Sustainability is a buzzword that seemingly every corporation is promoting nowadays.   Green initiatives and waste reduction plans can be found on nearly every corporate website, but how many companies are really making a difference in their communities?   Johnson Automotive is taking its latest environmental cause seriously and inviting the community to take part in it, even if they aren’t Johnson customers.   The initiative is a partnership with TerraCycle, a recycling company that eliminates barriers to safely return hard-to-recycle waste. This means everything from plastic packaging to one-use coffee capsules can be collected and recycled without having to worry about it being accidentally sent to a landfill.   “It’s pretty cool – anyone can buy a TerraCycle box,” explained Katelyn Paul, marketing communications manager with Johnson Automotive. “You can buy them and have them for your house. When it’s filled up, the shipping is already prepaid, you just have to mail it back. The TerraCycle box is for things that are hard or impossible to remove from the waste stream on your own.”   TerraCycle’s home-use boxes range anywhere from $81 to $199, depending on the size and how much your household plans to recycle. You just select which type of waste you’re looking to dispose of and order the correct box. Options include one-use coffee capsules, general kitchen waste, art supplies, disposable gloves and more. There are a variety of different sizes available, so everyone can find a box that fits their lifestyle.   Don’t think you make enough waste to justify a box at your home? That’s where corporate partners like Johnson come in.   “We have our big boxes, and you can bring the things that go in them,” Paul said. “We’re having people bring bags of K-cup pods from nearby offices. They’re bringing them in to our store. A lot of people are saving disposable cups, straws, soda and coffee cans, and bringing them in – we also have a snack wrappers and bag box. I haven’t run into a situation where somebody brings something we can’t take.”   The boxes are all labeled, but separation is still an important part of ensuring the TerraCycle process is a success. When you’re conditioned to just toss a wrapper in the trash, it can be a hard habit to break. Johnson ensures that all of its employees are trained on properly sorting so that they can answer any questions customers might have and they make use of the boxes themselves.   “It’s an awareness thing,” Paul said. “We do a really good job making sure someone’s been trained on the boxes. We wouldn’t want someone to throw their chip bag into the trash can when its right next to a TerraCycle box. We are one of the largest Subaru dealer in North Carolina, so we have a lot of people visiting our dealership. That means a lot of coffee and snack-related waste.”   The word has spread; not only are employees and customers taking advantage of the TerraCycle boxes, community members who have no interest or desire to buy a car have been dropping off their recyclables.   “I have people call, and they come and bring [recyclables] in, and fill our boxes,” Paul said. “You don’t need to want to buy a car, we won’t sell you. Just bring us your recycling.”   The outreach has worked, with Johnson returning thousands of units of recyclable material as of April 2019. The TerraCycle boxes have become such a draw, the dealership has given some of its boxes to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, creating another easy drop-off point.   The TerraCycle partnership started as a part of the Johnson Subaru’s “Subaru Loves the Earth” initiative, which has now placed the zero waste boxes in Subaru dealerships around the country. The partnership, which began in 2018, has proven incredibly popular, and Johnson Subaru is committed to continuing it.   “When we initially discussed TerraCycle, it was born out of Subaru corporate’s zero waste initiative. TerraCycle is a boots-on-the-ground example of how the brand itself is really committed to that. We love being able to share and tell people about it,” Paul added.

