June Lunch & Learn Recap: Zero Waste Ambassador Program (ZWAP!)

For this month’s Lunch & Learn series, we heard from Outreach and Education Coordinator extraordinaire Kate Folkman! She leads Home ReSource’s Zero Waste Ambassador Program, otherwise known as ZWAP! (yes, the exclamation point is required!).

ZWAP! is Home ReSource’s award-winning, STEM standards-aligned education program. It was started in 2016 and continues to be an innovative approach to teaching Missoula fifth graders about concepts like zero waste and the circular economy. It starts with an interactive classroom visit and culminates in a two-hour field trip to Home ReSource’s reuse center. Students participate in visioning activities, many of which were laid out on tables in Home ReSource’s community room (compostable ketchup bottle, anyone?). As of this month, 90 new fifth graders were added to the ZWAP! Program thanks to outreach to schools in Bonner and Lolo.

Lunch & Learn attendees were shown a photo of the zero waste “funnel” and were encouraged to think about the three main systems of where all our stuff comes from.

The three systems that were discussed were:

• Materials Economy: extract, make products, purchase/use, and finally, throw away. This is an unsustainable system.
• Natural Systems: found in nature and have been sustainable for thousands of years. This includes something like the water cycle.
• Circular Economy: it begins like the materials economy, but instead of throwing items away, people can do something else to it, such as rot (compost, recycle, or reuse. This system encourages reduction first, then refusal and even requesting for change.

Kate shared a powerful quote that she uses in all her presentations:

“Individual action can make a collective difference”

Herein lies the importance of the ZWAP! and the goals of the program. Lunch & Learn attendees were told they too can be ambassadors, which is someone who “leads by example and encourages others to do the same.” Kate reiterated that no individual is perfect, we can try our best and that’s still something.

The Lunch & Learn concluded with some teacher testimonials on ZWAP! and an introduction to ZWAP! The Game: Know Out Waste!, as well as other supplemental activities. There were heartening discussions on actions that participants could take in their own lives, including tracking waste over the summer and thrifting more. One participant proudly showed off their jeans, which were patched up with a bevy of scraps of cloth. “I never throw jeans away,” they said with a smile. The last and final step, that all fifth graders do as well, was to sign the ZWAP! Wall.

Thanks to everyone who attended! If you weren’t able to attend in person, you can find a recording of this Lunch & Learn here.