this video is all about local action individuals can take against the litter problem in the foggy bottom neighborhood of washington, d.c. in 2022, residents of d.c. on average produced 5.87 lbs. of waste per person per day, much of which can often end up on the ground. annually, this can amount to well over 2000 lbs. of individual waste production.

this video aims to teach viewers about the issue at hand by adding visual elements that the audience can engage with, understand, and motivate other citizens to do their part – not just in d.c. but around the world!

with chapters across the world, freecycle gives community members the ability to post unwanted items for free pick-up or post inquiries for wanted items as well. in washington, d.c., the community interacts via the facebook page, washington dc freecycle. 

one person’s trash is another’s treasure

according to the epa, in 2018, the average american produced 4.9 pounds of trash daily, totaling 1,789 pounds of trash per year, of which only 32.1 percent was recycled. 

“our mission is to build a worldwide sharing movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community,” freecycle mission statement states.

the freecycle website states their network comprises 5,000 local town groups with over 11 million members with the washington d.c. freecycle group amassing over 13,200 members. the only rules to join is everything a user posts must be “free, legal and appropriate.”

“membership is free, and everything posted must be free, legal and appropriate for all ages,” the website states. 

one member of washington d.c. freecycle is arun isukapalli, 41, is a tech product manager who said he found the group when moving back to the washington, d.c. metropolitan area about a year ago from new zealand with his wife. 

although the previous owners of their residence left items behind, he said they got “almost everything” they needed off facebook marketplace or freecycle. 

“we haven’t bought anything new,” isukapalli said.

building community

one admin of the group is gloria strange, 35, who is a massage therapist and said in an ideal world” freecycle should not be “niche group” but rather a government run organization. strange said she wants to see a more “collectivist” idea of community rather than having to rely on purchasing more items or help from the government. 

“i would like for us to see community as the pillar instead of the government,” strange said. 

strange also said she downsized to a smaller apartment three years ago and used freecycle to give away some of her furniture. but she said the most items people try and give away are cardboard. 

another admin of the d.c. chapter, garner chandler, 64, is retired but now volunteers as the co-vice president of the woman’s national democratic club. chandler said she moved to washington, d.c. from the panhandle of florida approximately two and half years ago where she found the group online. 

she recalls one woman on the site who posted how she was starting over after her husband left her and she was renting a one bedroom apartment with two babies. chandler said between half a dozen and a dozen people asked to help through giving away some of their unwanted goods. 

“our community is obviously passionate about the environment or helping each other out,” chandler said. 

joining freecycle

chandler said all one has to do to join washington d.c. freecycle is answer a few simple questions, get approved by a moderator and they are in. she said she has accepted people in as little as four minutes. 

“it’s easy to join the group,” chandler said. 

even if one joins facebook with the intent of only joining freecycle, or is a new user, it does bar not them from joining washington d.c. freecycle unlike other groups. instead, their posts are reviewed by admins for the first 30 days while they are in the group. 

the organization can help college students living in dorms save money and the environment. 

at the beginning of the school year, a college student can find free furniture and other necessities during move-in season. while dumpsters are often overflowing with reusable goods at the end of the school year, students can post their reusable goods on freecycle to give away. 

if interested in getting involved in washington d.c. freecycle, click here. or if not located in the washington, d.c. metropolitan area, look up “freecycle” on facebook and click join group.

“leading the charge,” the theme of an april 10 kellogg climate conference at northwestern university, brought together an all-stars cast including leaders from coca-cola, gm energy, start-ups, academics and conservation groups to redefine business strategy in a changing climate.

the mission? counter climate change and find new profit pipelines there as well.

a standing-room-only crowd of business executives, experts, and students explored company examples of innovative and cost-effective climate change mitigation at the all-day conference sponsored by the kellogg school of management’s energy and sustainability club and the trienens institute for sustainability and energy at northwestern.  

meghan busse, associate professor of strategy at the kellogg school of management kicked off the conference with what she called, “a greenhouse emissions breakdown,” in other words, a lively lowdown on the challenges ahead.

according to busse, in the u.s, one-fourth of gas emissions come from electricity generation, one-fourth from transportation, one-fourth from industrial processes, and one-fourth covering both agriculture and buildings. the conference program covered all these sectors and how each one is providing new solutions and innovative technology to decrease emissions.

