduce toxicity and waste, design for recyclability, and increase use for recycled materials.
• Lobbying policy makers to implement and extend producer responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products and processes.
• The design of programs and funding policies that provide the public with information and convenient opportunities for recycling and responsible waste management.