The good news is that it doesn’t take a ton of waste to celebrate a special Valentine’s Day. Here are some tips for creating a meaningful, low-waste February 14th:  
 
If you’re aiming for a zero-waste celebration, consider the suggestions below. Making small changes leads to a smaller environmental footprint and helps reduce how much waste ends up in landfills. Implementing a zero-waste lifestyle can also reduce carbon emissions and help to fight climate change.

• Cards: Make your own greeting card with supplies from home, or consider buying cards from local artists!
• Dinner: Have a zero-waste romantic dinner. Buy fresh ingredients from a winter farmer’s market for package-free meals, and plan your meal ahead of time. Making smaller portions prevents food waste, but you can also save leftovers for another meal or compost to further avoid waste.
• Dinner Date Supplies: Linens, silverware and candle holders can be purchased at your local thrift store to make your date night more magical.
• Flowers: Try buying from local farmer’s markets or giving a potted plant that can last for years, if properly cared for. Some potted plants that bloom year-round include:
  • Hoya Carnosa
  • Hydrangeas
  • Amaryllis
  • Orchids
  • Kalanchoe

By Amanda Clement

​If you are reading this, you likely purchase clothing with the intention of making the best choices for both yourself and the environment. Maybe you’ve made the decision to buy most of your clothing secondhand, or you purchase clothes made from recycled materials. Unfortunately, whether you’re wearing fleece vests made from old bottles, vintage Lycra bodysuits, or fast-fashion branded t-shirts you may be adding microplastics into the water supply without realizing it. 

Most clothing is woven fabric made by spinning tiny fibers into strong threads that are bound into textiles using a loom. Historically, fabrics have been made from plants or animals, think of wool, linen, hemp, cotton, or silk. These fabrics are still common, but over 60 percent of the clothing we now wear is comprised of synthetic (aka plastic) fabrics, like nylon, polyester, spandex, and acrylic. Synthetic materials have useful properties, they can wick away moisture, conform to our bodies, and can often be found at an affordable price point. However, because synthetic fabrics are made from plastic, it becomes problematic at the time of disposal. (You can find more information about textile waste and how to combat it in the first two posts of this series.)  

​Washing clothes loosens the fabric weave, sloughing off bits of fluff and lint. This fluff ends up either as dryer lint or flushed down to the sewerage treatment plant. It doesn’t matter with natural fabrics because those fibers eventually decompose. However, synthetic fabric is made of plastic and essentially will never decompose; an estimated 40 percent of synthetic fibers end up in bodies of water. These plastic fibers are called microfiber, and are microplastics (any piece of plastic under 5mm), which are extremely difficult to extract from the ocean. 
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One study conducted by graduate students from the University of California Santa Barbara in partnership with the clothing company, Patagonia, showed that an average of 1.7 grams of microfiber sheds each time you wash a polyester fleece jacket . This seems like a small amount, but it adds up globally. It is difficult to quantify how many of these fibers end in our water system, but microplastics have been found everywhere from the soil of national parks and artic ice samples to over 90 percent of bottled drinking water. They are so widespread that it is nearly impossible to avoid them. 

​Of course, synthetic clothing fibers are not the only form of microplastic, you may have heard that a lot of plastic that ends up in our oceans breaks down. When plastic is exposed to ocean conditions it causes pieces to break off and become smaller and smaller. The microplastics get mistaken for food by marine life, but are indigestible and clog up their guts, leading to lower levels of oxygen and nutrient absorption. Plastic has contributed to the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year and more than 100,000 marine mammals. Certain plastics such as bisphenol A (BPA) are known to have endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which can disrupt hormonal systems and potentially cause cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurological impairments.  Many other hazardous additives are also added to give plastics the correct color and texture. All these chemicals not only potentially leach from microplastics, but other pollutants such as oil, industrial chemicals, and pesticides stick to them in the ocean increasing their toxicity.
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Microplastics enter our bodies through the water we drink and most of the food we eat. One study from the University of Newcastle found that humans likely consume approximately 2000 microplastics a week, which is about 5 grams or the size of a credit card. Methods for removing microplastics (and larger particles) have been mostly ineffective. There has been research into plastic consuming fungi and bacteria which may have implications in the future, but while scientists seek solutions, we should reduce or eliminate the microfibers we release into the environment. 