“our goal of the day is to leave you all feeling armed to become climate capable leaders where you are willing to ask questions and start thinking about no matter what your job is, how does climate plan into my strategy?” said busse.

the incentive to act for companies is linked to the impact on their pockets. climate change is expected to cost u.s. businesses over $1.3 trillion in the next three years. such high stakes have pushed industries around the world to seek massive technological and business transformations. but experts say that refusing to invest is climate solutions will cost even more in losses due to rising costs, resource uncertainties, extreme weather damage, and other factors.

speakers at kellogg conference emphasize solutions

keynote speakers included business leaders across the board to share the specifics their companies have implemented to prioritize sustainability as a core component of strategic decision-making. coca-cola is the number one plastic polluter in the world, according to coke’s executive vp bea perez who took center stage her talk on “navigating sustainability and profitability.” she focused on the importance of accountability, transparency and support from top corporate leaders for a company to move toward sustainability. she asked the audience to envision the size of 120,000 olympic size swimming pools, the pyramid of giza and every single volcano in the world to show the massive amounts of waste that the coca-cola company generates. she emphasized solutions.

businesses and consumers should examine a company’s business and sustainability reports to see if sustainability strategy is embedded into the finances of the company, she said. without that commitment, the measures are irrelevant, said perez, global chief communication, sustainability and strategic partnerships officer at coca-cola.

according to the coca-cola company’s 2022 business & sustainability report, the company aims to “make 100% of our packaging recyclable globally by 2025— and use at least 50% recycled material in our packaging by 2030.” perez explained how water, packaging, and climate goals are interconnected and that by creating a circular economy for packaging, they can lower their carbon footprint.

in their 2022 business & sustainability report, coke claimed that 90% of its packaging is recyclable, 15% of plastic bottles made with polyethylene terephthalate (pet) are recycled, and that 61% of packaging (is) collected for recycling. coke’s innovation of a 100% plant-based bottle prototype is a key component to helping them achieve their sustainability goals. “if you don’t have strong communities, you can’t have strong businesses,” said perez.

infrastructure challenges

at the scaling the energy transition panel, key challenges focused on infrastructure development. shashank sane, a kellogg alum, and evp at transmission invenergy, said that supply chain delays are making it challenging for businesses to amplify the grid system. projects may take up to a decade from supply chain to completion and a major challenge that business owners face is the lack of policy and government support for funding.

at a global scale this sets the u.s behind. for comparison, germany which backed up by government policy, is capable of placing massive national orders for supplies, while business owners in the u.s are limited by their procurement resources. consequently, the lack of infrastructure affects other sectors like the transportation sector.

companies such as nexteramobility which focuses on developing, constructing, and operating power projects to produce electricity are restricted in mass capacity by the infrastructure of grid placements. however, even with the use of a massive electric plant to compensate for fuel, yann kulp, director business development, fleet electrification advisory, argued that having one major source of emissions is better than having millions of sources of emissions, making the carbon capture in one place more manageable.

insight into regenerative farming

the panel seeds of change: cultivating a sustainable future in food and agriculture introduced ancient processes and cutting-edge initiatives as change-makers. sonali lamba, co-founder and executive director of the soil inventory project, brought to light how regenerative farming practices could be a greater part of the solution for fighting climate change and restoring our soils through farming.

regenerative farming, as lamba explained, roots back to indigenous practices. this kind of farming focuses on supporting local farmers and even funding their businesses to incentivize healthier farming practices that avoid pesticides, other chemical and erosion-causing practices that harm both earth and our health.

“why not pay people to do things the right way,” said meera bhat, global director of equitable conservation for the nature conservancy.

this year’s kellogg climate conference brought together an audience of about 300 business leaders and mba students, each with different perspectives on how to decrease their carbon footprint in their business sector. regardless of their business strategy, attendees shared kellogg’s mission that day to educate, strategize and mobilize, for the sake of change.

doris alvarez is a graduate student at northwestern university’s medill school of journalism. 

the brick is known as ‘filter cake,’ and although they are not yet ready to be used in construction, the company is producing up to 100 tons of filter cake bricks each day that would have otherwise been shipped to landfills.

