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 FREE educational programs that empower our community members to take simple everyday steps toward becoming a Zero Waste community.
We are pleased to announce that we have added a summer session of the ZeroToGo reusable takeout program at Royal India Bistro starting Monday, July 10 and ending Friday, September 1.
Summer Session Details
Mon – Thurs Ordering
You may place orders any time
You may pick up orders any time
Weekend Ordering
You may place orders Friday, Saturday and Sunday EXCEPT between 5:30 – 7:30 pm
You may pick up orders any time
The summer session is limited to 70 households.
Membership not required but You must register in order to participate. registration remains open while space is available.
New registrations must be made by SATURDAY to be included on the list of participants for the following Monday.
Our guest speaker, State Representative Michelle Ciccolo, will share her zero waste journey with us.
We’ll have a brief business meeting followed by plenty of time to talk about zero waste. Do you have a zero waste practice that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it and will make plenty of time to share around.
In celebration of Earth Day in May, we’re collaborating again with our sustainability allies at the Munroe Center for the Arts on a “wish-cycling” sculpture of a larger than life-sized person relaxing on a bench. Created from chicken wire recycled from last year’s sculpture and filled with the packaging materials left over from food and drink consumed by community members, the sculpture is meant to raise awareness about certain types of packaging that is not recyclable, as well as highlight the amount of plastic that we ingest unknowingly, the potential for harm, and what we can do as individuals and a community to change our habits for the betterment of all.
This year, we’re focusing on aseptic food and drink packaging made from composite materials–plastic/paper/aluminum–that render them unrecyclable, namely juice/milk/broth/goldfish cartons and foil-lined chips bags.
Participate in this art activity by saving your aseptic packaging waste items and adding them to the sculpture on the front lawn of the Munroe Center for the Arts (1403 Massachusetts Ave).
The filled sculpture creates a visual impact of these non-recyclable plastics, which could eventually become microplastics that end up in our bodies, air, water and soil.
Are There Alternatives?
Choose plastic-free packaging if possible:
Dairy Milk:
If you drink dairy milk, consider buying returnable/reusable glass bottled milk, for example, from Crescent Ridge. Their bottled milk is usually available locally from LexFarm, Wright-Locke Farm, Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, and Wegmans. Check the Crescent Ridge website for other local retail or delivery options.
DIY Plant-Based Milk:
If you drink plant-based milk and have a blender, you can make your own almond milk following this 1-minute recipe:
¼ cup almond butter (or 64g)*
32 oz water
Blend for 1 minute.
* If you have a power blender, such as a Vitamix, you can also use whole raw or roasted almonds, and blend for 2-3 minutes. If you’d like to avoid single-use packaging, you can buy almonds from Debra’s Refillery in Concord which allows you to bring your own containers to refill.
* You can also substitute almond with other nuts/seeds.
What Else Can You Do?
As you collect your aseptic packaging waste to add to the sculpture, make an inventory of the brands on the packaging.
Write to the companies using these unrecyclable, single-use packaging, and ask them to transition to a returnable/reusable packaging system.
Write to your legislators and ask them to sponsor bills that advance reuse/refill solutions to our waste problem.
Other Ideas
If you have other ideas about alternative solutions and actions, send them to us at info@lexzerowaste.org, and we’ll add them to this page.
Supported by a grant from the Community Endowment of Lexington, an endowed fund of the Foundation for MetroWest, LexZeroWaste has developed a pilot program for reusable takeout called ZeroToGo. Those who register to participate will have the option to order take-away meals from Royal India Bistro in returnable/reusable stainless steel containers with silicone lids.
After a year of planning, we are launching ZeroToGo with Royal India Bistro. The returnable/returnable containers are ready to be tracked with the USEFULL app.
Participation in this pilot program is limited to 60 LexZeroWaste members who will be eligible to register for one of three four-week sessions. ZeroToGo orders may be placed Mondays through Thursdays only.
LexZeroWaste is pleased to announce that following the adoption by Town Meeting on April 6, 2022 of Article 27, a Zero Waste Resolution for Lexington put forth by LexZeroWaste’s Advocacy Working Group, working group Co-Chairs Hien Nguyen and Janet Kern have accepted an invitation from Director of Public Works David Pinsonneault to serve as members of the Town’s Zero Waste Plan working group.
