Zero Waste Committee

I recently attended a Beacon Zero Waste Committee meeting. Zero Waste is a subcommittee of the Beacon Mayoral Conservation Advisory Committee (CAC). Unlike CAC, Zero Waste is not an appointed committee just concerned citizens who act on projects related to reducing waste. (Learn more about the zero waste movement.)

Zero Waste is currently working with Sargent Elementary School to encourage more comprehensive paper recycling in cooperation with Royal Carting. The Green Team, a group of Beacon teens, will create a video of the project and make it available to other Beacon School District schools. Zero Waste has also been involved in the discussion regarding the possibility of a city-wide composting proposal that would provide food waste pick up by trash services for all city residents. However, given economic challenges this proposal is unlikely to pass at this time.

Prudence Posner and I hashed out some ideas on how to encourage composting. We decided upon a Beacon House Tour without the houses, simply composting. Participants can see first-hand how local residents do small-scale residential compost, allowing knowledge-sharing amongst neighbors. The event would follow the same logistics as a house tour might. A more formal composting workshop could be presented by a group like Green Teens and/or Stony Kill Educational Farm. Look for more details early Spring!