making sustainability simple and second nature
About Us
Mission
Incorporated in 2020, Lexington Zero Waste Collaborative, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts of our consumption choices on the well-being of the Earth and all life on it.
Purpose
Educate the general public about zero waste practices and sustainable living
Make access to healthy, sustainable consumption choices easy, convenient and affordable to local community members
Encourage and support individuals, organizations, businesses and government in adopting sustainable practices
Board of Directors
- Hien Nguyen
Co-Founder/Co-President - Renee Steinbrecher
Co-Founder/Co-President - Anne Richtarik
Vice President - Janet Kern
Treasurer - Mark Manasas
Clerk
What We Do
Education & Awareness
We connect our community with resources, tools, and tips to empower everyone to choose sustainable practices and habits.
Outreach & Collaboration
Community building is at the heart of what we do. We collaborate with others in the
belief that when we each do our part, reach out and join hands with others, positive change is not only possible but inevitable.
Advocacy & Activism
Each and every voice matters. We amplify every voice, based on the belief that words and action can open the door to the long-overdue need for systems change.
Access & Equity
We strive to make sustainable choices easy, convenient and accessible to everyone, inspiring our community to "live simply, so that others may simply live."
Earth Day Events
Earth Day is April 22nd
Celebrate With Us
As our community celebrates Earth Day this month, LexZeroWaste is collaborating with LexGWAC, the Munroe Center for the Arts, and LPS Green Teams to provide educational programs that empower our community members to take simple everyday steps toward becoming a Zero Waste community.
Watch the Kiss the Ground Documentary Film
Saturday, April 10 -
Monday, April 26
Sponsored by LexGWAC and LexZeroWaste
Kiss the Ground is an inspiring, star-studded new film about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. Sign up to view the film online for free from April 10-26.
(Please note that when you sign up to view the film, you do not need to fill in the "Congregation" field.) The film is also available from Netflix.
Let Your Inner Artist and "Zero Waste" Hero Shine
Wednesday, April 21
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Participate in a Household Waste Audit and Create Upcycled Art from Non-Recyclable Materials
As our community celebrates Earth Day during April vacation week, LexZeroWaste and the Munroe Center for the Arts are teaming up, with assistance from LPS Green Teams, to build awareness about how we can do our part to take care of our Common Home.
Take some time out during school vacation week this month to learn more about what you and your family can do to work towards reaching “zero” waste, and have fun while you’re doing it!
1. Challenge your family to become "everyday zero waste heroes." Participate in a week-long household waste audit in which you sort and catalog your waste into reusable, recyclable and compostable categories and reconsider how to do things differently. Save your household discards that not reusable, recyclable or compostable to use in upcycled art projects (see #2 and #3 below). Take the opportunity to: a) sort, save and drop off certain hard-to-recycle discards that can't go in your curbside blue recycling bin; and b) sort, save and drop off your food scraps for composting if you're not already doing it. More details to come.
2. Sign up to be part of a free public event at the Munroe Center for the Arts to build an 8' Earth wire sculpture with architect and sculptor Bill Turville. The giant Earth sculpture will hold discards from our households that are not reusable, recyclable or compostable. Create garden ornaments out of upcycled materials as part of our effort to promote reuse.
3. Create your own upcycled art at home with materials that would otherwise go to an incineration facility in North Andover. Bring your art to the Munroe Center to be hung onto the Earth wire sculpture, and enter a contest at the end of Earth Week for the most creative.
Join our Kiss the Ground Panel Discussion on Zoom
Sunday, April 25
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Sponsored by LexGWAC and LexZeroWaste
Register to participate in our Zoom discussion and learn about actions you can take to promote food justice and nurture healthy soils both in your own backyard and in the Commonwealth.
Join panelists Kannan Thiruvengadam from Eastie Farm and MassRenews; and Allison Houghton, a statewide educator and author on organic gardening topics.
Kannan Thiruvengadam is a Boston Community Preservation Committee member. He is the director of Eastie Farm, an urban farm in East Boston focused on community resiliency. He also hosts "What's up Eastie?," a radio show about local issues in a larger context, at Zumix, a youth organization in East Boston. Kannan is also a Climate Ready Boston Leader. He has a technology background, has studied climate science, permaculture, and community engagement, and is passionate about regenerative and sustainable practices in agriculture and urban design.
Allison Houghton is a statewide educator and author on organic gardening topics. Her past work includes serving as the NOFA/Mass Education Director; Assistant Grower and High Tunnel Supervisor for The Food Project in Lincoln, MA; and as the Director of Horticulture at Green City Growers. She is also the author of the free NOFA/Mass publication "The Carbon Sequestering Garden" and "The Urban Bounty: How to Grow Fresh Food Anywhere." She currently runs a micro nursery for edible and native plants and a consultancy for growing abundant and resilient gardens at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
More to Come
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