joost schouppe <joost.schou...@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> We had an OSM meetup at a bar yesterday, and while we were able to add
> several tags [1], we didn't find any documentation on how to tag their
> "zero waste" policy. I think it's self evident what that means.

Except that when you look into it, at least the flavor that I am seeing
in the Northeast US, it turns out that zero waste means <=10% waste, all
relative to the normal solid-waste trash/recycling situation.  Sewage is
considered entirely different, as are things that are carved out of
solid waste (some batteries, electronics, things with mercury, propane
cylinders, paint, chemicals, etc.).

Plus it doesn't address people who have things to dispose of who find
that they can't, and they just take them someplace else.  Which isn't
zero waste - it is just using extra energy to move waste around :-)

Given all of this, 15% waste might be a more accurate description :-)
(Still, these programs are likely to be an improvement - I'm just
pointing out that the marketing communications are not honest.)

So I think the situation is not self evident at all.

Because of this, where words do not mean what they say, and really we
are dealing with potentially multiple branding organizations, I think
that any tagging should probably be something like

certification:zero-waste.org=yes

for something that is like a URL that refers to a particular Orwellian
organization that defines zero not to be zero in a particular way.
Otherwise we are condoning the adoption of normal words as meaning
something other than what they say by a particular group, and blessing
that group as official.  NPOV isn't really an OSM rule, but I think it's
implicit in describing the world as it is, and this is a dangerous
corner.

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