After decades of warnings about the various health and environmental risks linked to polystyrene foam, corporate America is just now lending an ear. While some restaurants and coffee shops were quick to swap out polystyrene foam cups for paper ones, others have reacted more slowly – including coffee and donut giants, Honey Dew and Dunkin’.… Continue reading Swapping Out One Unnecessary Evil for Another
Home to 16 active trash incinerators, New England has been burning its waste for decades, harming our communities and damaging our climate in the process. The rationale behind burning our trash may seem sound on the surface. Proponents argue that it diverts waste from landfills, and the energy produced by incineration can be used to… Continue reading Aging Waste Incinerators Pose a Danger to New Englanders
Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs recently named a group of students from Martha’s Vineyard, who took action against the island’s plastic waste, as the winners of their Marine Debris Creative Advocacy Competition. Here, we take a look at what the students accomplished and see how advocacy work is essential to creating lasting solutions for New… Continue reading Advocating for Change and Making Shift Happen
Cash, dough, bacon, moolah…no matter what you call it, the fact remains that zero-waste initiatives save money. Our zero-waste pyramid (above) shows you just some of the ways these savings kick in. Below, we break some of these policies down in more detail to show how they benefit you and your bank account. *Note: this… Continue reading Saving Money with Zero Waste
In September 2018, leaders from across the country – including CLF’s President, Bradley Campbell – and the globe gathered in San Francisco, California at the Global Climate Action Summit to exchange ideas about how we can address the most pressing issue of our time: climate change. The Summit also challenged cities and towns around the world to step… Continue reading Five Ways Cities and Towns Can Slash Trash and Fight Climate Change
Over the last few years, the push to get food waste out of landfills and incinerators has become the new kale. Or cupcakes. Or bone broth. You get the picture. And rightfully so! As a nation, we waste a staggering amount of food every year: about 40 percent of what we produce. That’s more than… Continue reading Are You Composting Yet? If Not, Now Is a Good Time to Start!
The owner of a new, low-waste, personal and home care store in Cambridge, MA, Sarah Levy has re-envisioned the way we shop while helping our community to reduce its waste. For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to use resources efficiently (i.e., not waste stuff), which is likely a result of growing up… Continue reading Redesigning the Way We Shop
Our recycling system is in a crisis. Up until last year, recyclables collected for the U.S. were shipped to China for processing. But then, China stopped accepting our recycling, setting off a chain reaction of problems. In New England and across the country, the cost of recycling for towns and cities is skyrocketing, forcing local… Continue reading Our Recycling System is Broken
Think for a moment about the trash you produce every day, either directly or indirectly. First, there’s what you throw out at your home or your job; then there’s the trash that restaurants, laundromats, doctors’ offices, and other businesses you frequent throw out after you leave. Next, add the waste from the farms that produce… Continue reading Municipal Solid Waste: What is It and Why is It a Problem?
Rhode Island – and all of New England – has a trash problem. There’s simply too much of it, and the ways we dispose of it hurt our health and environment. What’s more, plastic pollution is damaging our communities and putting wildlife on land and in the sea at risk. Rhode Island had the chance… Continue reading Burning Waste is a Bad Idea. So Why is Rhode Island Taking Time to Study It?
