The International Day of Zero Waste is observed on March 30. This day is meant to stress the importance of promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns, and bolstering global waste management.

Every year, humanity generates between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tons of municipal solid waste.

On Zero Waste Day 2024, we revisit an interview conducted by Women of Color magazine with Lisa Jackson, an environmental leader and executive at Apple.

Since joining the company in 2013, Jackson has helped the technology company become an environmental leader in the tech industry.

Under her leadership, Apple has achieved reached carbon neutrality for its corporate emissions and now powers its operations worldwide with 100 percent renewable energy.

In 2021, Apple announced its most ambitious target yet, pledging that every Apple device will be produced with net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

Before joining Apple, Jackson was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator from 2009 to 2013. She was the first African American in that position.

During her tenure at EPA, she prioritized reducing greenhouse gases, protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination, and championing environmental justice by expanding environmental outreach to underserved communities and communities of color.

She holds a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor's degree from Tulane University. Below are excerpts of Jackson's interview with Women of Color (WOC) magazine.

Jackson: Nothing is more urgent than our planet and ensuring future generations have clean air, clean water, and a safe environment to live in. I have dedicated my career to this mission and am proud to carry on that work here at Apple.

Apple has dedicated our resources—and our best thinking—to considering the environment in everything we do: the energy that powers our operations, the materials in our devices, the companies we do business with, and the health and safety of those who make and use our products.

We have led our industry in reducing our environmental footprint for years, but we know there is more to do. So, we have set a groundbreaking new goal to reduce further our impact on the planet we share. By 2030, we are committing to total carbon neutrality.

We are already carbon neutral for our corporate emissions—we use 100 percent renewable electricity for our facilities and invest in projects that protect and restore forests, wetlands, and grasslands. And we are well on our way in our supply chain, bringing more clean energy sources online and innovating to reduce emissions at every stage.

But we are going further to cover our entire end-to-end footprint—the shipping that moves our products worldwide and the energy used to power our customers' devices.

Jackson: Start with "I"—be mindful of what you eat, how you get around, where you live, and your at-home routines. For Apple, this means focusing on the areas where we can have the most impact:

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet. This is why Apple is using its voice to advocate for strong climate policies that promote decarbonizing our economy and support renewable energy.

As part of this work, we regularly meet with leaders and policymakers worldwide to push for innovative environmental policies and join groups like RE100 to support these efforts. You probably recently saw our CEO, Tim Cook, speaking about these issues at the UN Climate Ambition Summit. It is essential to show up.

Climate change is a universal challenge that impacts all of us. But its impacts are felt unevenly. We can also use our voices and amplify others to ensure equity is always a part of the conversation. We all need to understand that there is no justice without environmental justice.

Jackson: We recognize that climate change is one of the greatest threats of our time and that we have a responsibility to take urgent action to address it. For over a decade, Apple has taken robust action to reduce our carbon footprint and drive energy efficiency in our products and processes.

We announced that by 2030—so ten years from now—Apple will be carbon-neutral. This is not just for our operations but because we are already carbon-neutral, which is how many companies measure carbon neutrality. Our stores, data centers, and offices all run on 100 percent clean energy right now.

Our goal is to extend that progress to our entire supply chain. We have hundreds of suppliers. In 10 years, the challenge will be to move all those suppliers to clean energy. That will be huge. We have gone one step further and said that by 2030, we also want our customers to be able to charge their devices on clean energy.

We committed that our customers will be able to do that by 2030. Obviously, that is not something we can do all alone. It is something that we can help with. We have sponsored clean-energy projects around the world.

But we also want to work with governments to ensure that there is more and more access to clean energy on grids around the world, especially in areas that, right now, have been under-invested in terms of clean energy.

Jackson: Apple has an incredible culture of collaboration, innovation, and creativity. People here feel empowered to speak their minds and lead with their values, and you see that reflected in the products we make.

My goal has never been to change any of those things. But what we have done is harness that energy and innovation as a force for good in our environmental work, our advocacy for equity and justice, and our support for students and teachers.

Apple was doing this kind of work long before I got here. But over the last few years, we have renewed and accelerated our progress—and that has meant drawing on Apple's culture and our people, drawing on that innovative spirit, and tackling challenges like climate change in ways only Apple can.