Zero Waste Resource Roundup 4/21/2021

Amidst the turbulence and uncertainty of present times, one thing remains constant – Home ReSource’s spirit and enthusiasm for Zero Waste! We hope that’s true for you, too.

We want to make it easy for you to stay engaged and motivated, so we’ve created the “Resource Roundup” – a list of Zero Waste events, news, and opportunities to keep us all busy and informed.

Stay curious, keep learning, and hold onto that Zero Waste spirit!


Virtual Fixit Clinics | February 13-June 19 (dates added periodically)
Want to try fixing from home? Present your broken item to a global team of expert community repairers and get suggestions for things to try. After all items have presented we move to Zoom breakout rooms to implement the suggestions and, hopefully, fix the items. Fixit coaches are invited to participate, as well!

Earth Day Live | April 20-22
Join Earth Day Network for 3 days of exciting virtual events in celebration of Earth Day 2021.

Virtual Art Exhibit: ReCREATE | April 22
ReCREATE is a new partnership in which Eco-Cycle’s Green Star Schools team salvages unusable books collected at the Eco-Cycle/City of Boulder Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials and donates them to schools, which get the books into the hands of art students. With guidance from their art teacher, participating students have been working on “ReCreations” while learning about the history of paper, its influence on art, and the benefits of proper recycling and composting paper. During the 2020-21 school year, four local schools and over 250 students participated in ReCreate. Enjoy a sample of these ReCreations in a virtual art exhibit that will open on Earth Day (Thursday, April 22nd), featuring art made by students at Boulder High, Broomfield High, Manhattan Middle School, and Monarch PK-8!

Story of Plastic Screening & Discussion | April 22, 7pm
Watch the critically acclaimed film THE STORY OF PLASTIC for free, and then join Citizens for a Better Flathead for an earth day discussion about the film, recycling in the Flathead, and how we move forward. RSVP here and you will receive a link to the movie to watch ahead of time at your leisure, and a zoom link for our April 22, 7pm discussion.

Beyond Recycling: Making Zero Waste Work Session 2, Compost and Organic Waste | April 28, 12pm MST
This is the second session of Climate Smart Glacier Country’s series, “Beyond Recycling: Making Zero Waste Work,” featuring Ryan Green of Happy Trash Can in Bozeman. This session will take a look at repurposing food and other organic, green “waste” and help you learn about what it takes to engage your city or town about composting. Register here. Session 1 recording here.

International Compost Awareness Week | May 2-8
International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated nationwide and in other countries each year during the first full week of May. This year’s theme is Grow, Eat…COMPOST…Repeat. Check out ICAW Events to get involved!

Glass Recycling Drop Off | June 6, 9am-2pm at Imagine Nation Brewing
Recycling Works is hosting another glass drop off event! Recycle your glass for $1/gallon. Drink tickets available for all recyclers.

Equity, Inclusion & Zero Waste | 2 part series: April 8 & 22, 5:30-7:30pm MST
Eco-Cycle invites you to our first two-part training about social justice and its intersection with Zero Waste. We will discuss the history of environmental justice and environmental racism, how those issues apply to natural resources and Zero Waste specifically, and how you can be a part of the solution. Parker McMullen-Bushman from Ecoinclusive will be our guest speaker.

Take Easy Action for Less Wasted Food at Home | April 23, 1:30pm
Did you know you can save money and the planet at the same time by wasting less food? Food that ends up in a landfill releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. There are simple and fun things we can learn to do at home to use more of the food we buy and turn the rest into rich compost that feeds the soil. Join Smithsonian’s Conservation Commons for a special webinar and demo about how to prevent and reduce wasted food at home. Speakers will share tips and interactive tools for food prep and storage, demonstrate meal planning and cooking with ends and stems, introduce the basics of hot composting and vermicomposting (composting with earth worms), and more!

Creating Inclusive EPR Systems | April 27, 9-10:30am MST
Three experts from around the world will participate in a timely conversation on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging and its intersection with the informal waste sector. Our speakers will discuss the complexities of establishing EPR systems in low-income countries and those with informal waste sectors and how these systems can be designed to foster economic growth while ensuring safe working conditions and livable wages.

