Environmental Sustainability Update
Terry Reed
Spring Environmental Projects
It’s time to plan your spring and summer environmental projects. April is Rotary’s Environment Month, and Saturday, April 11 is the Rotary Day of Service. We encourage your club to do an environmental project on that day or sometime during the month. Most clubs will be doing a cleanup project, either on highways, streams, trails, or parks in our communities. And other clubs will be planting trees, creating a pollinator garden, working on stream restoration, or helping out at food banks. Check out the environmental page on the District website for environmental project ideas and resources. www.rotarydistrict7430.org/page/environmental-sustainability
Plastics Recycling
If your club is involved in the NexTrex Plastics Recycling project, you know by now that the rules of the challenge have changed. If your club is thinking about starting a soft plastics collection project, check out this website for details: www.nextrex.com/view/recyclingchallenge
Food Waste Composting
The District Environmental Sustainability Team has been working on a project to address the need to keep school cafeteria food waste out of landfills. This is a huge problem throughout the country. A third of waste going into landfills is food waste. We will be working with the Perkiomen Valley School District in Montgomery County on a pilot project to teach students about food waste and composting, and helping the District develop a food recycling and composting program. We will provide an update in a few months. Our hope is to learn from the Perkiomen Valley experience and spread the program to other schools in our 5-county area.
Circular Economies
At the next Environmental Sustainability Team meeting on Tuesday, February 10, we will have a guest speaker talking about Circular Economies. Dr. Breanne Berry is Assistant Professor of Environment & Sustainability at Ursinus College. www.ursinus.edu/live/profiles/6574-brie-berry
Her research focuses on the social dimensions of circular economies, and in particular, strategies, policies, and practical approaches for ensuring just and equitable circular economies. If you are interested in attending the meeting on Zoom, drop me a line, and I’ll send you a link to the meeting. Everyone is invited.
Looking for a Club Speaker?
If you are looking for an environmental program for your club, our team would be happy to do a presentation during your club meeting.
Terry Reed
Chair, District Environmental Sustainability Team
terry.reed731@gmail.com