Bulk goods at Mason & Greens in Old Town, owned by the Marino family.
Since the coronavirus pandemic started, many Alexandrians have started to clear out clutter. Some people, like Alexandria residents Anna and Justin Marino, have taken it even further.
The Marinos are part of a zero-waste movement, trying to live entirely without single-use plastics and other waste.
Justin and Anna Marino
“If we look at everything we buy, consider its usable life, and what we will do when we are done with it, it can be eye-opening. … That toothbrush you used when you were a child, that ring pop that brought you so much temporary joy one Halloween, that shampoo bottle that your parents used back in the ’70s are still here on this planet,” Justin Marino explained.
The term “zero waste” can be intimidating. At a time when convenience and online shopping are the norm, the thought of not producing waste and avoiding single-use plastics and paper products is overwhelming. It is easier to ignore the increasing environmental impact caused by waste management problems and the limitations of recycling.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2017 was 267.8 million tons which averaged out to 4.51 pounds per person per day. Worse, these numbers do not include construction and demolition debris, municipal wastewater sludge or other non-hazardous industrial wastes.
In fact, 52.1 percent of MSW ended up in landfills, which are the main cause of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Studies show that 40 percent of trash worldwide in landfills is burned, which can release dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and other toxins into the atmosphere.
The World Bank predicts that global waste will increase by 70 percent by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.
Why Isn’t Recycling the Solution?
Recycling, as it currently operates, is not the solution.
According to a study published in Science Advances, the use of plastic has skyrocketed since the 1950s. Only nine percent of plastic is recycled; the vast majority of it ends up in landfills and much of it ends up contaminating our waterways and oceans. Plastic can break apart into smaller pieces but is not biodegradable, and it can harm fish and wildlife that mistake it for food.
Some of the reasons so little plastic is recycled is because it is expensive and there is little market for recycled goods. China, which previously bought and processed a large amount of recycling from the United States, stopped doing so a couple of years ago. About 25 percent of American recycling is contaminated, which makes it expensive to sort through and often clogs up the machines used to process it.
To combat this recycling problem, the City of Alexandria came up with a Recycling at Home program which you can find on their website to inform residents on which items can and can’t be recycled and why it matters. This initiative is part of a greater 20-year strategic plan called WasteSmart that the City adopted in January 2019. This plan will guide Alexandria as it seeks to be more sustainable in its waste management and resource recovery programs.
Advice for Joining the Zero-Waste Movement
A growing number of Alexandrians are taking the matter into their own hands and are proactively changing their relationship with waste.
The Marinos started this journey a few years ago. They were inspired to begin their own zero-waste journey when they looked into what happened to the large amounts of trash they were producing after they rolled it to their curb every week.
In March, the family opened Mason & Greens, the first entirely zero-waste grocery store in Alexandria.
In their store, they carry durable, bio-degradable or compostable products to use in place of single-use plastic or paper. They also sell bulk food that shoppers can buy and store in reusable containers. They only source their products from companies that align with their zero-waste mission, which means not shipping in extra packaging and selecting vendors as local as possible.
Marino shared a few practical tips for others who want to reduce the amount of trash they produce:
• Find alternatives to commonly used items that are not packaged. For example, instead of buying sham-poo bottles, consider shampoo bars or filling up your old bottle at a bulk store.
• Eliminate paper towels by using regular cloth towels or Swedish dishcloths, which can absorb up to 20 times their weight, are reusable and often come in fun patterns.
Start using reusable produce bags, totes and containers in place of their single-use counterparts.
Emily Wright picking up trash in Alexandria.
Originally from California, Alexandria resident Emily Wright has always had a keen awareness of the environment. When she moved to the D.C. metro area, she was struck by the damage that human pollution from sewage, agricultural runoff and illegal dumping has caused to the Chesapeake Bay and the negative impact it has had on the wildlife that call it home. She can often be found picking up trash along the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria.
“A zero-waste lifestyle becomes largely about three things: buying without plastic, using the plastic we do have over and over again and minimizing the environmental impact of the production and transportation of the goods we buy,” Wright said.
Living a zero-waste lifestyle doesn’t necessarily mean going out and immediately buying a bunch of eco-friendly products. An example that Wright gave was to keep your used car if it’s still running well, instead of buying a new hybrid. “Thirty percent of the lifetime carbon emissions for the average car occurs during assembly and transport,” she explained.
Wright had her own tips for reducing waste. She suggested buying fruits and vegetables at the store loose instead of placing them in plastic bags. If they need to be stored in plastic to be refrigerated, she suggested reusing plastic bags you already have laying around the house.
Having glass jars to buy items in bulk is essential for anyone working toward a zero-waste lifestyle. Wright recommends keeping reusable canvas totes in your car or somewhere else where you will see them and remember to use them instead of plastic bags.
Look for household and personal care products that come in paper or metal instead of plastic packaging, she added. Wright warned about “greenwash-ing” or products that falsely claim to be eco-friendly. As an example, she mentioned hair products that look like they come in compressed cardboard packaging but when cut open they contain plastic.
Courtesy of Freedom Fonner
Freedom Fommer with her husband and zero-waste RV.
From a young age, Alexandria resident Freedom Fonner has been passionate about the environment. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that she realized she was a part of the problem.
“Trash is the underpinning of everything,” Fonner stressed. ”Environmentalism in any form, shape or kind is driven by what we consume, how we consume it and what happens to this stuff that we consume after it has been consumed.“
“I can stand up and say I love the ocean, I might go and clean up litter on the beach, but if we don’t do anything about what is happening inside our own homes, inside our own life, that is incomplete,” she said.
Fonner is not all words and no action. She founded Design by Freedom Labs, an invention company whose motto is “Reimagining Our Future to Make Trash History.” The company’s goal is to create 100 inventions by 2025 to move every American home to a zero-waste and zero-emissions future.
She and her husband lived in a zero-waste RV and traveled to 47 states spreading the word on zero waste, before settling in Alexandria. Fonner admitted that her zero-waste journey started out small. She was inspired by a simple coffee cup sleeve with the words “made for single use only” printed on it.
Her initial reaction to it was “Why?” so she wrote that on the sleeve and kept it with her. From there, it was like a game figuring how to best eliminate certain trash items from their lives. She believes it is important for leaders of the movement to have empathy and recognize that the term ”zero waste“ can be intimidating and inaccessible especially for those with lower incomes who often have been left out of the conversation.
Fonner encourages others to start off small, by making little changes to their normal routine:
• Start a trash journal and track everything you throw away for one week. Put a stop to junk mail.
• Install a bidet on your toilet or only buy toilet paper that is made from recycled paper or bamboo instead of trees.
• Purchase reusable sanitary pads or menstrual cups.
• Carry a handkerchief — there is a reason people used them for centuries!
• Buy clothing made from natural materials like hemp, cotton, silk or wool and wash them using cold water. Washing clothes made from manmade materials releases millions of microplastics into the water which cannot be removed.
• Consider using reusable diapers and potty training at an earlier age.
• Go to the store and buy one jar of food in bulk.
• Compost by taking food scraps to Mom’s Organic Market or your local farmers market.
• Make one meal a week completely from scratch.
With many people now spending more time at home, starting to incorporate some of these tips is easier than ever. If everybody takes one step toward reducing the amount of waste we produce, it will have a positive impact on the world we all share.
