• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Sustainable Fairfax

Bringing people together to support a vital environment and thriving community

Menu
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Highlights – A Typical Year
    • Sustainable Fairfax Board
    • Contact Us
  • Calendars
    • Sustainable Fairfax Calendar
    • Green Change: County Calendar
  • Events
    • Fairfax Farmers Market
    • The Fairfax Craft Faire
    • Resilient Neighborhoods
    • Community Chats
    • Upcoming Events
  • Water Action NOW
    • Water Warrior
    • conservation tips
  • Hubs
    • Fairfax Zero Waste
      • Zero Waste Pledge
        • I Pledge to PAY ATTENTION!
        • I Pledge to Stop Food Waste!
        • I Pledge to Recycle Right!
      • Bring it Home- Free Compost for Fairfax Residents!
    • Climate Action Now
      • Double Down on Deep Green
      • ReduceX2
    • Film & Speaker Series
    • Getting to Our Roots
    • Past Initiatives
  • Our Sponsors
  • Donate Now!
  • Join & Support Us
    • Become a Member-Donate Now
    • Become a Business Sponsor
    • Volunteer
  • Resources
    • Water Conservation NOW

Community Chat

Recycle Right! Understanding why it matters!

August 30, 2020 by Laura Vernon

Contamination in our recycling and compost is a huge deal. Just because you want to recycle something, it doesn’t mean it’s actually recyclable. So the wrong thing in the wrong bin is called contamination and has all sorts of implications. But first, remember that there are human beings who sort your recycling — so when you put a used tissue, a dirty pizza box, food soiled paper — there are people who are sorting out your nasty garbage. Clean recycling is dirty enough, but it’s not nasty. Managing your waste and recycling is respectful to the earth but also to the front line workers who handle your recycling (note- trash is never sorted, and contamination in compost is pulled out after it’s been largely composted – at great expense btw).

On a recent Sustainable Fairfax Community Chat, we talked with Casey Fritz from Marin Sanitary (MSS). Casey shared that over 50% of what Fairfax residents are sending to the landfill is recyclable or compostable–that’s a lot of room for improvement! She went through the list of the do’s and don’ts and it’s confusing because the rules changed when overseas markets announced they didn’t want our contaminated recycling any longer because we were essentially exporting our landfill waste and pollution. You can watch the entire zoom chat here, but highlights of the talk, along with my commentary, include:

  • the ONLY plastics that are actually recycled are water bottles, jugs (like detergent bottles), and tubs (like yogurt containers). That means that all the other packaging, clam shells (like lettuce and take-out food containers) — it’s ALL garbage. Don’t let yourself feel better by recycling it!
  • Compostable plastics — ALL of it — is trash. Yes it’s crazy making that it says compostable, but it does NOT break down in 6 months so our (and most) commercial compost facilities cannot take it. And don’t be fooled by the fact that Recology takes it in the city. They pay people to pull it out, where it is trashed. Yup. Makes no sense. I used to think that purchasing compostable cups is still better even if they’re landfilled because it’s plant-based material. That’s not really true either, but it’s also a little complicated. There’s lots of pressure on manufacturers to make this right, so I remain hopeful but in the meantime – – just say no to these fraud materials.
  • Paper needs to be clean and dry. Food contaminated paper is compost. It’s that easy.
  • MSS has a dual stream recycling system. They used to be criticized for not having a single-stream system, but since the markets have shifted so dramatically, other recyclers are wishing, big-time, that they had a dual stream. Sorting into the proper streams is really important. check out this video that goes a long way in explaining this:

It’s a great description of some of the issues described here. Take note about the plastics bags. They NEVER ever go in either recycling container, or the compost for that matter. Skip plastic bags altogether. I use a brown paper bag in my trash can. I line it with egg container to give it a little more strength. (here’s another video that really shows people sorting our recycling — it’s a little longer)

I have lots of tips and tricks, I’m sure you do too. When in doubt – throw it out! Lets keep this conversation going! Our garbage represents our consumption. Everything we buy represents embedded energy and a tremendous use of resources that you can’t see. It’s our individual and collective responsibility to our health, to our kids health, to the planet, to do this better. Let’s make better purchasing decisions to make less crap in the first place, but at the end of the day, let’s put stuff in the right bin! It’s not that hard but does require intentionality. It’s also a sign of respect to the front line waste workers sorting our recycling! They will thank you and so with the earth!

Join Sustainable Fairfax’s Zero Waste Committee – we have work to do and would love your energy. We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of the Month at 7:00. Reach out to chat about it. laurav@sustainblefairfax.org

Filed Under: Board Blog, Community Chat, slider, Zero Waste Tagged With: blog, zerowaste

Community Chats – Download materials on How to Electrify your Home!

August 11, 2020 by Sustainable Fairfax

Did you know that 88% of residential natural gas use in CA if for water and space heating? Electrify Marin is a county-wide effort that encourages Marin residents to replace gas powered appliances with electric ones to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve indoor air quality! 
But when your hot water or space heater implodes,  you don’t have time to think so you need to have a plan in place!
Sustainable Fairfax hosted 4-educational chats that overviewed the steps you can take to electrify, including understanding the rebates available today!  Download all of the session materials below.
Inspiration — Learn about why a family in Oakland made the commitment

CHAT DOWNLOADS:

Sept 3rd – WHY electrify and understanding the critical steps to replacing gas appliances. Video Recording of Zoom Chat – Click here to watch!! Download copies of Presentations – Ann Edminster’s great presentation; Electrify Marin’s presentation [great overview of available rebates!]

Sept 10th – We learned some of the components of putting a plan in place to replace your hot water and space heating systems; the importance of making your home energy efficient, and the rebates available. Video Recording of Zoom Chat – Click here to watch!!  Download copies of Presentations – Electrify Marin Chat #2; BayRen.

Sept 17th – We learned about battery as a back-up energy storage; the role of solar in resiliency, and benefits of Induction stoves.  Video recording of Zoom chat – click here! Online Guidance for Home Batteries.  Electrify Marin presentation.

Sept 24th – We reviewed the importance of phasing out all gas appliances and discussed heat pump clothes dryers, spas&hot tubs.  We reviewed the new technologies around electric fireplaces.  Video recording of Zoom chat – click here!   Electrify Marin presentation.

Thank you to Mark Chhabria from Electrify Marin and all our other contributors for making this a fun and informative series! Let us know if you have any questions at info@sustainablefairfax.org.

Filed Under: Climate Action Now, Community Chat, Energy, slider Tagged With: compost, zero waste

Past Chat: Recycling and Waste Minimization. Zoom and presentation links available.

August 11, 2020 by Sustainable Fairfax

Sustainable Fairfax Launches Community Chats.  Zoom with us to learn and discuss the ever-present importance of paying attention — to the stuff we buy and to the waste we create every day. Our actions, now as much as ever, matter. Talk to the Sustainability Coordinator from Marin Sanitary (our waste and recycling hauler) and some neighbors about today’s challenges, AND HOW YOU CAN HELP! We can ALL do better.

Date: Thursday, August 27th, 7:00-7:45 – PAST

PAST ZOOM CHAT LINK

Copy of Powerpoint Presentation

Are you Generating more Waste at Home During Covid? Bulk bin sections are closed, you can’t bring your own containers, and many people report more online shopping. But we can cook more food with less packaging, and we can do more shopping locally. It’s so important today to support our local stores.

Let’s zoom and chat about some of the strategies we are ALL doing to counter our waste epidemic!

Let us know if you have any questions at info@sustainablefairfax.org.

Filed Under: Community Chat, Zero Waste Tagged With: compost, zero waste

  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 Sustainable Fairfax