Our world is changing, our way of thinking should too.
As a low waste store owner, we get to see how innovative our suppliers are creating amazing new products to help us all reduce waste in our daily lives. When I get to step out into the broader world of low waste, it is incredibly inspiring to see what all is happening on a much larger scale!
We try our hardest to refuse, reuse, repurpose, repair, refill and rethink in our daily lives as much as possible but waste still seems to be a part of our life. What if that waste was a resource?
At the North Bay Zero Waste Symposium, I was surrounded by movers and shakers finding ways to repurpose as many things as possible!
The morning started off with an inspirational keynote speaker Alejandra Warren from Plastic Free Future, talking about intersectionality in zero waste. I recorded some of her talk and this part felt like we could all hear it over and over again. “We live in one of the most culturally diverse areas in the country, why do we continue to rely on the 3 bin system? We need to get creative, we need to think outside of the box, and we need to figure out how to diversify they systems so we can do better.”
Why do we keep putting things in the 3 bins? Why not reuse what we have instead of recycle? Why not use more of our food scraps instead of compost? Why not refuse something instead of putting it in the trash?
The other part regarding intersectionality with our Latinx community was, “We are not there to teach the community, the community already knows. We are there to remind the community and reclaim their knowledge.” We know how to reuse…we just need to remember to do it. She was SO inspirational!
Did you know that New Parkway Theater in Oakland is a low waste theater? They have reclaimed vintage chairs, nearly everything they have is reusable, and their wine/beer selection is sourced locally. Way to go New Parkway Theater!!
Sports Basement has an incredible gear rental program, but that's not all they do for the reuse movement! They also work with the Crayon Initiative where you can drop off used crayons you no longer need and the Crayon Initiative gives kids in hospitals free crayons. They also take corks! We are no longer taking them for various reasons but feel free to drop them at Sports Basement! They take e-bike batteries for recycling too! Oh and they have refilled over 140K small camping propane canisters!
Recology is creating a new exhibit at the Children's Museum of Sonoma County and is working with student artists in sonoma and Marin Counties to expand their existing creative practice working with landfilled items into art!
Being in the wine industry for 10+ years and seeing first hand the waste created from making delicious wines, happy to see the Northbay Zero Waste Collective working together within the wine community to tackle the waste of hard to recycle items! They are collectively working to refine their processes of recycling and reducing waste.
Cruz Foam is making compostable packaging from upcycled starch diverted from the landfills that actually provides nourishment for the soil when composted. They highlighted the stats that the US has 3,000 landfills covering 1.8M acres of land…and it's growing. Let's reuse what we already have instead of growing our landfills!
Atrium 916 made me want to attend one of their fun events! They focus on creativity in making sustainable behavior changes and they have an art and community center creating a circular economy marketplace in Sacramento. If you're in the area, I hear it is a must stop!
Californians Against Waste gave some updates on current policy legislation. I am super excited about all of it! Including AB823 to ban intentionally added microplastics to cleaning and personal care products. We don't need them and should totally be banned. I could geek out on the policies but I will stop here. Sign up for their newsletter to stay up to date!
World Centric, a local company, highlighted the various local ordinances and how different they are in what they accept and what is banned. They are continually revising and improving their products to meet the various ordinances but that is super challenging. While I believe reuse is better than producing a single use -compostable- product to replace a single use plastic product, I do think World Centric is working to help make compostable products truly compostable to fit in with our current systems we have. After all, we sometimes find ourselves eating out without our reusables and I am thankful there is a good option.
I am super excited to learn about Community Gearbox! This app for social inventory management empowering networks of trust to gather, share, and co-own material goods sounds sooo amazing! It brings us back to the “can I borrow a cup of sugar” with our friends, neighbors, and networks. We have camping gear sitting in our closet that others in our network could borrow, or if you have a wheelbarrow that sits idle for most of the year but your neighbor just got compost delivered and needs to borrow it, the list is endless! Mom groups!! This one would be so awesome for you too!
Culture of Repair works with teachers in K-12 settings across all subject areas to teach about repair! Let's fix something instead of tossing and buying new!
Did you know that 1 in 5 low income Bay Area households still lack access to a computer? Tech Exchange is working to fix that! They fix donated computers and give them to folks who need one saving over 3,000 tons of e-waste, distributing over 170K computers and have trained over 450 interns since they started in 1995. So incredible!
I had the pleasure of being at the same table as Lauryn, Founder of Nice Car. What she and her company are doing to convert used vehicles to EV is more innovative than just the traditional one-off custom conversions. They are working to scale this to lower the time and cost to 6 weeks and $20-35K. Converting a used vehicle to electric results in 80% less CO2 emitted vs manufacturing a new EV from scratch. I was talking to one of our awesome customers about this and she looked at her husband and said “See! Women are solving the problems!” =) Yes, we are! Oh, and Nice Car was also at the Cool Petaluma Future Fest this past Sunday!
Who's up for a community event at a local farm?! Solar Punk Farms is a queer run climate hub focused on bioregional regeneration. On the farm they provide a gathering place, offer tours, education, and are a compost hub with Zero Waste Sonoma. I feel so grateful all the time that we live in an area where projects like this exist and thrive because of the awesome community we are surrounded by.
Regenerative Forest Solutions is focused on forest stewardship and education right here in Sonoma County. They are creating a campus to utilize wood that would otherwise be burned or chipped, instead creating lumber out of it. Talk about a solution to our current administration's tariffs.
Biochar has become more and more well known to increase soil organic matter and help our soil retain water but there's so much more to it! Sonoma Ecology Center has a Biochar Initiative working with local farmers (including vineyards), foresters, and our government on how we can better utilize this process. Using what we have and using it in a meaningful way.
There were also workshops for mending clothes, food preservation, using a multimeter by one of Reuse Alliance’s fixers, refurbishing furniture, screen printing on thrifted or deadstock shirts, bike repair, EV demo, making friends as adults and coloring for those of us who needed a break from all of the people, and a walking meditation.
This was all in one day!! If you’re ever feeling like there’s too much waste in the world, please attend a conference to see what all of these awesomely talented folks are doing to prevent our landfills from growing. We all need to get on board with as much as we can and support the initiatives that speak to us.
Drop a comment below on what sounds most exciting!