Individually we can wear more clothing made from natural fibers, and invest in high-quality basics made from natural fabric. Avoiding clothing that inherently has small bits of plastic such as sequin or glitter is also an important step. Decreasing the frequency that you wash your clothing and washing in cold water not only releases less plastic, but can extend the life of your clothing (thereby protecting your investment).  See this post for more tips on creating a sustainable wardrobe. 
There are also products to trap some of the microfibers in your washing machine before they can become an issue. The Cora Ball, for example, is Vermont product that can be placed in the washer with each load of laundry to catch 31% of microfibers before they go down the drain. Or, if you have only a few pieces of synthetic clothing, you may find that using garment washing bags is more effective. The Guppyfriend bag, for example, reduces the friction on clothing and decreases released fibers by 75% to 86%.  
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 Installing a larger filter to the hose of your machine such as these from Girlfriend Collective, Filtrol, or PlanetCare can help capture fibers in a way similar to a dryer lint catcher. There is legislation that’s been proposed in California to require manufacturers of washing machines to install microfiber filtration systems into new products. If this is an important issue for you it would be worth asking your state representatives if they would propose or support similar legislation. Microplastics are a widespread issue and the scale of the problem or its solution is not yet clear, but awareness could advance research and understanding. 

​Amanda Clement is serving as the ECO AmeriCorps member at CVSWMD. Amanda is a life-long Vermonter who has a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Castleton University. In her free time Amanda likes to visit covered bridges, explore new places, and experimenting with baking or fermenting.

By Amanda Clement


 Clothing options can seem endless; before you know it, you’ve spent hours lost in the racks or scanning websites looking for the perfect item. You can thank “fast fashion” for the overwhelm. In 2017 alone, Americans spent $379.7 billion on clothing and footwear. Add to that, the clothes we are buying either wear out quickly, or we buy into the marketing ploy of trendiness. Every American, on average, purchases 68 garments a year and wears each piece 7 times before throwing it away. So what do we do with our old, worn, or no longer stylish clothes?

Obviously, we can opt-out, and make different purchasing choices. See the first blog post in this series, 9 Ways to Support Sustainable Clothing Consumption, for some great ideas about how to cull your wardrobe and invest in a quality “capsule wardrobe,” plus other tips. Changing our entire relationship with fashion takes time though, and it is difficult to limit your clothing consumption when everywhere you look is telling you to buy more. 
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Fast fashion (trendy clothing at low cost) is a relatively new concept. Less than a century ago buying clothing tended to be expensive and time-consuming, since most garments were either made at home or in small workshops. During World War II the mass production of uniforms normalized readymade clothing for middle-class consumers who began buying inexpensive, trendy items in droves during the economic boom of the 1960s. This has led to pros and cons, the positive being that clothing became more affordable, but the industrialization of the fashion industry has also led to many social and environmental problems.

We cannot discuss the environmental consequences of the fashion industry without acknowledging the human rights violations that occur within it. The cheaper and easier that it is for you to buy clothing, the more someone else pays the personal price to produce it. Globalization and demand for cheap clothing have led to most of our clothing being produced overseas where people are paid extraordinarily little to work long hours in potentially dangerous conditions.
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The people who work in and around these factories also sacrifice their home’s natural environment. The United Nations estimates that 20 percent of global wastewater and 10 percent of global carbon emissions can be linked to the fashion industry. This is more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping, and the industrial dye used in textiles is the second-largest polluter of water globally. This has turned bodies of water in countries such as Bangladesh inky black and toxic because of the polluting chemicals and dyes. This endangers the health of the people and wildlife that rely on natural water sources.
        

