Join local businesses like ISG, Ameristar, Wooden Spoon, and the local Coffee Houses that are reducing waste.
Why is it so important to reduce waste?
Waste in our landfills releases methane when it decomposes in the absence of oxygen. This methane is the third largest contributor to global warming. Burning waste in incinerators releases toxins that pollute our air, land and water and harm surrounding communities. The toxic fly ash must be buried in the landfill and monitored. Reducing waste is crucial in protecting our air, land and water. MPCA studies say we can reduce our waste by 70% by reducing, reusing, recycling, redesigning or eliminating. https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/understanding-solid-waste
How can your business reduce waste?
Check your trash to find out what you are throwing away. For items that can be recycled, set up a recycling container with signage for paper, cardboard, metal, wood, glass, plastics #1,2, and 5. Replace throwaway plastic items with reusable or compostable ones. Have a container for food waste, napkins, coffee grounds, paper towels from the bathroom and BPI Certified compostable items. The city has free organics recycling dumpsters at the Victory Drive Public Works Building parking lot, Sibley Park parking lot, and North Mankato Recycling Center in front of the yard waste fence. Visit www.mankatozerowaste.com for location and other information.
Why is it important to reduce plastic use?
Throwaway plastic utensils, food containers, plates, cups, bottles and even reusable plastic water bottles and other reusable plastics are dangerous because they shed microplastics and toxic chemicals into the food and drinks they contain. Plastic never completely breaks down.
Numerous studies have documented plastics’ harm to our health. The microplastics break into tiny pieces that enter our bodies and damage our cells, organs and tissues that can cause inflammation, intestinal diseases, infertility, strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, cancers, lung diseases, damaged immune system. The toxic added chemicals like phthalates, bisphenols, heavy metals, PFAS, and flame retardants interfere with our hormones, disrupting our body regulatory systems. They are linked to a wide range of health impacts i.e., cancers, reproductive issues, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, infertility, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, strokes, heart attacks, ADHD, autism, lowered I.Q., cancers especially of the reproductive organs.
The effects of Plastics on Human Health – The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4056
Health Effects of Fossil-Fuel Derived Endocrine Disruptors, by Tracey J. Woodruff, Ph.D., M.P.H., March 6, 2024 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2300476
Here are measures you can take to reduce waste in your workplace.
- Have a compost container to compost food waste. Mankato Area Zero Waste can provide a small container and compostable bags.
- Use paper or compost bags instead of plastic for trash.
- Use glass, metal, ceramic, wood, or compostable coffee cups, utensils, and food ware for your lunch.
- Make coffee with reusable coffee filters, metal or compostable pods, not throwaway pods. Compost the grounds.
- Buy large creamers instead of small individual plastic ones. Replace condiment packets with dispensers or larger bottles.
- Have compostable paper towels or cloth towels for drying your hands in the bathroom.
- Have a refillable drinking fountain instead of plastic bottled or canned water or plastic cooler. (Studies found that bottled water has the most nanoplastics of any container – 250,000 to 500,00 nanoplastics per liter.) https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/health/bottled-water-nanoplastics-study-wellness/index.html
- Bring snacks to share in metal, glass, ceramic or compostable containers. Cover with aluminum foil, not plastic wrap. Roll aluminum foil in a ball to recycle.
- Have a recycling bin for paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, and plastics #1,2,5
- Borrow or rent decorations for parties and meetings.
- Use nontoxic cleaning products i.e, baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice.
- Sign up with a solar garden or install solar panels on your property.
- Donate and buy building and remodeling materials from Restore.
- Give leftover food from parties or meetings to the Echo Food Shelf, Salvation Army, Connections Ministry or CADA.
- If you are a restaurant, join the skip the stuff campaign. Mankato Area Zero Waste can give you a sign asking customers to request plastic throwaway utensils, straws and condiment packets only if needed.
Getting started is easy.
Here’s what Gina Cooper at ISG had to say about saving money and reducing waste. “We are composting over 11 pounds a week and 580 pounds of grounds per year from our lunchroom. Plus we compost on another floor as well. Mankato Zero Waste made it easy to start and maintain the program. The compost starter kit they provided was crucial to our success in composting coffee grounds over the last five years! We still use the signage and buckets. The signage helps remind kitchen users where the bucket is stored. Since the compost is 98% coffee grounds and other food scraps, there is no smell. I swap out the buckets once a week. It didn’t take an act of Congress to get started. We put out the sign and set up a bucket under the sink with a liner. Starting was easy!”
Resources:
Article on non-toxic cleaning products for schools that can also apply to workplace cleaning products. https://healthyschools.org/green-cleaning-healthy-products/green-cleaning-for-healthy-schools-toolkit/
Mankato Area Zero Waste website for information on organics recycling and plastics https://www.mankatozerowaste.com/
Information on the benefits of composting https://www.compostingcouncil.org/page/CompostBenefits
Two nonprofits that help you switch from throwaway to reusable products and offer grants https://mnimize.org https://cleanwater.org/campaign/rethink-disposable
Information on the health effects of plastics https://www.beyondplastics.org/