A growing number of businesses in the province are doing away with oh-so-easy disposable packaging — and trying to promote a waste-free culture You may already use a refillable bottle for your water and a travel mug for your coffee. The move toward sustainable packaging in Ontario means that you can now also use your own container for kombucha. That’s because Vitaly, on Queen Street West in Toronto, lets you serve yourself from kegs. If you don’t have a bottle to hand, you can buy a glass one for $5. Station Cold Brew, the company behind the concept, is calling this Toronto’s first package-free beverage shop. It’s just one of a growing number of companies trying to figure out what zero waste looks like on the ground. “We work in the beverage industry, so we’re really aware of the issues around single-use packaging,” says Steve Ballantyne, founder and CEO of Station Cold Brew. While the company sells most of its cold coffee products in cans and bottles, since 2014, it has delivered kegs of brew to offices — employees use their own bottles and mugs. More recently, it set up self-serve kegs at the 10 locations of Goodness Me! natural-food stores, which offer customers glass bottles for a refundable deposit. “This was a natural extension of what was already going on,” says Ballantyne. The Queen iteration is called Compound Café — Vitaly will be rebranding its Queen location as Compound in the coming weeks — and is kitted up with six taps serving such beverages as iced tea, cold brew with tonic, and flavoured kombucha, all made by Toronto-area brands. (Moving forward, drink kiosks run by Station Cold Brew will be called Craft on Draft.) It’s all part of a larger effort to cut down on what we throw out — and Ontarians throw out a lot. As Matt Gurney noted in a recent TVO.org series, the province generated 9,475,472 tonnes of non-hazardous waste in 2016. The federal government has announced its intention to take action on single-use plastics: Canada will ban them as early as 2021. And, in Ontario, Bill 82 — which “identifies measurable targets and sets out timelines for the immediate reduction and eventual elimination of the distribution and supply of single-use plastics in Ontario and that requires the immediate elimination of certain single-use plastics” — passed first reading in March. But just how consumers will manage a transition to waste-free culture remains to be seen. That’s why companies are testing out new approaches that could prove that, even without oh-so-easy disposable packaging, products can be convenient. “What we’re trying to do is create a service that closely mirrors the single-use experience,” says Anthony Rossi, vice-president of global business development for New Jersey-based TerraCycle. The company is partnering with Loblaws to offer a service, called Loop, to Toronto-area customers in early 2020. Loop resembles a teched-up version of the old milkman system: customers go online to buy name-brand products that are then delivered to their doors in reusable packaging. When they’re finished the shampoo, ice cream, or dishwasher pellets, they leave the empty container out for pick-up and order more. TerraCycle offers about 150 products at the moment and works as a go-between to handle orders, delivery, and cleaning. Since May, Loop has been operating in the Greater Paris area and in the northeastern United States. The company capped its customer base at 5,000 in each market and now has wait-lists “in the tens, almost hundreds of thousands,” says Rossi. “They love the packaging. They love the e-commerce mode. They love the convenience. We’re even reaching customers who aren’t motivated by environmental reasons.” Ontario has also seen a stream of bulk-style food stores operations open up, including Nu Grocery in Ottawa and Unboxed Market in Toronto. At Zero Waste Bulk in Waterloo, owner Ellin Park says she sells about 1,000 products, many of them local. The 1,900-square-foot location opened last December, and sales have been “better than expected,” says Park. While the store offers some containers, such as washed yoghurt tubs donated by customers — a form of upcycling — and sells paper bags, patrons have been showing up prepared. “People are really good at bringing their own containers, and they bring their own bags, too,” says Park. “Since we’ve been open, we’ve sold less than 50 paper bags.” Indeed, customer demand is a big driver for these new approaches to selling consumer products. According to a June study from Dalhousie University, 93.7 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they are personally motivated to reduce single-use plastic food packaging. Ballantyne says he’s been heartened to find that other beverage companies are eager to give the package-free approach a try. Over the past few months, he and his partners asked seven companies to work with them on the project. “No one said no. It points to this concept having legs,” he says. Park, though, notes that she has had challenges finding the right products for her shelves. “Some are really eager, some are already doing it, and some are, like, no,” she says of suppliers’ reactions to her zero-waste requests. She does think her store opened at the right time, as companies are increasingly innovating and offering new product lines. For example, she stocks — and uses — shampoo in bar form. And she keeps an eye out for new products, such as laundry strips, that could lend themselves to package-free bulk. Much of the waste in retail happens out of the public eye. “We’re trying to reduce waste behind the scenes,” says Park. She’s negotiated with her suppliers to send her products in plastic containers that can be washed and used again for the next shipment. Some companies already have systems in place to keep waste to a minimum: Beyond Meat, for instance, sells her plant-based burger patties in large, recyclable bags. Ballantyne has become increasingly careful about back-room waste at his company. The stainless-steel kegs he uses can be washed and reused. The kombucha, though, comes in a single-use plastic keg, because even a drop of fermentable product left after washing could affect the next batch. Steven Young, associate professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo, says it’s important to pay attention to the supply side. Free municipal-waste recycling and composting programs serve only residences. Factories, shippers, construction companies, large retailers, and hospitals must pay to get rid of their waste — and most send their garbage, plastic, metals, paper products, and food waste straight to landfills. “That’s the cheapest thing to do,” says Young, adding that, to change that, governments will need to incentivize waste diversion from the business sector. “If we can get into habits of reduction and reuse, this is a good thing,” he says. “The more zero-waste stores there are, the more demand there will be,” Park says. “So there will be more options.” Ballantyne believes that the move to a less packaged consumer culture must necessarily involve new ideas and experiments. “Right now, single-use packaging feels like a necessary evil,” he says. “We have to pilot new things.”