by replacing raw materials with recycled ones, the production of filter cake bricks also means that there will be less need for quarrying, which produces over 15.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year in the uk alone.

ensuring an effective waste management strategy is not only very important for community development, but is also a vital component of supporting climate action. unfortunately, indiscriminate disposal of wastes is a challenge that exists across different classes and regions of nigeria. 

according to the nigerian federal government’s 2020 nigerian national waste management policy, “nigeria produces a large volume of solid wastes out of which less than 20% is collected through a formal system.”

even in nigerian academic institutions, this issue is prevalent. as a fresh masters student in obafemi awolowo university (oau) in 2015, i realized that despite my school’s green reputation and beautiful exterior, illegal waste disposal was still a problem on campus.  

so in 2016, while serving as the president of my university’s environmental control and management student association (ecomsa), i teamed up with lagos-based african clean up initiative (formerly known as passion house) and sustyvibes to launch the oau campus cleanup. 

with the help of nigeria’s national environmental standard and regulation agency (nesrea) and several other clubs on campus, we collected approximately 100 bags of solid wastes which were channeled into appropriate receptacles. after this event, the participating organizations and individuals started organizing weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly cleanup exercises within the school.

one of the attendees at the oau campus cleanup event was mayokun iyaomolere, who would later go on to form his own organization, the plogging nigeria club. 

plogging is a concept created by erik ahlstrom, an activist from sweden who combined his love for hiking and running, with the practice of picking up litter. iyaomolere’s organization is functional across 18 university campuses in nigeria with 1,600 members who have collectively picked more than 30 tons of waste since the program’s founding in 2018. 

i caught up with iyaomolere to discuss the progress of his club and his experience with sustainable waste management on nigerian school campuses. this conversation appears below, edited for length and clarity.

wa: what does ‘sustainable waste management’ mean to you?

mi: i would describe sustainable waste management as a holistic set of policies, infrastructure and behaviors that contribute to reduced use of items, proper disposal of wastes, finding afterlife for some wastes and carefully ensuring all final wastes do not end up polluting the environment.

wa: did you participate in the oau campus cleanup 2016?

mi: yes, i participated in the cleanup.

it was one of my first major volunteering experiences. i enjoyed the company of colleagues from academia and (others who) i looked up to in the environment industry in nigeria.

wa: what did you gain from the experience? 

mi: i think it was a landmark campus cleanup event that set the pace for hundreds, if not thousands of events that had happened after it.

i met new people and consolidated on existing relationships. something about doing impactful work together makes me connect better with people.

i also participated in publicity for the event… this would become a skill for me as i grew into the environment space in nigeria.

wa: what inspired you to starting plogging nigeria club?

mi: beating plastic pollution with young people. that really was the initial drive as conversations around plastic pollution became more topical.

after we started plogging nigeria on the oau campus in june 2018, we hosted another massive cleanup at the university in august 2018. the network i built and competencies i developed during the 2016 cleanup really came in handy and helped set plogging nigeria on an ascending trajectory.

wa: what other programs or projects does plogging nigeria hold to engage the youth and educate the public on waste management?

mi: today, plogging nigeria continues evolving. we’ve done quite a lot, and will be doing even more. what we started as just jogging and picking up litter has metamorphosed into one of the most consistent and present environmental organizations in nigeria and indeed, africa. 

we have established about 30 subsidiary campus and community clubs since june 2018 when we started in oau. we have over 1,600 volunteers presently. with these clubs, we’ve had over 600 plogging episodes. 

we run an experiential environmental education school called the green switch academy. at the academy, we train people on the basics of environmental sustainability, solid waste management, climate change and the sustainable development goals amongst other things. we have organized 26 cohorts of the academy, with the latest being in february 2024. we have trained exactly 1,659 persons from over 20 countries at the academy.

another major project for us is ploggathon, a fusion of the words, “plogging” and “marathon.” we led more than 200 people to run a 10km distance in the capital city of nigeria, competitively cleaning wastes along the way. 

we also run these virtual end of year campaigns where we try to educate people on living sustainably during the yuletide period. we’ve done that five years in a row now and have partnered with over 80 organizations for this campaign alone. we have reached millions of virtual audiences through it.

