Zero Waste Month Spotlight: CircularSTL
- Published on Monday October 7th, 2024
Author: Anna Chott, East-West Gateway Council of Governments
On September 24, CircularSTL hosted a symposium at Cortex to showcase initiatives that support a circular economy in St. Louis. A circular economy is one in which products are less resource intensive and 'waste' is recaptured as a resource to manufacture new materials and products. You can be part of the solution and eliminate waste that is littering and piling up in our region's alleys, streets, landfills, and waterways! You can make a difference by supporting many local organizations that allow you to compost and reduce wasted food; participate in community clothing swaps; give a second life to used sports gear; and switch to and advocate for reusable options over single-use cafeteria trays and other serveware.
The CircularSTL Symposium highlighted organizations that are innovating to reduce waste and make sustainability ‘fun.’ For example, Perennial’s Community Clothing Swaps offer opportunities to donate and take home new-to-you clothing, putting a stop to the enormous amount of waste from ‘fast fashion’ and diverting more than 1,000 pounds from the landfill per swap. Passback is a 501c3 startup that collects and refurbishes surplus sports gear and redistributes it, creating a circular economy for sports gear and textiles. Colin Hale shared how CannonDesign is building toward a circular economy by designing buildings for deconstruction and reuse. Morph Bags identifies waste materials (such as excess material from diving equipment or flags) and makes it into products like bags and yoga mats. Ripple Glass offers drop off bins for around St. Louis that can accept all types of glass for recycling, including candles, drinking glasses, windows, and even broken glass. Their model addresses the fact that glass is difficult to handle and sort in single stream recycling. (Unlike other materials like aluminum - 75% of aluminum ever produced is still in use, due to recycling!)
Food waste was highlighted as an important resource and opportunity. Sustain-a-Plate works with grocery stores to reduce food waste and simplify inventory management. In one case study, they reduced the time one grocery store spent tracking expiration dates from 2 days to instantly. Show-Me Green Schools programs work with an incredible number of schools that are reducing their food waste and growing their own food. The OneSTL Food Waste Diversion Committee is working on a regional Food Waste Prevention and Recovery Plan. New Earth Farm contributes to these collaborative efforts and education, alongside their operation of a community composting program that offers drop off bins and pickup services (with two new electric vans!). In 2023, the Green Dining Alliance’s Food Waste Challenge engaged 8 restaurants and over 250 employees to divert over 17,000 lbs of food waste from landfills. The challenge is now recruiting restaurants for October 2024.
Reuse was also presented as a solution to build a circular economy. Earthday365 has provided grants to Pershing Elementary and Bayless Schools for reusable cafeteria trays. Reusable trays not only reduce waste, but can also replace polystyrene single-use trays, which are associated with health concerns. The ending keynote speaker Mike Martin, founder of r.World, has spent his life making events greener and found that reuse is the ideal environmental solution for events. Martin pointed out that the reusable options they offer have the lowest climate impact of any option for live events; single-use aluminum cups have a higher climate impact even than single-use plastic.
October is Zero Waste Month, an opportunity for you to make a change to reduce your waste, join with these organizations to have an impact - and have FUN!