Lego, as part of its ongoing effort to become a greener toy company, is launching a pilot program to make it easier to donate unwanted Lego bricks.   The toy maker today is unveiling Lego Replay, a program that will provides free shipping labels for donations. Lego will arrange for the bricks to be cleaned, sorted and delivered to classroom and after-school programs for needy kids.   The program, which is being tested in the United States, is in response to comments from consumers who said they wanted an earth-friendly reuse for old bricks, said Tim Brooks, Lego’s vice president of environmental responsibility, in an interview.   “We saw people really wanted to donate their bricks, but one of the things they said was, if we give you our bricks, from the environmental perspective, we don’t want you to grind them up and make outdoor furniture or something else from them,” Brooks said.   Being seen as environmentally responsible is a top priority for toy makers today because millennial parents have made it clear it matters to them. Hasbro, Mattel and Lego, the three largest toy manufacturers, all have announced plans to reduce their packaging and environmental impact.   Hasbro in August said it will phase out all plastic packaging by the end of 2022.   Small toy manufacturers are also undertaking sustainability initiatives.   California-based Green Toys makes toys out of recycled milk jugs and other recycled consumer plastics.   Hong Kong-based Zuru, which makes the water balloon toy, Bunch O Balloons, has a partnership with recycling company TerraCycle to recycle balloon pieces, packaging, and other plastic waste.   There is growing support on the part of parents and toy manufacturers for sustainability measures, Alan Kaufman, Toy Industry Association senior vice president for technical affairs, said. Millennial parents increasingly are showing that environmental concerns influence how they spend their money.   “I think we’re very quickly approaching a tipping point where consumer demand is going to drive some of these initiatives forward,” Kaufman said. Lego has taken on perhaps the most challenging goal of the Big Three toy makers, promising to make all of its products, including the iconic plastic bricks, out of sustainable materials by 2030.   Finding a replacement for the petroleum-based plastic Lego has been using to make bricks won’t be easy. It needs to come up with a sustainable substitute that matches the current formula’s durability and can accommodate the precision molding needed to produce bricks that snap together easily and stay connected.   Lego has begun making some of its accessories from bio-based plastic made from sugar cane, but is still testing solutions for the classic building brick.   Parents, according to Lego research, don’t like seeing unwanted bricks go unused.   Old bricks, Brooks said, typically get passed down to children and grandchildren or donated to neighborhood groups. But Lego still gets good number of letters and emails from people asking how they can recycle or donate unneeded bricks, he said.   The Replay program ties into the “sharing economy” trend favored by millennials. A report by the Toy Industry Association in May recommended that toy companies sponsor toy exchanges to appeal to millennial parents, in addition to making the toys out of more sustainable materials.   Under the program, people who want to donate bricks can print out a free shipping label available on Lego.com. or through a link on the website of its recycling partner, Give Back Box. The bricks will be sent to Lego’s partner, Give Back Box, a charity that handles similar donation programs, where they will be cleaned, inspected, sorted and repackaged for delivery to Teach for America classrooms around the country, and to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.   Lego worked on the Replay pilot for three years before launching it, Brooks said, because the company wanted to make sure it had the right partners and controls in place. “We wanted to maintain the quality and safety that Lego is known for even in a used product,” he said.   Teach for America classrooms and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston will receive their first sets of bricks starting next month. The pilot program will run through spring of next year, and depending on the response, may be expanded to other countries.   The bricks will be a welcome addition to the low-income schools where Teach for America recruits work, said Lida Jennings, executive director of Teach for America, Los Angeles.   In Los Angeles, Teach for America is in the highest-need schools, where family incomes are well below the poverty level, and the children don’t have access to Legos, either at home or in the classroom.   Jennings said the bricks will be used for everything from simple addition and subtraction and counting exercises in math classes to engineering and physics concepts such as “how big does the base have to be to support the height of the tower,” or robotics.   “They’re going to be used in many, many ways,” she said. “And Lego bricks transcend generations so teachers are going to know what they are and how to use them, just like kids are going to be able to automatically know how to jump in and understand them,” Jennings said.   Brooks said it is hard to predict what the response will be to the Replay pilot. The company has done projections and believes it is prepared to to handle as many bricks as are donated.   “We hope it’s a good steady stream,” he said. “There are already lots of different options for people to donate or sell or pass on their bricks to others already. This is just another option.”

Dive Brief:

• Unilever has committed to halving its virgin plastic use by 2025 by increasing the amount of recycled plastic in the packaging for its products and developing alternative packaging materials.
• The company will also boost its collection and recycling of plastic packaging, aiming for 600,000 metric tons per year by 2025 — slightly less than the 700,000 metric tons the company produces, the company announced in a press release Monday.
• "This demands a fundamental rethink in our approach to our packaging and products. It requires us to introduce new and innovative packaging materials and scale up new business models, like re-use and re-fill formats, at an unprecedented speed and intensity," Unilever CEO Alan Jope said in a statement. 

Dive Insight: Packaging is a major contributor to plastic waste. It represented 36% of all plastic production in 2015 and its share of the waste stream is even larger. A 2017 study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Georgia; and the Sea Education Association found most packaging plastic enters the waste stream within one year of production. Jope's statement explains the extent of the work ahead for Unilever, and any manufacturer looking to substantially reduce virgin plastic use. The company's steps to meet these goals will include:

• Investment and partnerships in waste collection and processing.
• The purchase and use of recycled plastics in its packaging.
• Participation in extended producer responsibility schemes where Unilever directly pays for the collection of its packaging.

