Zero Waste Ithaca

Description

The mission of the group is to promote Zero Waste policies and culture, toward prosperity without growth.

Our long-term goal is to make Ithaca / Tompkins a Zero Waste City or Municipality. See Zero Waste City Masterplan from GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives).

In addition to policy works, we also enjoy socializing and making friends through zero waste activities such as: trash pickups, dumpster observations, gift economy exchanges in Buy Nothing groups, gardening, fixing, mending and sharing everyday zero waste hacks in online forums.

We think Zero Waste is not only a serious climate justice goal, but also it is a way to bring all kinds of people together for the right purposes to build communities.

Our current flagship program is BYO (Bring Your Own) - Ithaca Reduces program where we ask businesses to display our member-designed sticker to indicate that they welcome BYO containers by customers. As of March 26, 2023, we have signed up over 100 businesses and local organizations in the program. We advocate for a true BYO law to be enacted in NYS legislature. Our program is a part of the larger North American BYO support network, US Reduces and Canada Reduces.