these are some of the things we have done and will build on. generally, we try to employ plogging, cleanups, arts, circularity, research, and development as advocacy tools for environmental and climate education.

wa: what’s the future of waste management in nigeria and the role of young people?

mi: the future of waste management in nigeria! there’s still a lot of work to be done really. we need to put in proper policies and infrastructure that will cause and enforce a change in our waste management behavior in nigeria.

at plogging nigeria, we’ve learned from our work that there’s a dire need for policies, backed up with infrastructure, and stringent enforcement systems. advocacy is not enough. when one learns not to throw wastes indiscriminately away, they need to have a bin close by to dump the wastes. 

recycling is gaining ground around the country, but is only one part of it. we need better waste disposal and collection systems, landfill management, and should begin to really explore the potentials of generating energy from wastes. there’s a whole lot really, and there’s a wide open sky of opportunities in the future of waste management in nigeria. young people have started taking leadership of the waste management space in the country and i believe it will continue to remain so as we aim to rid nigeria of every form of dirt.

looking ahead

as the movement toward sustainable waste management continues to grow across nigerian campuses, it is imperative for school management to support environmental clubs situated within their schools and extend collaborations to governmental agencies to further solidify effectiveness in the waste management sector of the communities and of the country at large. 

activists across the campuses are beginning to voluntarily train and educate young people in elementary and secondary schools, this already helps the new generation to be aware of the need for waste management as part of the measures for community development. thus, this movement of young people shall play a huge role toward sustainable management of wastes.

as i embark on my journey toward sustainable fashion, my article “denim re-done: making ethical fashion choices at home” sheds light on the eye-opening reality of the fashion industry i both adore as a medium for my self expression, but which also poses challenging negative impacts on our environment.

discovering that each pair of denim jeans guzzles a staggering 3,781 liters of water, made me rethink how i could use my old jeans that i no longer wore. in the whirlwind of fast fashion, where trends come and go at lightning speed, i’ve embarked on a personal project.

it’s about more than just repurposing forgotten garments; it’s a journey of rediscovery and sustainability within my own closet. collaborating with my mom, we’ve transformed overlooked pieces into new treasures, challenging the status quo of consumption and embracing a future where every garment tells a story of renewal, not waste.

click on the presentation below to view the full story:

at the university of mississippi, we are dedicated to building a legacy of charity and sustainability. a new, innovative initiative, re-rebs, aims to support our university members and the broader community while leaving the environment in better shape for future generations.

in recent years, textile waste has emerged as a significant environmental threat, largely fueled by the rise of the fast-fashion industry. this industry churns out trendy clothing, often mass-produced and sold at low prices. unfortunately, this has led to a culture of rapidly purchasing and discarding clothing, resulting in overflowing landfills packed with perfectly wearable items.

young adults are most likely to buy, wear and throw away fast-fashion clothing, so the problem is especially acute on a college campus. the mission of re-rebs is to redirect these clothing items from oxford’s landfills to the hands of those who truly need them.

re-rebs had its humble beginnings in a sally mcdonnell barksdale honors college course at ole miss. our program’s goal is to introduce permanent clothing donation bins in residence halls to provide um students easy access to donation sites that will divert textiles away from landfills and put them to good use. to achieve this, we are currently relying on the generosity of um donors through our ignite fundraising campaign to secure the necessary funding to purchase and install permanent donation bins.

honors college ambassadors will play a pivotal role in ensuring the sustained success of this program. through the clothing collected, we will support a range of charitable organizations, including the um career closet, which provides business attire to students in need; holding hands, a local organization employing lafayette county residents, particularly those facing mental health challenges; and the pregnancy center of oxford.

implementing re-rebs across campus will make it easier for students to donate their clothing. this project serves as a powerful weapon against textile waste, benefits the lafayette-oxford-university community and raises awareness about the harmful effects of fast fashion.

“boxed and better” is a photo-essay that looks at the benefits of sustainable consumerism on the environment. in particular, this piece explores the plastic water bottle crisis, and what the company boxed water is doing to bring more sustainable options to the market. in 2021 alone, 600 billion plastic bottles produced, with recycling rates remaining low in many developed counties including the united states. however, the good news is that your consumption habits can help in reducing plastic waste and encouraging companies to engage in more sustainable production methods.

click the presentation below to find out how: