Did you know? The Zero Waste Arlington Committee is comprised of ten members appointed by the Town Moderator, and one Town employee designated by the Town Manager. The mission of ZWA is to foster greater participation in all forms of waste reduction to improve health and restore the environment. We chatted with three members of the ZWA, Meghan, Emily, and Seema, to learn more about their mission and initiatives. Check it out!
What is the mission of Zero Waste Arlington?
Zero Waste Arlington is a town committee focused on reducing waste in Arlington by focusing on the 6 Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, and Rot. We encourage people to refuse or reduce the amount of single use items they use in their daily life (more on that below under the No Plastic Please Campaign). We co-sponsor events such as Clothing Swaps/Fixit Clinics to encourage the reuse and repair of items. Finally, we educate the public on how to correctly recycle the waste items that remain or to allow food waste to rot responsibly through backyard composting, the Town of Arlington’s Feed FiDO bins, or a private curbside composting service.
What is the "No Plastic Please" campaign?
No Plastic Please is a no shame, everybody-wins campaign to decrease single-use plastic waste in Arlington by encouraging customers to refuse plastic utensils and straws at restaurants, especially when ordering takeout. Hopefully, skipping disposable utensils, straws, and condiment packets will become the new normal!
What are alternatives to single-use plastics?
I'm so glad you asked! For consumers, great options are reusable metal silverware and water bottles. For restaurants, switching to fully recyclable containers (e.g. no black plastic containers or deli containers) and allowing folks to rely on their own reusable cutlery would be a huge improvement.
Any advice/recommendations for busy people on-the-go? What do you/your family do instead of single-use?
Keep a set of utensils and few reusable bags in your bag or glove compartment, use a refillable water bottle. Consider alternatives to plastic bags used at home like reusable silicone ones and reusable beeswax sheets for food covering. Shop in bulk sections and fill reusable containers rather than buying food in packaging. Avoid single-use snacks, by buying the same product in bulk and portioning into smaller sizes at home. Use bar soaps and shampoos that don't need containers. Cook from whole unpackaged produce when possible. Consider the fun in making things you enjoy often like bread or yogurt. Minimize purchases of new packaged items by fixing things (please visit one of our fixit clinics!), getting secondhand goods, and using the library, it's cheaper and fun!
Tell us about the volunteers. Why/how did you get involved?
My name's Meghan and I've tried to live a low-waste lifestyle in Arlington for about 5yrs. Now I have 3 kids and really want to make the world better for them. I believe it's only as a community that we can remove some of the powerful obstacles to reducing single-use plastic and the pollution that it causes.
I’m Emily and for the last year my family has gotten serious about reducing our waste. I read Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home, and I realized that I was relying way too much on recycling and not being thoughtful enough about where my trash goes when I put it at the curb! I was inspired by her book and took on the challenge of reducing my family’s trash. My best advice is to make changes gradually, targeting only one or two items in your trash at a time. The biggest (and actually easiest) change we made was to sign up for a curbside food waste diversion service. Right away, we had less trash, and even better, our trash no longer smelled, ending the need to put our trash out every week. We cut down on the number of different varieties of pantry staples we purchased, allowing us to bulk buy the ones we wanted to have on hand. We also bought fresh produce, which we could often get package-free. We stopped buying single-serving snacks for the kids, opting to either buy the largest size and portion out smaller quantities for school lunches or switching to lower waste options (popcorn popped on the stove rather than in a microwavable bag). Purchasing cloth napkins and repurposing old towels and washcloths as rags negated the need to buy paper towels. I was surprised to find that one unexpected benefit of reducing our waste was that it also ended up reducing the amount of time we spent shopping. Buying in bulk means we often already have most of the items we need on a weekly basis, allowing us to reduce the number of times we need to shop. Relying on fewer items also means fewer items to purchase, translating into less time in shopping and making it easier to walk or bike to the grocery store instead of driving. Although we have drastically changed what we buy over the last year, we made changes that worked for our family and were things that we could easily sustain. We still generate waste (I have no zero waste solutions for cheese!), but far less than we did before. Importantly, it does not feel like we’ve given anything up that we’d like to have back.
I’m Seema and I think that we can have a more harmonious relationship with our environment. Briefly using items that take hundreds of years to degrade just doesn’t make sense! So I’m trying to reduce my landfill-bound waste and with collective action, I’m certain that markets/industry will have to catch up. As for my personal waste reduction strategy, the biggest reductions for me came from composting organic waste and from selecting more recyclable packaging when shopping. Also, I’ve been switching out various disposable products for long-lasting, non-toxic alternatives, including a metal safety razor in place of plastic ones, salt crystal deodorant in place of the traditional kind (works great, btw!), and concentrated cleaning supplies/toiletries like castile soap.
Why is reducing single-use plastics important to you?
Meghan: Single-use plastics are such an unfortunate example of waste, it never seems worth the real cost of raw materials and environmental damage for the fleeting purpose they offer to consumers. Plastics are filling our oceans and breaking down into tiny pieces that pollute our environment. We've got to change or it will catch up to us in this lifetime!
Emily: Single-use plastics are widespread, but often so unnecessary. Used only briefly, or worst yet, not at all, is a terrible use of resources. Finding alternatives to single-use plastics is the only way to stem the tide of plastics flowing into our oceans and littering our countryside.
Seema: Single-use plastics represent a societal preference for low-cost convenience. Unfortunately, the low economic cost does not reflect a very high environmental cost. I am certain that a shift in consumer preference for non-toxic materials would lead to innovation in sustainable, biodegradable products and packaging and ultimately a healthier environment.
Where can people learn more? How can people get involved?
Getting involved is as simple as asking for "No Plastic Please" next time you order from a restaurant. Or try to reduce single-use plastic in your life. Please take a look at our committee website and spread the word!