Life Cycle Assessments & Decision-Making | May 20, 12pm MST
Ever wonder what life cycle assessment (LCA) means and how to apply the results? This webinar will provide those answers and more.  We will hear from national experts on LCAs and case studies about chemical recycling and the concrete/cement industry.

Environmental Benefits Calculators – How they Work & How they Can Help | June 8, 12 pm MST
Join NERC and NEWMOA for a comprehensive webinar highlighting environmental benefits calculators demonstrating the climate change value of source reduction, reuse and recycling.  Featured calculators include: WARM, ReCON, ReFed, & Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculators.

Break Down: Explaining the U.S. Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021
Join the Plastic Pollution Coalition for a conversation with Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative Alan Lowenthal of California, Co-Sponsors of the historic Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA) of 2021. Moderated by Judith Enck, former Obama Administration EPA Regional Administrator and Founder of Beyond Plastics, this conversation will explain how this proposed legislation builds on statewide laws across the United States, and outlines plastic reduction strategies to improve the health of people and our planet.

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA) Teach-in; NYC Youth Climate Summit
The Teach-in is a free resource to educate and build youth support across the U.S. for the groundbreaking BREAK FREE FROM PLASTIC POLLUTION ACT (BFFPPA) 2021.

Creating effective systems for reuse
The ability to reuse products and materials sits right at the heart of the zero waste approach, as a basic prerequisite for a circular economy to flourish. To get reuse in the mainstream, a number of local and national systems must be both designed and enabled. This webinar will go into greater depth to answer these key questions:
-How can local authorities begin to design and implement reusable systems within their city?
-How can reuse practices become part of people’s everyday lives?
-What are the policy drivers behind this change and how can they enable the spread of reuse?

Creating New Jobs and Enterprises through Zero Waste. Passcode: KTIRh%25
Webinar from the Zero Waste Committee of Warren County, NY (a project of the Clean Air Action Network (CAAN) of Glens Falls) focused on local economic growth through reuse and repair enterprises and programs.

Last Week Tonight: Plastics
Plastic is in everything, from the clothes we wear to the water we drink. John Oliver explains how plastics are harming the planet, why recycling isn’t the solution you think it is, and why fixing the problem will be up to not just consumers, but corporations and policymakers.

NPR Video: Is Recycling Worth It Anymore?
Recycling works, but it’s not magic. As America continues to lead the world in per capita waste production, it’s becoming more and more clear that everybody –- manufacturers and consumers — “over-believes” in recycling.

Plastics: The Last Straw for Big Oil?
While plastics and other petrochemical products are predicted to overtake the transport sector as the largest driver of future global oil demand, fossil fuel companies risk overinvestment in the space. Companies that rely on growing demand for plastics and other petrochemicals must justify these plans in the face of a range of global structural changes that may deflate these elevated demand growth expectations. Peeking behind the veil of the industry narrative exposes the abundant ESG risks and externalities presented across every stage of the plastic lifecycle.

Reopen with Reuse
As restaurants move toward reopening, many health experts have been saying plastic food packaging doesn’t provide any better protection against the COVID-19 pandemic – in fact, it presents a significant risk to human health. Leading up to World Health Day on April 7, UPSTREAM held a media briefing to look into another potential global health crisis, this time brought about by plastic and the toxic chemicals in our food packaging. In this media briefing, you’ll learn more about the health risks of plastics and food packaging and suggested solutions based on research provided by the UNWRAPPED Project – a partnership between UPSTREAM, GAIA, and Zero Waste Europe.  You’ll also learn more about how toxic chemicals in single-use food packaging are making us sicker, fatter, and poorer, even interfering with our ability to have children. We also discuss the role of reusable foodware in saving businesses money and its relative safety both during the pandemic and in terms of the toxic chemicals threat.

Rethinking Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Policies and Programs to Address Waste
Join the Environmental & Energy Institute for a briefing on local, state, and federal policies and programs as well as new technologies that will make you rethink waste management, who is responsible for waste, and whether waste is worthless. This briefing will feature speakers from cities, states, and the private sector working to reduce and reuse a variety of waste types. Experts will discuss their programs and the policies that are helping them succeed.

