Grolman Group’s Post

#PATHnews - In a significant move, the City of Irvine is tackling the issue of single-use plastics head-on. 👏👏 Several key initiatives have been set in motion. 🤝 Enhanced stakeholder and community outreach. 🔍 Focused analysis on specific categories of single-use items. 🚫 Exploring the elimination of single-use plastics and polystyrene in city operations. 🌍 A communitywide campaign to educate and promote voluntary reduction. ♻️ Implementing plastic reduction at City Hall. 🌳 Encouraging environmentally friendly practices in hotels and parks. 💧 Public education on the safety and benefits of tap water. 👏👏 Let's go, Irvine! What other cities do you know are on the PATH to tackling single-use plastic? #refillit #circulareconomy #sustainabilityinitiatives

Recycling Update 2024 Speaker Showcase: Timothy Burroughs, Executive Director at StopWaste! Join us at RU to learn from Timothy about, "Understanding SB 54, California’s new law to prevent pollution from packaging and plastic foodware." SB 54 is the most comprehensive legislation to date designed to reduce the volume of single use plastic packaging and foodware entering our communities, while also requiring that 100% of all single use packaging is recyclable or compostable by 2032. And the funds needed to implement the law are to be paid by the producers of single use packaging, rather than by local jurisdictions and ratepayers...This presentation will examine the positive potential of the law for our communities while also lifting up key opportunities for stakeholders to engage and mobilize around to ensure the law’s potential is met. More about: Timothy Burroughs is Executive Director of StopWaste, also known as the Alameda County Waste Management Authority. StopWaste is a government agency that works with local jurisdictions, schools, nonprofits and businesses to advance sustainability in Alameda County. Timothy has 18 years of experience working within public, community-serving agencies, including serving as Director of the Department of Planning & Development at the City of Berkeley and overseeing Berkeley’s climate action programs. Register today! Early bird pricing extended to 2/19: http://bit.ly/RU2024 #NCRA #NCRArecycles #NorCalRecyclingAssocation #NorCal #RecyclingUpdate #RU #RU2024 #California #USA #zerowaste #recycle #reuse #reduce #repair #education #community #sustainability #climatechange #climateaction #climatesolutions #advocacy #solutions #innovation #wastemanagement #government #business #changemakers #circulareconomy #maketdevelopment #SB54 #resourcesharing #socialresponsibility

Everything started almost a year ago when I was explaining to a friend of mine that I was sorting out used plastic but not used paper because I didn’t have that much 📌 ‘You sure have lots and need to sort it as well’, she replied with lots of confidence! Hum!!! I didn’t like her way to say it and I decided not to throw any sheet of paper away for some days / weeks – Just time to show her how much she was wrong – 😒 She was not wrong actually and it’s horrifying!!! The picture is self-explanatory ☹ The moral of my story is that our daily actions have more impact on the environment than we ever think 🌍 The moral of my moral is that there is no small, no tiny, no insignificant action: everything counts and it’s the responsibility of all of us no matter the level either at home, in the workplace or in any public place ✔ Next? Go directly to the nearest paper recycling factory as I don’t have any space to store all of this anymore 😀 Then? Keep on raising awareness on the environment crisis and work on small actions for big impacts 💪 #wilhelmsen #portservices #environment #recycling #wastepaper #maritimeindustry #sustainability #green #responsibility         

A lot of times everyone just goes straight to the grand and complicated solutions (and also expensive) while completely ignoring the practical and simpler options that are already there. Plastic polution cannot be stopped unless it's actually stopped at its source on land, in the minds of people where the decision to reduce and eventually remove the human addiction to plastic can be done. It's certainly not the ordinary person's fault that corporations flood the world with plastics, but we have the option to decide to put an end to their viability for businesses. We really need to rethink our overly-complicated and expensive approach to global problems and begin to consider the simple and the practical things right in front of us. We need to recognize the fact that it's only the scale of global communities' resolve that can match the scale of the problems we have to solve. Besides, there will be nothing to clean if we decide to stop making a mess. #wearebikescouts https://lnkd.in/gG6Jj8sG

Yes, cleaning up the ocean matters! Articles like this puzzle me. Cleaning up the ocean does NOT distract from or take away from stopping plastic at its source. The writer is basically saying that the very laudable goal fo cleaning up 100s of thousands of tons of plastic from the ocean is... - A distraction from other efforts - Not worth it as microplastics are there - And the kicker...potentially damaging an ecosystem" So now the floating mess of human plastic is an "ecosystem?" Geez. Point by point. 1 " distraction": humans can do more than one thing at a time. We can have groups cleaning the ocean and at the same time attacking river flows of plartoc garbage. In fact is actually happening and you can Google it easily like the madly cool and efficient river "Interceptor" project in Guatemala. 2. "Micro plastics are in the ocean anyway": so??? Does that mean to leave the millions of tons of plastic pieces big enough to grab in the ocean to become multiple trillions of microbits of plastic down the road? Yeah sure. That's a good plan. 3. "it's damaging an ecosystem" : yet the lead photo of the article shows fish trapped in the very same discarded nets thst the ocean cleanup project is meant to stop from happening. Yes, it is fascinating that sea life has found a way to cling to floating piles of garbage. So doss this mean shippers should stop scraping barnacles off of ship hulls? Same argument right!? Anyway, articles like this are an example of the rampant "two sidism" in journalism today...striving to give equal time to facile and weak arguments in order to be "fair." ("fair and balanced"... Where have I heard that phrase misused? 🤔) How is this relevant to schools?  Students need to see that efforts of all kids to better our world, to clean it from the mess we've made of so much of it, matter. Students need to experience a variety of says to clean the world, and I doing so have their own creativity sparked.  The ocean clean up project disparaged in the article was the dream of a young person, #BoyanSlat, who was still in school and he founded the company at 18 years old. That is a fine example for students in my book!  Clean up the rivers. Clean up the oceans. Uss less plastic. Recycle everything. Cut down waste. We can do it all at once. I know we can! #OceanCleanupMatters

Stop ruining your children’s future. (Hear me out) You take your child to the park to create amazing, memorable moments, RIGHT? - They play there, - Learn new things, and - Observe your actions. Because you are their ideal and hero in their eyes, they follow you as an example. However, If you throw plastic bottles anywhere instead of the bin in front of them. And they will think it is the right way and will follow the same habits in the future. You see, over 40% of rubbish plastic is found in parks in Melbourne. And packaging wastes continue to dominate these counts, posing critical environmental threats. You need to set a positive example for the next generation.  How? 1) Teach your children the importance of protecting our planet. 2) Make them aware that single-use plastic bottles cause huge damage to us. And show them how to recycle plastic bottles using reverse vending machines. If you deposit one plastic bottle, they will try to impress you by bringing 4-5 bottles to recycle. Every small action counts. Together, we can ensure that parks remain places of joy and learning, not litter and harm. #Recycling #RecyclingAustralia #Ecofriendly #Environment #PlasticBottles

Spot the Big Toy Swap in this month's circular economy news (book a workshop to get the kids in your class / school / Scouts etc motivated and equipped to run their own toy swap here: https://lnkd.in/eNRmGKEq )

As we step into Bealtaine, the Celtic beginning of Summer, we bring you the latest edition of Circular Economy News: your comprehensive roundup of the most recent developments in circular news, jobs, research and funding from Ireland and around the globe. 🌍 https://ow.ly/Qlfb50RtyYA This month we delve into the Irish Government's new Green Public Procurement Strategy, the launch of 31 Local Authority Climate Action Plans, new guidelines for plastic-free event organisation, and nationwide community cloth nappy drives. Internationally, the World Circular Economy Forum was held in Brussels in April, and new groundbreaking EU repair rules mark significant milestones in the global circularity landscape. Meanwhile, outside of Europe, the Global Plastics Treaty gathering brought international leaders to Ottawa to discuss progress in drafting a global treaty to manage plastic pollution. Explore this month's newsletter: https://ow.ly/Qlfb50RtyYA Mentions: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications Charity Retail Association Charity Retail Ireland Fashion Revolution Native Events Repak VOICE Ireland THE CLOTH NAPPY LIBRARY LIMITED 103.2 Dublin City FM Jiminy Eco Toys Sharon Keilthy Cytech RREUSE - Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises WRAP eBay Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) Earthsight Dublin City Council GIY Waterford Oxfam Ireland Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ireland Leave No Trace Ireland Common Knowledge National College of Art & Design #circulareconomy #circulareconomyire #circulareconomynews

♻️ Our CEO, Clarissa Morawski, recently presented evidence to the Welsh Senedd's Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee on the impact of delaying EPR and the deposit scheme for drinks containers. 💫 Clarissa shared significant insights: "We've run some of the numbers to have a better understanding of what the two-year delay means for Wales. Specifically, focusing not only on the collection rates but the quality of material that is collected because that is a key piece. It's not just about collecting it, it's about what you do with it at the end. And of course, DRS creates an opportunity to do can-to-can recycling, bottle-to-bottle recycling." "We looked at the results of the delay and found that it will result in about 647 million PET plastic bottles being landfilled, littered, or incinerated. Additionally, about 332 million cans and 61 million bottles will face the same fate. On the cans side, that's worth about €5 million in lost revenues for Wales." "When we think about the impact of the delay and what we can see from a deposit in the future, it's not just about collecting single-use packaging. It's about creating a new mindset and charting a pathway into a system where we have more reusable packaging and we can see real waste prevention." "When it comes to reuse for packaging, one of the priority items and one of the easier ones to deploy is on takeaway packaging. We are seeing pilots around the world now that are seemingly quite successful. They start with coffee cups and then move on to salad bowls and these kinds of things. So there's a lot of opportunity for Wales there." 📷 Watch the full session recording here: https://lnkd.in/e4RyZs_5 #sustainability #climateaction #EPR #circulareconomy #wasteprevention #reuse #reusables #environment #depositreturn #packaging

✊🏼 Super proud of team City to Sea for stepping up for reuse yesterday (and every day!) ahead of #WorldRefillDay this Sunday. We hand-delivered our open letter to the major parties HQ yesterday to ask them to commit to our Reuse Manifesto, calling for 30% of products in reusable packaging by 2030. And thanks Carla Denyer (co-leader of the Green Party) for pledging to support this if you're elected next month! ♻ It's ambitious, we know (it's around 1.2% currently!) but we HAVE to shift the focus from recycling to refill and reuse, and I'm very confident in Jane Martin and the team to keep these kinds of needed policy asks top of the agenda this year! 🌊 Thanks to Ocean Bottle, Reposit | Returnable Packaging Platform, Ecosurety, FILL REFILL CO, Abel & Cole | B Corp™, Dr. Bronner's for joining us on our walk yesterday - so nice to walk with you all - and to ecover + method | Europe & Culligan UK for helping us to keep powering the Refill movement! 📺 Here's a nice little clip from the telly last night, good work Higginson Strategy! #plasticpollution #reuse #reusemanifesto #refill #reduce #circulareconomy #circularcities #manifesto #