Industrial textile production also adds to our global waste production. In the manufacturing process alone the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second. Then when garments arrive for sale their wide availability and the inexpensive price has made them easily disposable. This is likely a reason why 17.03 million tons of textile waste was created in 2018 alone in the United States, and although most of it is recyclable, only 14 percent is recycled.

Textile recycling is difficult but ideally would involve recycling fabrics in a way that maintains their quality at an economically viable price. However, unlike plastic bottles or aluminum cans which are made from one solid material which can be melted down. Textiles are constructed from tiny fibers made from different sorts of materials and deconstructing these fibers can be problematic. Particularly if they are a blend of natural and synthetic materials, such as a polyester/cotton shirt. These technicalities mean that textiles are rarely recycled into new clothing, but instead are shredded up and used as fill for products such as cushions and carpet pads.

​This does not mean that upcycling clothing isn’t possible, and several clothing companies are now adding a percentage of recycled natural fiber (mostly cotton or wool) to their products to decrease their environmental impact. Clothing containing recycled synthetics, such as polyester, often use recycled plastic bottles as their raw material, as the technology to break down synthetic textiles isn’t available at an industrial scale yet. If you are buying new clothes, consider investing in pieces that use recycled materials. Doing so can help decrease the stress on producing new materials, increase demand for recycled textiles, and encourage other companies to use recycled fabrics as well, which can push innovation.

By Amanda Clement 
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The amount of textile waste in the world is getting exponentially larger. In 2018 the United States threw away over 17.03 million tons of textiles, this is an over 89% increase from the 1.76 million tons documented in 1960. Of course, this a tricky problem with many factors, and look for a post exploring the problem deeper soon. However, as individuals we can have impact with our own practices. The way that you buy, maintain, and dispose of your clothing matters, and here are some tips on how you can do so more sustainably:

1.  Buy the highest quality you can afford: Most clothing is thrown away because it is of poor quality to begin with and isn’t worth the cost or time to have it repaired. If you buy high quality, timeless pieces they will likely last you for years.
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2.  Make your clothing purchases with intention and avoid impulse buys: Clothing shopping can be addictive, shopping a seasonal sale can be both fun and feel like a good deal. However, you’re not really saving money if you didn’t need the items you bought to begin with. Make a list of pieces that you want and try to buy them as you find them.

3.  Learn how to mend your clothing or support a local business that can help: With a little practice fixing small repairs in your clothing is attainable for most people. Consult local tailors and other clothing repair shops with more serious repairs.

4.  Buy most of your clothing used: Avoid supporting the fast fashion industry by buying used clothing, you can often get high quality pieces at an affordable price. Either check out a local thrift store or browse online options such as thredUp or Poshmark.

5.  Donate or sell your own used clothes: Along the same lines remember to donate your clothes if they are still in wearable condition. More expensive pieces can be sold to get you some of your money back, and this also ensures that they are going to someone who will use them.

6.  Purchase natural materials over synthetics: Natural materials such as cotton, wool, hemp, linen, and silk are biodegradable unlike synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, and spandex which are made from plastic. Overall natural materials are easier to dispose of, but also when you wash fabrics tiny fibers shed off and end up in the waterways. Synthetic fibers that end up in waterways are known as micro-plastics and often end up in the bodies of animals and humans.
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7.  Consider the time and energy that it takes to maintain your clothing: Some fabrics wrinkle easier and some need dry-cleaning. If you aren’t willing to spend the time on higher maintenance items they might end up as waste. There are also materials that can be washed less often such as wool and denim, and this saves energy and makes the items last longer.

By Dora Chi

Watch how workers in a recycling facility in Chicago, IL are forced to remove improperly recycled plastic bags, which clog machinery. This is similar to what happens in Vermont.