Safety & Sustainability: Reusables during COVID-19
The confusion around COVID-19 caused some well-documented suspicion of the safest ways to share materials like dishes or re-usable bags. The plastic industry was quick to encourage single-use plastics as the safest option, even without significant evidence. To avoid an increase in landfill disposables, these campus dining operations took advantage of the changes under the pandemic to both keep their campus safe and move to a zero waste alternative. From large scale interventions to individual behavior change campaigns, campuses of all kinds can learn from these speakers. Join us April 15th to learn how your campus dining could transform to a safe, sustainable and affordable program.

The Story of Plastic (Animated Short)
This animated short is a companion to the full Story of Plastic documentary. The short film pulls back the curtain on the plastic pollution headlines, revealing the true causes and consequences of the global plastics crisis.

Unwoven: Phasing Plastic Out of Fashion
In partnership with Fashion Revolution, during the April 14 webinar, we had an expansive conversation about the connection between plastic and fashion: from the way microplastics in clothing are polluting our air and water to the processing of synthetic materials and their toxic effects on garment workers as well as unintentional greenwashing in the industry. Armed with this knowledge, brands can do better business and stay true to their values while taking real action towards social and environmental justice.

Sign this petition from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to remove waste incineration from the CLEAN Future Act

Sign this petition to demand companies like Coca-Cola, Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever stop producing single-use plastics.

Sign this petition to urge food establishments to reopen with reuse.

Sign this petition to urge Biden to be a Plastic Free President.

Support the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act of 2021.

Support GAIA’s Beyond Recovery Campaign
The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the many other illnesses within our current system. With the connected crisis of climate change, systemic inequality, and environmental degradation growing ever more dire, it is clear that we cannot go “back to normal.” It’s time to go beyond recovery, returning our planet to a life-sustaining pathway where nothing and no one is wasted.

Write an article for the Sustainable Missoula Column
Sustainable Missoula is a weekly column in the Missoula Current which features voices of Missoulians working to make our community cleaner, greener and healthier. Topics range from clean energy, to zero waste, to local government and nonprofit sustainability efforts and news, and everything in between! Articles are published Fridays in the Missoula Current. If you’re interested in submitting an article, contact Sarah Lundquist, lundquist@homeresource.org

How Big Waste Degraded US Recycling

Report: New Jersey’s Dirty Secret: The Injustice of Incinerators and Trash Energy in New Jersey’s Frontline Communities

Zeroing Out Zero Waste: A conversation about recycling

This startup aims to take the trash out of takeout

Tracking the future of US recycling policy in Congress

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act reintroduced, plastics industry ramps up opposition

Masks and gloves are saving lives — and causing pollution

‘It’s a pipe dream’: Green groups blast plastic makers’ recycling push

LIFT America Act’s infrastructure proposals list landfill gas among renewable energy sources

Scraps Cookbook

Push to reduce plastic waste gains traction in Sacramento and D.C.

In Europe, a Backlash Is Growing Over Incinerating Garbage

Discussing Zero Waste Cities

Go big or go home on national recycling policy

15 Sustainable Packaging Innovations to Watch

Starbucks launches ‘Borrow A Cup’ trial with reusable cups for Earth Month. Here’s how it works

Opinion: Breaking Free From Plastic Bill Is A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing.

Lawmakers in New York, Maine name packaging EPR among top priorities at Plastics Recycling Conference

Maryland becomes latest state to pass organics diversion mandate

Appalachia’s ReUse Corridor

Key Concepts for Influencing Recycling Behavior

Why Reusable Takeout Packaging is the Future

Malaysia sends back over 300 containers of illicit plastic waste

Minimum recycled content bill heads to Washington governor’s desk

This fish stuck in a disposable glove is a warning about the risks of COVID-19 litter

Environmental Justice and the Waste Industry – A New Jersey Perspective

Do landfills contribute to climate change? What’s being done to stop it?


Want more? Connect with the Zero Waste Missoula community group by joining the listserv or emailing learn@homeresource.org.

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