zero waste

Imagine a world without plastic waste. For Plastic Free July, millions of people around the globe are working to make this vision a reality by stopping the use of single-use disposable plastics for one month.

This morning, the Baltimore City Council's Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee held a public hearing on Resolution "for the purpose of inviting the Director of the Department of Public Works, the Head of the Bureau of Solid Waste, the Director of the Office of Sustainability, the Coordinator of the Office of Sustainability, and the City Arborist to update the City Council on the City’s progress toward creating a municipal composting program, to provide a fiscal impact statement on creating the program, and to estimate a time line for Citywide implementation of municipal compo

On Friday, people from all across Maryland came together in Annapolis for a day of action about HB961/SB548: bipartisan legislation to remove trash incineration from Maryland's Renewable Portfolio Standard and stop subsidizing it with millions of dollars each year, meant to support wind and solar development.

Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee held a public hearing on SB548: legislation to take trash incineration out of Maryland's Renewable Portfolio Standard and stop giving it subsidies intended to support the development of wind, solar, and other renewable forms of energy. With a team of Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County residents, we spoke out about the air quality, health, and climate impacts of trash incineration, and the reality of zero waste alternatives like composting, recycling, and source reduction.

On September 21, the Maryland Department of the Environment held a public hearing to conclude a nearly two-year process to update air pollution regulations for municipal waste incinerators in Maryland: the BRESCO facility in Baltimore, and the Dickerson facility in Curtis Bay.

The answer on whether to choose paper or plastic is neither. The best environmentally friendly solution is to avoid single-use items altogether in favor of reusables.

Governments and municipalities all over the world are proposing bans on single-use plastic straws, from the U.K. to Monmouth Beach, New Jersey! Here in New Jersey, ReThink Disposable is excited to highlight restaurants who have changed their own policies on serving plastic straws in order to address the issues of plastic pollution in our oceans.

This past weekend, Clean Water Action joined Younique Yoga, Asbury Park Bazaar, and The Anchor's Bend in hosting a Yoga Benefit for Clean Water! 

Special thanks to all of the atteendees, as well as yoga instructor Rosanna Canale for dedicating her time for such a great cause!

Here in New Jersey, we love our local restaurants and shops. Let’s take a minute and appreciate them just a little more because they are helping Clean Water Action take on a huge environmental issue: single-use disposables.

Since I started my new role as Clean Water Action's ReThink Disposable Coordinator, I’ve been talking with many business owners and people in the community about the very exciting topic of waste, in particular, single-use disposables like plastic straws, cutlery and bags and foam take out containers. I’m happy to find shared values when it comes to wanting to prevent trash from entering our waterways and filling up our ocean.