The Town of Lexington’s Department of Public Works has engaged the services of consultants from Zero Waste Associates, Ruth Abbe and Amy Perlmutter, to facilitate the development of a Zero Waste Plan for Lexington with the input of Town staff and residents, as stated in the Resolution. Abbe and Perlmutter have developed zero waste plans for Boston and Brookline, and dozens of other municipalities throughout the country.
“Janet and I are honored to serve on the Zero Waste Plan working group and excited to continue our productive partnership with Town staff to craft a Zero Waste Plan that will provide a road map for our community to move closer to zero waste and minimize our impact on environmental justice communities,” said Hien Nguyen.
Under the leadership of Mr. Pinsonneault, additional members of the Zero Waste Plan working group include Superintendent of Environmental Services Robert Beaudoin; Sustainability & Resilience Officer Margaret Peard; and Waste Reduction Task Force members Cindy Arens and Diane Pursley, who responded to Mr. Pinsonneault’s invitation for two members of the Town Manager-appointed task force to serve on the Zero Waste Plan working group. LexZeroWaste members Arens and Pursley also serve on the Waste Reduction Task Force as representatives of LPS Green Teams.
The scope of work for the Zero Waste Plan includes listening sessions that Zero Waste Associates will conduct with key stakeholders, which could include school representatives, community organizations, business representatives, environmental and environmental justice organizations, and local and regional service providers. Town residents will also have theopportunity to respond to an online survey to provide input on the barriers and opportunities for reducing waste and increasing recycling and composting in Lexington.
The Zero Waste Plan working group convened on June 16th for the first of four planned meetings with the objective of producing a practical, action-oriented Zero Waste Plan by Fall 2022.
We’re reprising a sculpture activity from last year that combines art and zero waste to continue to raise awareness about ubiquitous materials in our household trash that are not recyclable. This year, we’re focusing on black plastics: food containers, utensils, seedling pots and trays, shampoo bottles, etc.
Participate in this art activity by saving your black plastic waste items and adding them to the sculpture on the front lawn of the Munroe Center for the Arts (1403 Massachusetts Ave).
These black plastics may be labeled #1, #2, or #5 plastic––which are technically recyclable––but due to their black pigment, the optical scanners at the recycling facilities are unable to detect and sort them to be recycled. Instead they end up as “residue” and get treated as trash.
Let’s come together as a community to create and celebrate art while raising awareness about non-recyclable materials in our daily lives.
Thank you to all those who voiced their support for the Zero Waste Resolution for Lexington. Last night, by a vote of 174-4-8 for Article 27, Lexington Town Meeting adopted the resolution, including agreeing to adopt zero waste principles and encouraging a zero waste plan!
So what does this exactly mean for Lexington? Well, this was a “non-binding resolution”, meaning that the Town is not obligated to take any action. However, it is a strong statement that Town Meeting would very much like to have a plan developed as soon as possible that will offer solutions for town wide waste reduction. We are already working with the Town’s Waste Reduction Task Force and the DPW on these issues. The adoption of this resolution will encourage and hopefully accelerate that work.
If you are not already a LexZeroWaste member, please consider joining to support and contribute to continued efforts to reduce waste in Lexington! We look forward to hearing from and working with you!
In honor of Earth Day 2022, LexZeroWaste is holding its 2nd Annual Student Upcycled Art Contest. We invite students in grades K-12 to create an original piece of art from items that would normally be thrown away. Potential materials include items like candy or snack food wrappers, plastic straws, styrofoam, used milk cartons, pet food bags, plastics that can’t be recycled (black plastics and #s 3, 6, and 7 plastics), and any items smaller than 2″ in size which would literally fall through the cracks of the recycling sorting machines and not get recycled. All entrants are encouraged to be creative and use as many non-recyclable, non-compostable waste items as possible! See below for examples of waste materials to use in your artwork.
Submission Guidelines To participate in the contest, please upload a clear digital photo of the artwork via this form by 5 pm, Thursday, May 12, 2022. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of local artists, including collage artist Mandy Settembre, painter Judy Ellen Sanders, and painter Amantha Tsaros.
Winners will be notified via email by Saturday, May 14th. In the spirit of reuse, winners will receive prize baskets of gently used or like new arts and crafts supplies that have been generously donated by members of our community. If you have items that may be suitable for inclusion in the prize baskets, donations are still being accepted. Please contact Anne Richtarik to arrange any possible donations, or if you have questions about the contest.
Thanks to the many signers of our petition who got the Article on the warrant, our Advocacy Working Group has developed a Zero Waste Resolution that will be voted on at the 2022 Lexington Annual Town Meeting. We hope you’ll visit our newly created web page devoted to Article 27, read all about it, and then add your name to the growing list of supporters. And then contact Town Meeting Members and ask them to vote for it!
Our Zero Waste Resolution calls for adopting Zero Waste Principles. This inverted pyramid shows how our goals for zero waste begin at the top with reducing consumption, and then move down to treating waste as a resource, so that hopefully we send minimal amounts to incineration or landfill.
Are you, like us, constantly looking for ways to reduce waste in your own life and maybe even influence others in your orbit to do the same?
This time of year can be a challenging balancing act for those of us who want to embrace a spirit of generosity while also staying on a personal path aiming towards zero waste.
We have compiled a list of some of our favorite low-waste gifting and holiday ideas from sustainably-minded friends and cohorts around the world. Our suggestion is to choose just THREE ideas that are new to you, and perhaps begin new traditions for years to come with your family and friends.
Adapted from Greenpeace:
Shop small and local: Heading to homegrown local stores can keep your carbon footprint low and help stimulate your neighborhood’s economy.
Purchase long-lasting items: Don’t get sucked into the idea that your friends and family need the new version of everything every year. Give gifts that last, and they’ll be grateful for a long time.
Make your own gifts or buy vintage: Get your craft on! Making your own gift is a great way to give green, and buying vintage or second-hand items means you’re skipping all the carbon pollution in making something new.
Give experiences, not stuff: The best, most memorable gifts are often experiences. Try making a delicious homemade dinner, or taking your friend on a trip to somewhere great nearby. They’ll probably appreciate it more than another sweater or gadget, and you’ll get to feel great knowing that you gave an environmentally friendly gift.
Ditch the tape, ribbon and wrapping paper! Use string, cloth remnants, scarves, cloth bags, old maps, upcycled magazines, even decorated brown paper! Use natural greenery and foraged sprigs instead of plastic bows and ribbons.
Adapted from LiveKindly:
Plan ahead to reduce food waste: Clear out your freezer ahead of your holiday meal shopping. Freezing food is an excellent way to prevent waste, and you can freeze leftovers instead of throwing them in the trash.
Use sustainable home goods at your table. You can also ask guests to bring their own containers or beeswax wrap in order to bring home leftovers (this might inspire them to get on the waste-reduction train, too).
Don’t throw away edible food. Compost your food scraps (fruit and vegetable peels, etc.) And immediately donate unopened and unused food items to the Lexington Food Pantry.
From LexZeroWaste 🙂 …
Make a donation to LexZeroWaste! We hope you’ll choose this option as one of your three new zero waste actions this year. With your support, we can bring new programs to Lexington that will provide you with even more sustainable options next year.
Celebrate Earth Day With Us
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 FREE educational programs that empower our community members to take simple everyday steps toward becoming a Zero Waste community.
We are pleased to announce that we have added a summer session of the ZeroToGo reusable takeout program at Royal India Bistro starting Monday, July 10 and ending Friday, September 1.
Summer Session Details
Mon – Thurs Ordering
You may place orders any time
You may pick up orders any time
Weekend Ordering
You may place orders Friday, Saturday and Sunday EXCEPT between 5:30 – 7:30 pm
You may pick up orders any time
The summer session is limited to 70 households.
Membership not required but You must register in order to participate. registration remains open while space is available.
New registrations must be made by SATURDAY to be included on the list of participants for the following Monday.
Register for ZeroToGo Summer Session
Annual Meeting for Lexington Zero Waste Collaborative
Tuesday, June 13
7:00-8:45 pm
Lexington Community Center
Room 242
39 Marrett Road
Our guest speaker, State Representative Michelle Ciccolo, will share her zero waste journey with us.
