Part 2: SoSA’s Zero Waste Team Helps Local Consumers Impact Responsible Consumption Goals
Words by Sophie Vaughan
In Part 1 of this story, we introduced the Summit of Sustainability Alliance (SoSA) Zero Waste team, and we explained how they are currently networking and surveying to gather information from local organizations and businesses to inform the Zero Waste team’s strategy. We spoke with SoSA member business HiHO Brewing Co. about their commercial composting journey, and we touched on what progress looks like for responsible consumption in the region. In Part 2, we hear more from the SoSA Zero Waste team on their vision for responsible consumption in the region and how local consumers can make an impact toward that ideal state.
Eliminating Single-Use Packaging
For SoSA Zero Waste team member Ben McMillan, the ideal state would include elimination of single-use plastics and other single-use materials. Even though McMillan runs a composting company, he says that elimination of these products is where waste reduction efforts should begin. He says that over the last 15 years, we have been trained to buy and throw away, but it hasn’t always been this way.
“Back in the day, everything was reused,” says McMillan. “Everything was repackaged. And so if I could wave a magic wand, it would be to get rid of plastic. And then we get rid of single-use plastics.”
We asked McMillan to weigh in on where we stand in the region, as far as progress towards the ideal state.
“In the state of Ohio, below average,” says McMillan. “Nationally, trending upwards. On the west coast, they’re miles, years, decades ahead of us.”
But while McMillan regards Ohio’s overall waste reduction efforts as below average, he holds Akron in a higher regard.
“Akron is doing a pretty decent job,” says McMillan. “From my understanding, their recyclables are actually being recycled, which is nice. That doesn’t happen like people think it does.”
McMillan explains that Akron has begun working with a company that does glass recycling out of Cuyahoga County to offer glass drop off bins across Akron.
“Because Akron has their own trash company, and they pay tipping fees…to dump these trash trucks at these Transfer Centers, it’s good business for them to divert and recycle,” McMillan says. In this way, sustainability is baked into the waste operations and encourages keeping things out of the landfill.
However, eliminating single-use plastics in the region is no small feat. While passing legislation that bans plastic bags or plastic straws seems like a logical starting point, state legislators have overruled such bans multiple times. When Cuyahoga County enacted a plastic bag ban in 2020, opponents worked to pass a statewide ban that overrules the bag ban and prohibits municipalities from fining retailers for lack of cooperation. To get around this, Cuyahoga County has recently announced it will award up to a total of $200,000 to area businesses that agree to transition away from plastic bags at checkouts. Each retailer will be awarded up to $5,000 to phase out plastic bags.
Getting Consumers on Board
Incentives like these might work to get local businesses involved with waste reduction efforts, but what about appealing to individual consumers? McMillan says it’s a matter of educating the public. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of organizations educating the general public on waste reduction in the Greater Akron area. McMillan was not aware of any organizations working on this public education piece other than Rubber City Reuse. McMillan speaks to about 10 schools per year, and Rubber City Reuse gives presentations at other events like farmers markets and Rocking on the River in Cuyahoga Falls.
McMillan says the City of Kent seems to be doing a lot of education through their utility bills. “The other day, I was driving through downtown and they’ve got one of those little community boards,” he says, “and it…had some info on how to recycle better, and I thought that was pretty cool.”
While he doesn’t know of any groups currently providing public education, McMillan has suggestions for education strategy.
“Put it on the sides of the trucks,” he says. “Put it on the billboards; put it in the classrooms. You know, how you would spread awareness pretty much about anything…let’s say there’s some sort of viral outbreak — the same methods we would use to get the information to folks about that, we would want to use about recycling and elimination of those plastics, and single-use plastics especially.”
Composting is another area for improvement in the Greater Akron waste reduction scene.
“I still get people that ask me what composting is,” says McMillan. “I mean, all the time, honestly. And so we’re way behind the times.”
While SoSA is doing the work to get businesses and organizations on the composting bandwagon, getting the general public on board is a challenge outside their scope. McMillan and Rubber City Reuse are up to the challenge.
McMillan says he would like to see citywide drop-off sites for organics recycling, just like they have glass drop-off sites. McMillan says he has reached out to the City of Akron a couple times, but he is not seeing much traction. In the meantime, Rubber City Reuse has partnered with other municipalities such as Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson, and will soon partner with Tallmadge. McMillan says that composting costs municipalities next to nothing, so he’s not sure why Akron is not participating in a composting program.
“I just think there’s probably a lot of moving parts,” says McMillan. “There’s a lot of people involved, it takes longer, you’re going to have that with any organization that’s as large as the city government here in Akron.”
Orndorf does not believe that any particular end-state exists for sustainable waste management and responsible consumption.
“Our processes of using materials to improve our quality of life can always be made more sustainable: from reducing the amount of materials used in the first place to increasing the reuse of materials at the end of a product’s life and everywhere in between,” he says. “We set goals, but at the end of the day, it’s the continual striving for improvement that will get us closer to an ideal sustainable community.”
It’s Easier than You Think to Make an Impact
So how do we get more organizations and businesses involved in the Zero Waste movement?
“I think the best thing we can do is show people that it is easier than you think,” says Madigan. “I think most people understand the need to protect the environment – the whole Reduce/Reuse/Recycle mantra – but the mental hurdle of actually changing your behavior is the tricky part.”
SoSA hopes to help the community overcome these hurdles by communicating to residents and businesses about existing options, highlighting local Zero Waste accomplishments, and building more relationships to collaborate and share experiences.
Orndorf supports this sentiment, underlining the need to alter attitudes toward consumption and waste. He envisions a gradual transformation.
“We’re creatures of habit,” he says, “And for most people and organizations, we’ve been spoiled with the privilege of consuming much more than we need and simply tossing the waste in a bin to disappear.”
Orndorf says that, while more people and organizations are starting to realize that our attitudes about waste need to change, our communities are not always set up to facilitate changing our habits.
“With SoSA, starting with the composting efforts, we’re taking small steps to make it easier for local organizations to make more sustainable choices when it comes to material consumption and disposal,” he says.
SoSA hopes to shed light on the sustainability success stories in the region, to inspire other organizations to follow suit.
“The most impactful story I’ve heard from attending SoSA’s meetings was from Andrew Henry, the Director of Building Services at the University of Akron,” says Madigan. She explains how Henry is very passionate about the University’s composting operation, which began thanks to a push from the Undergraduate Student Government. Now, instead of their landscaping waste and Dining Hall back-of-house scraps ending up in a landfill, all of this waste is hauled away to a composting facility.
“If a large university can do it, why can’t another large organization?” Madigan asks. “It’s more possible than we realize, and UA is a testament that encouragement and passion can go a long way.”
Madigan also commended the Cities of Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson on their collaboration over the past year with Rubber City Reuse, to collect pumpkins and gourds from the fall season to compost. Orndorf agrees that the University of Akron, the City of Cuyahoga Falls, and the City of Hudson are shining examples of how SoSA’s Zero Waste team is making an impact in our community.
“To me, this is so much more than simply diverting waste, but the makings of changing our habits and conceptions of where organic waste should go and our responsibility to live more sustainably,” says Madigan.
For more information on becoming a SoSA member, visit https://www.summitofsustainability.com/join.