Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal Volume 6 Article 4 Issue 2 Pacific Region Edition June 2013 Where Will All the Waste Go?: Utilizing Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Laws to Achieve Zero Waste Anthony A. Austin Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/gguelj Part of the Environmental Law Commons Recommended Citation 6 Golden Gate U. Envt'l L. J. 221 (2013). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Austin: Zero Waste WHERE WILL ALL THE WASTE GO?: UTILIZING EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FRAMEWORK LAWS TO ACHIEVE ZERO WASTE ANTHONY A. AUSTIN* I. INTRODUCTION The United States has a waste problem. It represents only five percent of the world population, yet it generates twenty-five to thirty percent of the world’s waste.1 In 2008, the United States generated 389.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW).2 As our economy and population continue to grow, our waste will continue to grow as well.3 The obvious dilemma is that all of this waste, the byproduct of our economic advances, creates significant adverse environmental and public *Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Diana L. Terry, Colorado Court of Appeals. J.D., Golden Gate University School of Law (2011); LL.M., Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy, University of Denver Sturm College of Law (2012).