We’ll have a brief business meeting followed by plenty of time to talk about zero waste. Do you have a zero waste practice that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it and will make plenty of time to share around.
Please join us!
RSVP appreciated by June 9.
Almost everyday, there’s a story in the news about how plastic production and plastic waste impact our climate, health, and environment.
Did you know that many single-use food/drink packaging containing plastic is not recyclable? Or that it’s been estimated that the average person consumes about a credit card’s weight worth of microplastics weekly?
In celebration of Earth Day in May, we’re collaborating again with our sustainability allies at the Munroe Center for the Arts on a “wish-cycling” sculpture of a larger than life-sized person relaxing on a bench. Created from chicken wire recycled from last year’s sculpture and filled with the packaging materials left over from food and drink consumed by community members, the sculpture is meant to raise awareness about certain types of packaging that is not recyclable, as well as highlight the amount of plastic that we ingest unknowingly, the potential for harm, and what we can do as individuals and a community to change our habits for the betterment of all.
This year, we’re focusing on aseptic food and drink packaging made from composite materials–plastic/paper/aluminum–that render them unrecyclable, namely juice/milk/broth/goldfish cartons and foil-lined chips bags.
Participate in this art activity by saving your aseptic packaging waste items and adding them to the sculpture on the front lawn of the Munroe Center for the Arts (1403 Massachusetts Ave).
The filled sculpture creates a visual impact of these non-recyclable plastics, which could eventually become microplastics that end up in our bodies, air, water and soil.
Are There Alternatives?
Dairy Milk:
If you drink dairy milk, consider buying returnable/reusable glass bottled milk, for example, from Crescent Ridge. Their bottled milk is usually available locally from LexFarm, Wright-Locke Farm, Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, and Wegmans. Check the Crescent Ridge website for other local retail or delivery options.
DIY Plant-Based Milk:
If you drink plant-based milk and have a blender, you can make your own almond milk following this 1-minute recipe:
Blend for 1 minute.
* If you have a power blender, such as a Vitamix, you can also use whole raw or roasted almonds, and blend for 2-3 minutes. If you’d like to avoid single-use packaging, you can buy almonds from Debra’s Refillery in Concord which allows you to bring your own containers to refill.
* You can also substitute almond with other nuts/seeds.
What Else Can You Do?
Other Ideas
If you have other ideas about alternative solutions and actions, send them to us at info@lexzerowaste.org, and we’ll add them to this page.
Supported by a grant from the Community Endowment of Lexington, an endowed fund of the Foundation for MetroWest, LexZeroWaste has developed a pilot program for reusable takeout called ZeroToGo. Those who register to participate will have the option to order take-away meals from Royal India Bistro in returnable/reusable stainless steel containers with silicone lids.
After a year of planning, we are launching ZeroToGo with Royal India Bistro. The returnable/returnable containers are ready to be tracked with the USEFULL app.
Participation in this pilot program is limited to 60 LexZeroWaste members who will be eligible to register for one of three four-week sessions. ZeroToGo orders may be placed Mondays through Thursdays only.
Please see full information on our ZeroToGo web page.
LexZeroWaste is pleased to announce that following the adoption by Town Meeting on April 6, 2022 of Article 27, a Zero Waste Resolution for Lexington put forth by LexZeroWaste’s Advocacy Working Group, working group Co-Chairs Hien Nguyen and Janet Kern have accepted an invitation from Director of Public Works David Pinsonneault to serve as members of the Town’s Zero Waste Plan working group.
The Town of Lexington’s Department of Public Works has engaged the services of consultants
from Zero Waste Associates, Ruth Abbe and Amy Perlmutter, to facilitate the development of a
Zero Waste Plan for Lexington with the input of Town staff and residents, as stated in the
Resolution. Abbe and Perlmutter have developed zero waste plans for Boston and Brookline,
and dozens of other municipalities throughout the country.
“Janet and I are honored to serve on the Zero Waste Plan working group and excited to
continue our productive partnership with Town staff to craft a Zero Waste Plan that will provide a road map for our community to move closer to zero waste and minimize our impact on environmental justice communities,” said Hien Nguyen.