Plastic bags CAN be recycled but not in your blue recycling bin. Solid waste workers have a name for bags (and similar items including hoses, wires and clothing) – “tanglers” – because that’s exactly what they do inside a single stream recycling facility. Thin, stretchy, plastic bags get caught inside machinery, forcing workers to shut down the facility to cut the bags out. Imagine how much money is lost shutting down a factory floor for an hour or more at a time.
 
Last year, when CVSWMD staff and I visited Chittenden Solid Waste District’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Williston, staff described going through the process of regularly shutting down the facility to cut “tanglers” out of the machines. Across the country, recycling workers are facing this dangerous and time-consuming process, as people continue to wish-cycle plastic bags in places that cannot take them.
 
Here’s how South Carolina-based recycling manager Brian Shea described it in an interview last July: “It's draining. It's effort to climb in and out of these screens on a daily basis, and it can really do some damage to the equipment and morale to the team."

So, how do you recycle plastic bags? On one hand, you can repurpose plastic bags as trash bags, dog poop bags and even creative DIY projects. You might even give them away via Front Porch Forum to someone who can repurpose them. If you’re ready to recycle the bags, especially as you switch to reusable bags in time for the July 1st plastic bag ban, just remember there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.
 
The right way to recycle plastic bags in Vermont
Bring the following types of bags to a drop-off location near you. Make sure your bags are clean and dry. Your bags will most likely be recycled into decking and railing.

• LDPE & HDPE films e.g. Grocery bags
• Produce bags
• Newspaper sleeves
• Food storage bags e.g. Bread bags, cereal liners
• Product and case overwraps e.g. Toilet paper and paper towel wrap
• Dry cleaning bags
• Ice bags
• Salt bags
• Pellet bags
• Packaging air pillows

 
Do NOT put these bags in the plastic bag drop-off site

• Pet food and bird seed bags (unless labeled with Store Drop-off, #2 or #4)
• Crinkly bags e.g. Grape or cherry bags, some bakery bread bags
• Food storage bags not listed above e.g. Chip bags
• Dirty food bags e.g. Cheese or meat bags, bags with food residue
• Compostable bags e.g. BioBags

 
In-district plastic bag drop-off sites (updated 3/31/20)

• Shaw’s, Paine Turnpike, North Berlin
• Shaw’s, 2 Main St, Montpelier
• Shaw’s, 820 Waterbury Stowe Rd, Waterbury
• Kohl’s, 123 Berlin Mall Rd, Berlin
• Wal-Mart, 282 Berlin Mall Rd Ste 1, Berlin
• Price Chopper, 168 Ames Drive, Barre
• Tops Markets, 82 VT Route 15W, Hardwick
• Hannaford, 456 S. Barre Rd, Barre

Find additional store drop-off locations near you.

To learn more about recycling plastic bags, visit: https://dec.vermont.gov/content/plastic-bags ​

by Dora Chi
On July 1, 2020, Vermonters are joining residents of seven other states in saying adieu to single-use, carryout plastic bags at stores and restaurants. Plastic bags, which can take an estimated 500 to 1000 years to decompose, usually wind up in landfills or littered somewhere, polluting soil and waterways, harming wildlife, or jamming recycling facilities when not properly recycled. The statewide “bag ban” is part of a growing global movement – in more than 120 countries! – to refuse and reduce our dependence on single-use plastics.  
 
Come July, what if you forget your bag? It happens. Retailers can still sell recyclable paper bags at checkout for a minimum of 10 cents apiece. Some shops may also sell reusable totes or provide cardboard boxes in lieu of bags if you ask.

Otherwise, now is the time to start getting in the habit of bringing your own reusable bags (or basket, or box). So next time you're heading out the door, remember to do a "P.K.W.B." check. Phone. Keys. Wallet. Bags. The four things no one should ever leave home without.