Unilever is not alone in making drastic plastic reductions. PepsiCo pledged to reduce virgin plastic in its products by 35% by 2025. Walmart, with its private-label brands, and Keurig Dr. Pepper are working toward full recyclability. Recycling players like Terracycle, with its waste-free e-commerce platform Loop (Unilever and PepsiCo are partners) are working on solutions for reducing single-use or non-recyclable plastic packaging, but so far no radical solutions have scaled. Greenpeace is skeptical that Unilever's Monday announcement, or any of the existing corporate initiatives to reduce single-use plastics in the supply chain, will make a real dent in the fundamental problem. "While this is a step in the right direction, for a company that uses 700,000 metric tons of plastic annually, Unilever’s continued emphasis on collection, alternative materials, and recycled content will not result in the systemic shift required to solve the growing plastic pollution problem," said Graham Forbes, global project leader at Greenpeace USA in a public statement reacting to Unilever's pledge. Just days before the Monday announcement, Greenpeace published a report calling out such corporate efforts as "false solutions" that don't actually move away from the single-use plastic paradigm in any real way. Unilever's actions to date — working on collection in developing countries and creating refillable products in some markets — are not enough, according to Greenpeace. "We encourage Unilever to prioritize its efforts upstream by redesigning single-use plastic and packaging out of its business model, and being more specific about the investment it will be making in reusable and refillable alternatives," said Forbes.

The beauty maker has been hosting a global innovation competition for university students for over 25 years. The 2020 challenge got underway this month and the task at hand is to help create a plastic-free future.

Ahead of the last week’s Marketing Evolution: C-Suite Summit, Strategy welcomed several MES advisory board members for a roundtable dinner to discuss and reflect on the changing role of the CMO and how to future-proof their brands.   At the roundtable were advisory board chair Deborah Neff, VP of marketing at Sephora Canada; board members David Bigioni, chief commercial officer at Canopy Growth, and Antoinette Benoit, SVP and CMO at McDonald’s Canada; as well as Axel Schwan, global CMO at Tim Hortons and Judy Davey, VP of media policy and marketing capabilities at the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA).     Tim Hortons’ Axel Schwan: For us, it’s sustainability across the board. When it comes to food, where does the food come from? If it’s beef, how was the cattle raised? For packaging, what are you doing to reduce your impact on the planet? You really need to have an answer to these questions. You won’t get away with saying, ‘We’ll care about this [issue] in the future.’ We have to do things now. As we speak, we are rolling out a lid for our cold cups that doesn’t use a straw anymore. It sounds so simple, but it will help take 120 million straws out of this world per year.   Canopy Growth’s Dave Bigioni: I’d categorize it as consumers need to see behind the brand. No longer is what you say that’s important, it’s how you act and behave. [Consumers are] looking for that transparency. You have to be able to deliver that. In the cannabis industry, I would say 80% of the brands were invented for legalization a year ago. Brands need to have a face, place and story. They need to have values and elements that sit behind that. Not just in what you say, but in what you do.   The environment and recycling is an area that we tackled head on, because there’s a lot of packaging in cannabis, and it’s a big concern for consumers. A lot of it is mandated [in] the regulatory framework that exists. So we initiated a program with TerraCycle. As part of that program, we’ve now distributed TerraCycle boxes to around 400 dispensaries across the country, depots where consumers can bring back their cannabis packaging for it to be recycled and turned into other products. We’ve had buy-in from government boards, we’ve had buy-in from third-party retailers, and our salesforce is distributing these across the country. I think we’re at over a million units of recycled and returned [packaging] through the first ten months.   Sephora’s Deborah Neff: We see a different shift in consumers, because we’re on the retail side of it. Obviously, Sephora has to play a role. But the pressure is on our brands, and our brands are prestige, so you’re paying a lot of money. The shift for us has been convenience, which has changed the whole landscape of retail. Because you can order online, it’s [about] bringing that experience to your stores for [customers] to want to come shop with you. How do we still make our stores relevant in an age when you can compare or shop online while you’re in the store? How do we meet that demand and still make it a valuable proposition? McDonald’s Antoinette Benoit: Food delivery is going to completely change things, and convenience will come before price. The way everybody has Netflix today, tomorrow consumers will have a subscription to get delivery whenever they want. If you think of the competition between Tim Hortons and McDonald’s – Tim Hortons has always a had huge advantage in terms of number of outlets, [with] three times as many stores as McDonald’s. But now, we have an app, so you don’t need your brand to be close to where you are. Food service is growing twice as quickly as QSR, and little brands and restaurants, they are competing with you at the same level now. For us, that’s going to be a huge change in the market. Price is [going to come] second.   Bigioni: For us, there’s a tension between convenience and privacy. Before legalization, [we] assumed that 20 to 30% of consumers would purchase online, because it would be more private. What we’ve seen is online only represents 2% to 4% of Canadian purchases. And I think a lot of that has to do with privacy and people’s concerns around data. At the same time, some consumers are prepared [for] the Uber weed of delivery – can have you have it here in 12 minutes? The majority [of purchases are] in store, but there’s still that tension between consumer convenience and education – it’s a seven to eight minute sales cycle – for those that just want to come in and out.     Benoit: People are still selfish, even on sustainability. What we see, for example, is that when people say they’re going to eat less beef, the first reason is my health. It’s not because it’s bad for the planet. They [eventually] come to that point. But the first point is always them. Otherwise, we would not be in this situation. It’s also difficult to get true answers from consumers on these topics.   Bigioni: Their beliefs don’t always follow their actions. They may believe in environmentally friendly brands, but they don’t always act if it’s not convenient.   Axel: That’s a little bit what we’ve observed. You have to give it all. The lid [I mentioned earlier], for example, is A, better for the environment, B, doesn’t cost more, and C, delivers an equal experience. If we had to raise prices because of the lid, acceptance of it would be very different. You have to find [solutions] that are ideally cost-neutral, are better for the environment, and don’t hurt the taste or the experience. Taste is still the number one driver. Taste also means the shape of the lid and [its impact on] the whole sensory experience. When it’s a win on all fronts, that’s what people embrace generally. If you have to raise prices, it’s a very different discussion.   This story is from Strategy C-Suite, a weekly email briefing on how Canada’s brand leaders are responding to market challenges and acting on new opportunities. Sign-up for the newsletter here to receive the latest stories directly to your inbox every Tuesday.