Under the leadership of Mr. Pinsonneault, additional members of the Zero Waste Plan working group include Superintendent of Environmental Services Robert Beaudoin; Sustainability & Resilience Officer Margaret Peard; and Waste Reduction Task Force members Cindy Arens and Diane Pursley, who responded to Mr. Pinsonneault’s invitation for two members of the Town Manager-appointed task force to serve on the Zero Waste Plan working group. LexZeroWaste members Arens and Pursley also serve on the Waste Reduction Task Force as representatives of LPS Green Teams.
The scope of work for the Zero Waste Plan includes listening sessions that Zero Waste
Associates will conduct with key stakeholders, which could include school representatives,
community organizations, business representatives, environmental and environmental justice
organizations, and local and regional service providers. Town residents will also have theopportunity to respond to an online survey to provide input on the barriers and opportunities for
reducing waste and increasing recycling and composting in Lexington.
The Zero Waste Plan working group convened on June 16th for the first of four planned
meetings with the objective of producing a practical, action-oriented Zero Waste Plan by Fall
2022.
Did you know that black plastic is not recyclable?
LexZeroWaste and the Munroe Center for the Arts are collaborating again for Earth Day 2022.
We’re reprising a sculpture activity from last year that combines art and zero waste to continue to raise awareness about ubiquitous materials in our household trash that are not recyclable. This year, we’re focusing on black plastics: food containers, utensils, seedling pots and trays, shampoo bottles, etc.
These black plastics may be labeled #1, #2, or #5 plastic––which are technically recyclable––but due to their black pigment, the optical scanners at the recycling facilities are unable to detect and sort them to be recycled. Instead they end up as “residue” and get treated as trash.
Let’s come together as a community to create and celebrate art while raising awareness about non-recyclable materials in our daily lives.
What Else Is Not Recyclable?
Thank you to all those who voiced their support for the Zero Waste Resolution for Lexington. Last night, by a vote of 174-4-8 for Article 27, Lexington Town Meeting adopted the resolution, including agreeing to adopt zero waste principles and encouraging a zero waste plan!
So what does this exactly mean for Lexington? Well, this was a “non-binding resolution”, meaning that the Town is not obligated to take any action. However, it is a strong statement that Town Meeting would very much like to have a plan developed as soon as possible that will offer solutions for town wide waste reduction. We are already working with the Town’s Waste Reduction Task Force and the DPW on these issues. The adoption of this resolution will encourage and hopefully accelerate that work.
If you are not already a LexZeroWaste member, please consider joining to support and contribute to continued efforts to reduce waste in Lexington! We look forward to hearing from and working with you!
Submission Guidelines
To participate in the contest, please upload a clear digital photo of the artwork via this form by 5 pm, Thursday, May 12, 2022. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of local artists, including collage artist Mandy Settembre, painter Judy Ellen Sanders, and painter Amantha Tsaros.
Winners will be notified via email by Saturday, May 14th. In the spirit of reuse, winners will receive prize baskets of gently used or like new arts and crafts supplies that have been generously donated by members of our community. If you have items that may be suitable for inclusion in the prize baskets, donations are still being accepted. Please contact Anne Richtarik to arrange any possible donations, or if you have questions about the contest.
Thanks to the many signers of our petition who got the Article on the warrant, our Advocacy Working Group has developed a Zero Waste Resolution that will be voted on at the 2022 Lexington Annual Town Meeting. We hope you’ll visit our newly created web page devoted to Article 27, read all about it, and then add your name to the growing list of supporters. And then contact Town Meeting Members and ask them to vote for it!
Our Zero Waste Resolution calls for adopting Zero Waste Principles. This inverted pyramid shows how our goals for zero waste begin at the top with reducing consumption, and then move down to treating waste as a resource, so that hopefully we send minimal amounts to incineration or landfill.
Are you, like us, constantly looking for ways to reduce waste in your own life and maybe even influence others in your orbit to do the same?
This time of year can be a challenging balancing act for those of us who want to embrace a spirit of generosity while also staying on a personal path aiming towards zero waste.
We have compiled a list of some of our favorite low-waste gifting and holiday ideas from sustainably-minded friends and cohorts around the world. Our suggestion is to choose just THREE ideas that are new to you, and perhaps begin new traditions for years to come with your family and friends.
Adapted from Greenpeace:
Adapted from LiveKindly:
From LexZeroWaste 🙂 …