It’s not a bad idea to start now, considering that many retailers already charge a small fee for single-use bags or offer you incentives when you bring reusable bags. Hunger Mountain Coop, for example, will donate five cents to the Montpelier Food Pantry.

by Dora Chi

​The holidays are a great time to dust off the mixing bowls, pop open the spice cabinet and whip up something delicious. Here are six tips on how to stay waste-conscious while you treat yourself and loved ones to something sweet this season.

1 . Explore bulk sections for ingredients
The bulk aisles at grocery stores and co-ops can contain a trove of dessert-making ingredients. Buying in bulk also enables you to buy the quantities you plan to use and therefore reduce waste. At my local co-op, I’ve found ground cinnamon (perfect for this use-it-up apple crumble) and almond flour (essential for macarons, if you’re up for the challenge). If your local bulk aisle offers peanut butter, you can even give these zero waste peanut butter cookies a try.

2. Make the most of your ingredients
Maximizing your ingredients helps to reduce food waste. For example, you can incorporate orange peel zest and juice into this orange pound cake with orange curd, or you can soak citrus peels in vinegar to create a non-toxic all-purpose cleaner. Or check out 7 ways you can use apple peels!

3. Upcycle jars into dessert gifts
Here’s a fun gift idea that repurposes old jars accumulating in your cupboard: fill them with dry ingredients of hot cocoa, cake or cookie mix to make a delicious gift.

4. Source locally
Shipping worldwide contributes to 3% of global greenhouse gases, which is more than what Canada or Brazil contributes. We can help change this trend by choosing locally-sourced ingredients like carrots (great for these zero waste carrot cake bites), eggs and milk.

5. Compost your food scraps
Common dessert ingredients like dairy are compostable in traditional home composting systems, and they are also accepted through food scrap drop-off and pick-up services. By July 1, 2020, all Vermont residents are required to divert food scraps from the trash bin.
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6. Rescue leftovers
Got leftover ingredients? In addition to sharing with friends and family, you can use community forums like Front Porch Forum or apps like Olio to connect with neighbors who can put your ingredients to good use.

Written by Jan Lloyd
​This past year I learned a lot about how overwhelming planning a wedding can be, even as simple as mine was. Being the Zero Waste Events Coordinator at the district – I thought I should do this RIGHT, and aim for Zero Waste at my own wedding! Having just written the district’s Zero Waste Events Guide, and doing all the research it took to compile – I had some ideas of where to start…

Pre-Planning
Since our wedding was to take place in our backyard – we didn’t have the use of a facility with a kitchen or dishware we could use, so we had to improvise. We also planned ahead for waste reduction. On our e-invite details (saves on paper and postage), we informed guests that we were trying to reduce waste and asked them to help out. Specifics were listed: not to bring ANYTHING disposable– namely plastic cups, utensils, unnecessary packaging, etc. We even asked them to bring a refillable water bottle (we also had saved many glass bottles for water in months prior). When it’s your wedding, people are pretty respectful of your wishes, no matter how wild they may seem!

For sorting waste streams, we reserved a Waste-Sorting Station with CVSWMD’s Bin Loan Program that was complete with signage and colored bins (recycling, trash, food scraps, and bottles). At the same time we reserved the Event Kit for all the dinnerware (cups, cutlery, dishes, linens).

Pre-planning also entails determining WHERE the waste goes at the end of the event. We planned on composting our own food scraps on-site, bringing the trash and recycling to a local hauler, and the redeemable bottles and cans to the redemption center. We did it ourselves, but if you are planning on going on a honeymoon, or just want the next day OFF, I suggest asking a local friend or family member to take them for you. Locating a trash hauler nearest your wedding site, and providing directions for the volunteer who’s taking it, are pre-planning actions you might need to take.

