Zero Waste Marin Unveils Two Videos for Students

Posted on October 7, 2021
Green recycling symbol.

The Zero Waste Marin Schools Program has produced two videos with accompanying student activity sheets to help teachers introduce concepts of recycling and zero waste in engaging, Marin-specific ways:

Recycling Is a Trip

Dave the Recycling Fairy takes the audience on a virtual field trip to a local Marin waste hauler to inspire kids to care about what goes where, and where it ends up!

View/download student activity sheet for Recycling Is a Trip! video.

Zero Waste Starts at Home

Dave the Recycling Fairy pops out of the recycling cart to point out that more stuff is not better…and that there are great ways to reduce the amount of stuff we use.

View/download student activity sheet for Zero Waste Starts at Home video.

See also the School Resources page

Announcing the eARTh Challenge for K-8 Students

Posted on April 7, 2021

Zero Waste Marin is excited to announce the eARTh Challenge! Students can let their inner artist shine by completing up to three art projects, each based on a different zero waste theme.

Challenges are available on the Zero Waste Schools website. 

Zero Waste Marin will accept submissions until April 16th – just in time for Earth Day. All K-8 students in Marin are welcome to participate, and students who submit challenges will be entered into a gift card raffle!

 

Drug Take-Back Month: Safe Disposal Saves Lives

Posted on March 30, 2021
Medical waste

April is Drug Take-Back Month. Now is the time to safely deposit unused and unwanted medications into one of 24 receptacles located around the county or take advantage of a mail-back option that is also available.

The public health pandemic coupled with economic uncertainty due to job and business loss and other impacts have produced an extraordinarily stressful environment for many. Some have turned to the use of substances to relieve their stress, and some may even be tempted to take old prescription medications stashed around the house.

To address the widespread availability of prescription drugs, agencies, pharmacies and health care providers across Marin participate in the collection of potentially harmful expired, unused, and unwanted medications throughout the year. The 24 drop-off locations throughout Marin include CVS pharmacies, Kaiser Permanente locations, and most police departments. In addition, residents can “take back” from home, by ordering a mail-back envelope to be delivered to their home or picking up at additional locations. RxSafeMarin.org includes a list of locations and more about the mail-back option.

Drug take-back locations are open during the facility’s regular hours of operation. The service is provided free and anonymously. Medications are accepted in any dosage form in their original container or a sealed bag.  Note that drop-off locations cannot accept herbal remedies, vitamins, supplements, cosmetics, other personal care products, medical devices, batteries, mercury-containing thermometers, sharps, and illicit drugs.

For more information and to find year-round drug drop-off locations, visit RxSafeMarin.org.

March 24 Webinar To Answer Zero Waste Questions

Posted on March 12, 2021
Green recycling symbol.

Environmental Forum of Marin is offering a webinar, Full Life, Empty Trash Bin” that will cover how and why to choose sustainable consumption over wasteful consumerism. The webinar will happen over Zoom on March 24, 2021 at 4:00pm. Cost is $25 for the general public, $15 for EFM members and free for full-time students and those who cannot afford the fees (request scholarship funds).

In this webinar you’ll learn from waste consultant Kim Scheibly about where garbage trucks take your trash, recycling, and green waste, what happens to it, and how it impacts our environment. We’ll also hear zero-waste lifestyle expert Lily Cameron talk about how you can stop waste where it starts: in the decisions you make even before you go to the store. Come and get inspired about sustainable consumption — defined as meeting our needs now without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Full Life, Empty Trash Bin Webinar
March 24, 2021 4:00 – 5:30pm
Learn more and register here to receive Zoom link.

 

ExtraFood is going places!

Posted on February 25, 2021

Extra Food logoKnow of a business or school with extra food? 

ExtraFood, a county-wide nonprofit food rescue program, picks up excess fresh food, 7/365 and free of charge, and immediately gets it to vulnerable children, older adults, and families who need it the most. In seven years, ExtraFood has rescued and delivered 4,500,000 pounds of food to more than 8,000 people throughout Marin. Plus, every 100 pounds of food rescued prevents the equivalent emissions of 234 driving miles! These efforts address the critical issues of hunger, wasted food and climate change.

Want to learn more or ask for a pickup? Click here for details.

Join the Living Lightly Meetup with Green Change

Posted on February 12, 2021

Would you like to learn how to live sustainably?

Join the Living Lightly Meetup with Green Change on Monday, February 22, from 6 to 7:30pm PT.

This free Zoom event will feature talks by these climate action leaders:

You will learn about simple, low-cost actions you can take in your daily life, such as: eat sustainably, consume less, shop wisely, use less plastic, reduce your waste and walk or bike more.

PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-lightly-green-change-meetup-tickets-136754549539

Green Change will email you the address of this Zoom meetup when you register.

This commmunity event is hosted by Green Change director Fabrice Florin, with Marilyn Price, Bridget Mazzini and Al Grumet. If you have any questions, please email team@greenchange.net.

 

Treated Wood Waste Update

Posted on January 7, 2021
Toxic and hazardous

The alternative management standard (AMS), which allows waste haulers to accept treated wood waste (TWW) from residential and commercial customers, expired on December 31, 2020.

For this reason, beginning on January 1, 2021, waste haulers in the County of Marin cannot accept TWW at their facilities, in their debris boxes, and in the garbage, recycling, or composting bins, as treated wood is now considered hazardous waste.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is working on some variances that could allow some facilities to receive TWW. Until the variances are applied, DTSC suggests generators delay removing treated wood if possible or temporarily storing the waste before disposal.

Currently, the Marin Household Hazardous Waste facility cannot accept TWW from residential or commercial generators. Please do not bring TWW to the facility, and please do not instruct your customers to do so, either.

If you must remove any TWW, read the DTSC factsheet to avoid any penalties and get a disposal estimate from an approved hazardous waste hauler. To find more information related to the topic, visit the DTSC website.

Below is a list of companies that you can contact for transportation and disposal of TWW:

ACTenviro
CleanEarth
Clean Harbors

See also the Construction & Demolition page.

In 2021, Re-Solve to Re-Home!

Posted on December 22, 2020
Green recycling symbol.

Swap. Donate. Share. Image of snow board being listed online.
You sort and recycle. You shun plastic bags. Food scraps in the compost? Check.

Fantastic! Moving to zero waste also means making sure that the stuff you no longer want gets used by someone else, and that we all buy less in the first place. 2021 is a good year to resolve to re-home – to find new homes for unwanted stuff and to find ways to reduce the amount of new stuff we buy. Whether you prefer to designate a box or area where you place items you no longer want or decide to re-home items one at a time, the result is the same – giving reusable items a second life.

Here are some ideas to get your items underway:

  • Done loving it? List it. Consider listing reusable items on services such as Craigslist, Nextdoor or Facebook Marketplace.
  • Pass it along! Join or start a “Buy Nothing group” in your neighborhood. The platform allows neighbors to post anything they’d like to give away, lend, or share, and ask for anything they’d like to receive for free or borrow. Learn more at BuyNothingProject.org.
  • Donate to charity. Donate gently used goods to support reuse outlets such as Make It Home, Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
  • Own it together! Does everyone on your block need to own their own circular saw? Probably not. Consider joining or setting up a “virtual tool-sharing library” in your neighborhood on Nextdoor.com so that those important but rarely used tools can be put to good use all year round.
  • Get your space back. No takers? For damaged or no longer usable items, Marin single-family home residents can request a free bulky waste pickup. Contact your hauler:

One Marin Business’s Success with Composting Compliance

Posted on December 8, 2020

A new state law, AB 1826, requires all businesses and multi-family residences of 5 or more units producing over 2 cubic yards of solid waste to subscribe to composting. The attached case study shows how Sessions Rise, a 73-unit group of condos, came into compliance with the help of one resident, her HOA and Marin Sanitary Service. Key to the success of the program were clear signage and use of distributed, smaller collection bins to ensure that every resident is just a brief walk from proper disposal.

Download the brief case study below and see additional case studies here: https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/green-business-highlights/

Sessions Rise Case study cover mage

On the Way to Plastic Free! Screening and Discussion

Posted on November 17, 2020

West Marin Climate Action is partnering with Environmental Action Committee, Zero Waste Marin and Black Mountain Beauty to offer a virtual screening of two important films about the expanding plastic industry, the crisis of plastic pollution and the effect it has on the health of people and the planet.

poster for plastic free filmYou are invited to watch at your leisure the films “The Story of Plastic” and “Plastic Wars” between November 28 and December 3. Links to the films will be provided upon registration. Then, join us on December 3 for a safe discussion via Zoom on how to disrupt the consumption of plastic, locally and globally. Come and hear from local experts:

  • Garen Kazanjian of Recology Sonoma Marin, Zero Waste Specialist
  • Eva Holman of Upstream Solutions, Policy Coordinator
  • Martin Bourque of Berkeley Ecology Center, Executive Director (Martin Bourque was featured in “The Story of Plastic”)

Presentations will be followed by time for Q&A. The FREE event will end with a Call to Action discussion and shared resource links.

Register for the event HERE.

Download flyer in English.

Download flyer in Spanish.