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2025 Year in Review: ReThink Disposable in California
It's been another successful year for the ReThink Disposable program, and we want to thank our Board, our members, and our valued supporters for trusting us to do this work.
We wrapped up a four-year contract with StopWaste where we worked together to reduce single-use disposable foodware in Alameda County. We've done multiple conversion case studies with local businesses over the course of this contract — the most recent a five (5) restaurant study in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, where we found that even a simple straw and sauce cup conversion saves the restaurant $694 annually and
2025 Year in Review: Toxics in California
California is known as a leader in regulating toxic chemicals in products to protect public health and prevent pollution. The end of the year is a great time to review the opportunities and challenges faced by Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund’s Toxics Program in 2025 and how we met them. There were some grave disappointments, but those only provide fuel for future victories.
ReThink Disposable Certified Business, Honolulu BBQ, Wins County-Wide Award
Earlier this month, Honolulu BBQ, a ReThink Disposable certified business, won a StopWaste Business Efficiency Award for Excellence in Disposable Foodware Reduction. Honolulu BBQ’s journey to ReThink Disposable certification and county-wide recognition is an inspiration.
As a cuisine, Hawaiian Barbeque often involves a lot of disposables food-service items; at the outset, Alameda’s Honolulu BBQ was no exception. When Stephanie Aut and her husband Kevin Chow opened Honolulu BBQ in 2018, they didn’t know about Alameda’s foodware ordinance, which requires compostable, fiber based foodware
Celebrating Safe Water Leaders in California
On May 7th, Clean Water Action California hosted our first Environmental Champions award dinner. We had the pleasure of honoring former chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, Felicia Marcus, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, and Senator Bill Monning.
The evenings remarks cohered around the important work Clean Water Action is able to undertake in partnership with environmental champions in government. Andria Ventura, Clean Water Action’s Toxics Program Manager, and Jennifer Clary, our Water Program Manager, introduced the evening’s honorees.
Senator Bill Monning and Assemblymember
Water as a Human Right
The Human Right to Water, passed by the legislature in 2012 and signed by Governor Brown, was a great policy idea with almost no teeth. Community members and advocates worked for years to gain recognition for water as a human right, with our first bill, AB 1242 (Ruskin, 2009) vetoed by then-Governor Schwarzenegger and its successor, AB 685 (Eng, 2012) taking the full 2-year session to pass. The legislation was short and to the point:
It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for