Recycling 'waste' into profit was a topic discussed by one of twenty outcome groups formed at the 2019 Sustainable Cleveland Summit. The group met for the second time to discuss post-summit ideas last week. E4S staffer Victoria Avi led off with a call for businesses to take a zero waste pledge. E4S’ zero waste network goal is to get 50 businesses to sign up and reduce their waste.

“We want to celebrate the fact that nine local businesses have already signed on,” Avi said. The group identified strategies to reach more businesses including reaching out to traditional media and posting the Zero Waste Challenge on social media sites like Facebook

Nancy Hughes, who runs the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo animal waste composting and resale program (aka Zoo Poo), gave an update on the downtown Cleveland district composting pilot. The route is set to launch November 2, and the Zoo is now signed on along with at least seven downtown businesses including The Q, Forest City and the U.S. Courthouse. The point of the pilot is to figure out the logistics of collecting food scraps and whether a route with multiple pickups is feasible

Part of the 2019 group’s recommendations was a zero waste policy that cities in Northeast Ohio can adopt. Zero Waste plans have been adopted in Austin, Boulder, Oakland and Seattle.

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