​Day-of
As we had several folks coming from afar who were helping with set-up, I arranged for a team to disperse the district’s trash, recycling, and compost, and bottle bins (2 sets each). Each bin came with easy to understand signage of “what-goes-in.” These sorting stations were strategically placed near the food tent and dishwashing area. We had a small canopy tent outside (near the garden hose) dedicated to washing, with the dishwashing station bins (also borrowed from the district). Tip: We had someone make an announcement on the mic for everyone to “pitch-in” and wash their own dishes, or be kind and wash a few when needed. People were more than willing to jump in and assist. The dishwashing tent became a late-night hang-out for night owls who needed something to do, other than dancing. I couldn’t believe how easy it was! Volunteers also went around and collected dirty dishes, leftover food, and bottles and cans. There was so much food leftover, but many guests took home food in takeout containers (saved for months prior).

Written by Jan Lloyd

​What do you imagine when you think of “Recycling”? Many people have assumptions about recycling, but not a lot of concrete information. If you want to recycle “right” (which means your items actually get recycled), then read on as we break down what recycling actually means and how it works.  

It helps if you start by remembering that “recycle” really means “remanufacture.” If you hold that word in mind, then it’s easy: recycling is the remanufacturing of materials – breaking down a single material back into a “raw” material that can then be remanufactured into something new. It’s a good way to reuse our resources and avoid unnecessary virgin mining, but it’s not as good as not creating waste in the first place.  

Also, remembering the “manufacturing” part of recycling should help you remember that the reason some materials get recycled while others do not is solely based on volumes available, and ability to collect, sort, and process.
Lots of things are "recyclable." But not all of them can be collected, sorted, and processed in the same way. Your recycling bin or cart is part of a collection system that we call Blue-Bin Recycling. (Some people call it "no-sort," "Zero-sort®," or "single-sort recycling.")

Blue-Bin Recycling in central Vermont typically goes to the regional sorting facility in Williston (the Materials Recovery Facility, or MRF), which is designed for specific items: Uncoated paper, cardboard, and clean containers (like bottles, jars, cans, and tubs). See the full list and print the handout, here.

One of concerns we hear most frequently sounds something like this: “Now that we don’t send our recycling to China – is it really being recycled?” The answer is simple: here in Vermont, our markets are in the U.S., based mainly on the West Coast. With the pressures of losing China’s recycling market, other states are forced to use already established markets in the U.S., including the same West Coast markets that Vermont has been using for years. This means that it’s more important than ever to reduce or eliminate contamination in recycling material, starting with your “blue bin”. As the markets become more high demand – so does the need for efficiency and ease of processing to help keep the quality high and the costs low.

What’s contamination? Contamination is anything that:

1. Is not on the mandated list of recyclables in Vermont and
2. Is a material that can clog machinery or flow at the MRF.  Such items include: anything smaller than 2” x 2”, plastic bags (or stretchy films), items made up of more than one material (such as foiled paper or disposable coffee cups with plastic film lining), scrap metal, paint cans, appliances, window glass, light bulbs, or Styrofoam, to name a few.

Because contamination is such a big problem in today’s recycling market, our motto is: If in doubt – throw it out! It’s better to maintain non-contaminated recycling than wish-cycling.

Other items CAN be recycled, but they don't belong in the blue bin. We call those “Special” or “Additional Recycling.” The Additional Recycling Collection Center in Barre accepts hard-to-recycle items, including batteries and fluorescent bulbs, but there are also quite a number of take-back locations across the state for those as well.

We also hold annual Hazardous Household Waste Collection Events in locations throughout the district to collect things like toxic cleaning products, tar, adhesives, and pesticides. To learn more about what hazardous waste is, or to find out about collections, visit this web page.

Put your good intentions to use – and practice recycling right! If you’re enthusiastic about reducing waste, save your Special recycling aside and take it to the ARCC (or combine loads with a neighbor or friend), for every few months. Make sure to check our ARCC webpage for an up to date list of what we accept, our hours, and fees.

Learn more about waste reduction, composting, and other programs on our website.

Learn more about the CSWD Materials Recovery Facility.

See the full list of mandated recyclables.