There is still a lot of mystery around recycling. Each municipality accepts different items, making it difficult to figure out what is and isn’t recyclable. A lot of people want to recycle properly, but it can be confusing to know where to start.   This is a rough guide to what is generally considered to be recyclable. Since the rules can vary, I encourage you to check with your local waste management facility or visit their website for more specific information.   aluminum cans Aluminum cans are light like plastic and create fewer emissions when distributed than glass, and, unlike plastic, aluminum is infinitely recyclable without any loss of quality. An aluminum can can go from the curbside bin to the store shelf in as little as 60 days. Aluminum cans are typically used for beverages, so after you’ve finished your drink, tap out the excess moisture, and place the cans in your curbside bin. They don’t need to be crushed.   aluminum foil Aluminum foil is reusable. If you have it, use it until it starts to flake and fall apart. Don’t forget about aluminum pie tins or baking dishes. Wash food scraps off the foil and let it dry, then ball up the aluminum foil until it’s at least 2 inches in diameter. If it’s any smaller, it can get lost and wind up in the landfill.   brown paper Brown paper is recyclable in your curbside bin. It’s also compostable. Before recycling, see if you can reuse it.   butcher paper Butcher paper or freezer paper is coated with plastic. It’s neither recyclable nor compostable.   cardboard boxes With the onslaught of online shopping, we have more cardboard boxes than ever before. These boxes are completely recyclable. You do NOT have to remove the tape and the labels (unless it’s excessively taped all around the box), but you should break the boxes down. First reuse the cardboard boxes as many times as possible. Recycle it only when the cardboard box can no longer be used.   cup lids Cup lids are typically made of plastic #6. You might see “PS- 6” or a “6” inside of a recycle sign. Plastic #6 is not generally recyclable in the curbside bin.   envelopes If you have paper envelopes, be sure to remove the plastic windows before recycling.   glass bottles Glass is infinitely recyclable without any loss of quality. It is recyclable in most munici­palities.   magazines with glossy pages Magazines are recyclable. However, many artists use magazines as part of their art projects. See if you can reuse this material before recycling it. If you have newer magazines, donate them to libraries, waiting rooms, family shelters, nursing homes, etc.   metal lids from glass bottles Lids on glass bottles, like pasta sauce or tahini, are often made from steel. You can unscrew those from the glass bottles and place them in the recycle bin. The lids are large enough that they aren’t going to be lost. Typically those lids are lined with a very thin layer of plastic. Because of the high-temperatures used to recycle metal, it’s burned off.   milk and juice cartons Milk and juice cartons are made from paperboard and coated with plastic, typically polyethylene. Recycling of these items varies across the country.   newspaper Newspaper is recyclable and compostable.   paper cups Coffee cups, like milk cartons, are actually lined with plastic. They’re not compostable, and they’re not recyclable in most locations. In order to recycle coffee cups, waste management facilities have to have special machinery that separates the plastic lining from the paper cup. The lids are plastic #6 and not normally recyclable in most curbside bins, but the cardboard sleeve is!   paper napkins and towels The fibers are too short to be recycled, but they can be composted. Paper can only be recycled an average of eight times before it can’t be anymore. Each time the paper is recycled the fibers get shorter and shorter, so by the time it gets to napkins and paper towels they’re too short.   parchment paper Any paper that is stained with food or cooking oils is not recyclable, so parchment paper is usually out. However, you can reuse parchment paper several times and then ultimately compost it!   photographs Photos are not recyclable.   pizza boxes You cannot recycle paper that has been soiled by food, liquids, or grease. Typically the bottoms of pizza boxes are too greasy to be recycled. So, you’ll want to separate the lid and the bottom of your pizza box. The greasy bottom part of the pizza box can be composted, and the top of the pizza box can be recycled, if it’s grease-free!   plastics Make sure to rinse any food or grease from your plastic, so it doesn’t contaminate the paper in the bins. It doesn’t have to be perfectly clean, but a quick rinse will go a long way. It’s important to note that the symbol for plastic is inside a small recycle sign. This does NOT mean that the plastic is recyclable. Plastic has one of the lowest recycle rates. Only 9 percent of plastic ever created has been recovered, which is why it’s best to reduce our dependence on plastic and opt for reusable items! It’s generally considered that the lower the number of the plastic, the higher the quality and the more likely it is to be accepted for recycling.   §  plastic #1: Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE or PET) is most commonly used for cake trays, soft drinks, and water bottles. Plastic #1 is accepted in most curbside bins. §  plastic #2: High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is most commonly used for cleaning bottles, shampoo and milk jugs. It is normally accepted in curbside bins. §  plastic #3: PVC (vinyl) is used for cooking oil bottles, shower curtains, clear food packaging, and mouthwash bottles. Plastic #3 isn’t normally accepted in curbside bins, but check with your waste management company. §  plastic #4: Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is used for bread bags, grocery bags, and plastic film. It is not recyclable in most curbside bins. If it is accepted in your curbside bin, then you need to put all of your plastic film inside of a plastic bag until it is roughly the size of a basketball and knot it at the top. If it’s not accepted in your curbside bin, then you can take your clean, dry plastic film to the front of the grocery store where they usually accept plastic #4 in addition to plastic grocery bags. §  plastic #5: Polypropylene (PP) is used for cheese containers, syrup bottles, yogurt containers and is recyclable in most curbside bins. §  plastic #6: Polystyrene (PS) is most commonly found as Styrofoam. It’s used in takeaway cup lids, packing peanuts, Styrofoam blocks, cups, and takeaway containers. There are a few programs that take clean Styrofoam and turn it into molding, but those recycling options are few and far between. Styrofoam isn’t very valuable, and it’s not recyclable in most locations. §  plastic #7: Plastic #7 is composed of mixed plastics. It’s often not recyclable.   printer paper It is recyclable in your curbside bin.   produce bags Produce bags are either plastic #2 or #4, meaning they can be recycled at the front of the grocery store, but they can also be reused many times!   receipts Receipts are coated with BPA and are not recyclable or compostable. If receipts are placed in the recycle bin they can contaminate the entire bale which means paper towels, paper napkins, and everything else made with 100 percent recycled content may end up contained with BPA. Let’s prevent this by throwing our receipts away!   shredded paper While crumpled and slightly altered paper is recyclable, shredded paper is not. The paper fibers have been shortened too much, and the small shreds can jam machinery and contaminate bales of other materials. Some waste management companies have special programs for recycled paper. They each have different rules for pick up so be sure to follow their requirements.   Shredded paper is great packing material, especially for fragile items. Beyond that, it’s fabulous for compost— especially worm bins!   steel cans Ninety percent of all cans found in the supermarket are made from steel, which is recyclable. Items such as canned tomatoes, chickpeas, or coconut milk are contained in steel cans. You don’t have to remove the paper label from your steel can before recycling; when the cans are recycled, they are subjected to very, very high temperatures that burn off the labels. You need to rinse the cans before putting them in the recycle bin; if you leave food particles in the can, it can contaminate the bale.   You can test whether or not your can is made of steel by using a magnet. Steel is magnetic; aluminum is not.   steel can lids Steel can lids are recyclable, but if you don’t have a smooth edge can opener, you shouldn’t throw them in the bin. Most recycling plants still use workers to help sort material. Before you put anything in the bin,  ask yourself, would I feel safe grabbing this? If the answer is no, don’t put it in the bin. You can take it to a transfer station for separate recycling or you can shove the lid down inside of the steel can and crimp the opening ensuring that the lid won’t escape.

Cities and towns across the country are prohibiting single-use plastic bags while the Garden State’s bill is sitting idle in the Statehouse. After you take a seat at your favorite local restaurant and order drinks, you might notice an up-and-coming movement yet unusual change once you see the straw—it’s made out of paper. While not every restaurant is on board with paper straws, they have become more noticeable in South Jersey and the only option for restaurant goers in Shore towns. Aside from the ridding of plastic straws, the backbone of legislation under consideration is a ban on single-use plastic bags in cities and towns in New Jersey. It all began last summer when bill sponsor Sen. Bob Smith, head of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, and other lawmakers in Trenton proposed a bill to Gov. Phil Murphy to place a five-cent fee on plastic and paper single-use shopping bags. Although Murphy thought the bill was well intentioned, it wasn’t up to par with his standards of a strict policy, and as a result, the bill was vetoed.   Murphy wanted the bill to resemble California’s statewide ban prohibiting plastic bags and a fee for paper bags. Now Smith is amending the bill that would ban single-use plastic bags, plastic straws, polystyrene food containers and possibly paper bags from all restaurants and retailers in the state. Violators could potentially be charged a fine of up to $5,000 for each offense. If the bill were to be approved, it would make New Jersey one of the top states (aside from Hawaii, which has a proposed Senate bill of banning nearly all plastic items from restaurants) that has the toughest statewide plastic and Styrofoam ban in the country. While legislation stays inoperative in the Senate for now, towns in South Jersey have already taken the first step toward an anti-plastic state, and Shore towns specifically have already put the ban into effect this past summer. Avalon’s ban (eliminating the practice of merchants using single-use plastic bags, plastic utensils and Styrofoam containers) went into effect in June—prime season for vacationers. The ban is a part of the Avalon Clean Water Initiative which attempts to remove plastics from waterways. Scott Wahl, Avalon’s business administrator, says there has been a lot of positive feedback from businesses regarding the ban, even though they’re feeling the brunt of the change. “The biggest adjustment for the merchants was discussing with their suppliers alternatives that would satisfy the terms of the ordinance,” he says. “Some of these other materials, in some cases, are more expensive but all of the merchants understand what we are trying to accomplish and become a greener community.” As for the general public, Wahl says the majority of people understand and are in acceptance of the legislation. The town has implemented Terra Cycle containers at select locations in the borough to drop plastic bags, which are sent to a company that guarantees every bag will be recycled. It’s typically assumed that throwing plastic bags into the recycling bin will automatically get recycled, but they are usually sent to the general waste system because of recycling parameters (a plastic water bottle with a lid cannot be recycled, for example). Wahl mentions that Avalon hasn’t seen any issues so far with the ban in place, but realizes there’s potential to modify the ordinance if excessive hardships were to occur on businesses. The council would consider new products that could help the businesses financially. Similar to Avalon, Stone Harbor, Somers Point, Longport, Ventnor City, Brigantine, Long Beach and more Shore towns up the coast imposed laws ranging from a ban of retailers handing out plastic bags/utensils to consumers or imposing fees for plastic bags. Linda Doherty, president and CEO of the New Jersey Food Council and vice chair of the board of the New Jersey Clean Communities Council, says that while the New Jersey Food Council supports the promotion of sustainability efforts, members also support sound environmental policy. She believes that towns and cities are taking the wrong approach. “About 50 or so municipalities throughout New Jersey, including South Jersey coastal towns, have enacted or proposed competing disposable bag bans or fees with different requirements, definitions and effective dates that include all types and sizes of retailers, small businesses and restaurants,” Doherty says. “This has created an onerous and unworkable patchwork of local ordinances for all merchants who have established businesses in these communities throughout the state. It also causes confusion amongst customers who shop retailers in different towns.” Because of the competing bag ordinances, the New Jersey Food Council has called on local town officials to support a consistent statewide single-use bag resolution. “No one wants 565 different town ordinances regulating how consumers shop,” Doherty says. “We believe reducing waste statewide is a good thing but a zip code should not dictate disposal bag policies.” Doherty also says there should be one exception to this ban, and it involves raw meat. For food safety reasons, plastic bags should be used to separate and prevent poultry, beef and other food items from damaging or contaminating other produce. Other organizations have a strong opposition to the plastic ban. The American Plastic Bag Alliance (APBA) represents the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry in the U.S. and acts as the “defense” against the bans and taxes across the nation. The APBA has had a keen eye on Trenton’s legislation and has engaged in conversation to bring to light consequences legislators and the public might not be aware of when it comes to banning plastic bags. “We’ve got tens of thousands of workers here in the United States that manufacture plastic bags,” Matt Seaholm, executive director of the APBA, says. “So if you were to ban the products and there’s no longer a market for them, as you can imagine their jobs could potentially go away.” A statewide litter study was conducted last year by the New Jersey Clean Communities Council and it was found that of the total materials that make up the litter stream, only 0.8 percent are from branded plastic bags. “Even if you were to ban those products entirely, the best case scenario is that you’re going to reduce the litter stream by that [0.8 percent] and at the same time you’re going to increase costs on retailers and the customers by millions and millions of dollars,” Seaholm says. Dennis Hart, executive director of the Chemistry Council of New Jersey, is involved with polystyrene (Styrofoam), food containers, straws and plastic cups and agrees with Seaholm that there should be a common ground that won’t have such an impact on the economy. The Chemistry Council is promoting recycling and new ways to enhance recycling of these materials. “If [lawmakers] were to ban the polystyrene food containers, right away schools in New Jersey would be in a tremendous hardship,” Hart says. “A lot of the public schools in New Jersey already were hit with state aid cuts in the last year’s budget, and they’re struggling. They’re doing layoffs; they’re trying to see how they’re going to balance their budgets. If they had to replace their cafeteria polystyrene trays or food containers with cardboard or something else, the cost would be tremendous for them. “Food service is a marginal business,” he continues. “They’ve already been hit this year with minimum wage increase, higher corporate business taxes; it’s difficult enough to do business in New Jersey. You add more cost to a marginal business and it’s definitely going to be seen on the bottom line.” Aside from these potential effects, towns are continuing to put in legislation in lieu of the state’s final decision. Last month, Collingswood approved several sustainable-focused ordinances from a ban on single-use plastic bags to prohibitions of public smoking/vaping and vehicle idling. While the ordinances still have a public hearing and delayed effective date, Mayor Jim Maley says the Collingswood Green Team has been working long and hard to develop this legislation. “For the last year, year and a half, we’ve been doing a pretty active education campaign especially at our farmer’s market trying to encourage people to bring their own bags,” he says. “In fact, we’ve kind of got the farmers [to] ask if you want the [reusable] bag just to try to remind people. Now this [ordinance] is the next step that makes it more official.” So while the bill continues to be revised and await approval, towns will continue to move forward or consider putting the plastic bag ban into effect. “This is the future; using recyclable products to help the environment. People used to throw trash out of moving vehicles and smoke in airplanes. Both sound preposterous now,” Wahl says. “Many states, towns and private entertainment locations are joining this movement and we need to be stewards of the environment, to the best of our ability. We can do better than bringing home a sandwich in a plastic bag and then tossing the bag away—and we are.”

What must Cleveland and Northeast Ohio do to become more sustainable? For the past decade, hundreds of concerned and involved citizens and organizations have gathered in Public Auditorium for a day each fall to tackle this question. Sustainable Cleveland 2019 is the brainchild of Mayor Frank Jackson, who enlisted David Cooperrider of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University to organize the event based on his Appreciative Inquiry approach to understanding and addressing significant leadership challenges to bring about positive change. Since 2009, a number of committees and organizations have launched out of the annual summit to address specific areas such as alternative energy, trees, neighborhoods, clean water, and clean air. “Overall, this is an important year for sustainability in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio,” says Matt Gray, chief of sustainability for the city of Cleveland. “At the summit and throughout the year, we are celebrating 10 years of progress but also working as a community to identify those key areas that require communitywide support to accelerate progress over the next one to three years.” Plans for this year’s meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 16, include acknowledging the successes resulting from one of the first concerted efforts in the country to evaluate sustainability for a city and region, while keeping the central focus on looking forward to consider all of the work that still needs to be done. Key topics that will be addressed at the summit include:

• Clean and Renewable Energy: Transition toward 100% renewable electricity while fighting poverty and creating opportunity;
• Circular Economy: Address recycling challenges while also laying the groundwork to become a national leader in the circular economy;
• Trees and Green Space: Providing access to trees and vibrant green space for all Clevelanders;
• Vision Zero and Transportation Equity: Advancing safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation throughout Cleveland;
• Clean Water: Build off the success of Cuyahoga50 to create greater access to our most valuable asset – water;
• The Movement: Looking beyond 2019, what's next for engaging Clevelanders in sustainability and climate action.

The summit will feature keynote speakers for each topic, including Richard Ezike, senior policy associate at the Urban Institute and an expert on mobility and equity; and India Birdsong, the new CEO at the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, who will discuss transportation equity. Covering the circular economy will be Nik Engineer, North American president of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation; and Michael Waas, global vice president of brand partnerships for TerraCycle. Participants will also work together in groups to contribute their ideas and possible solutions. “From the beginning, Sustainable Cleveland 2019 has been built from the ground up, by Clevelanders from all walks of life,” Gray says. “We’ve made significant progress, but much work remains. This summit is critical to getting the phase of creating a more sustainable Cleveland off on the right foot.”

EcoGeneration founder David Gardiepy (right) filters through plastic recycling for a resident.

---