This is where I feel triumphant through the good deeds of our volunteers and exemplary performance of my coworkers. In a time of need where everything seems to be just that much harder, we have found a way to be successful beyond my wildest expectations.
This past month I had the distinct pleasure of working with multiple groups and stellar individuals to support a community meal, while showcasing the recovered foods and highlighting the businesses supporting the Food Recovery Initiative. Together, around a table at the Van Zandt Community Center, a plan was hatched to test the feasibility of feeding 100 people with recovered foods.
I should have known better than to sell Staci and Craig short! I was blown away with when I learned the lengths they have gone to reduce waste.
Honestly, my attitude about leftovers and what to do with them, especially as the third straight day of chili rolled around, hasn’t always been positive. I imagine those stuck in a room with me during this leftover stretch felt the same – hehe.
Kombucha Town, Samson Rope Technologies, and Mallard Ice Cream have completed a new sustainability reporting process and uncovered opportunities to improve business performance and our local community with the help of our Sustainable Business Development Program.
To help prevent my brain exploding from one more seemingly insurmountable global problem, I am instead reverting to my project management training and thinking in terms of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. In the middle of the SWOT acronym is Opportunity, and in the case of wasted food, there is tons of opportunity–literally.
Who has inspired me the most isn’t the Executive Directors, the Food Service Managers or people like me managing programs; no it’s the kind souls behind the scenes quietly going about their business with care, commitment, and intention.
Before you decide to throw out those food scraps, think twice! There are lots of ways to use those food scraps and give them a second life. We want you to reuse those scraps and make turn them into useful products for your home! Here are our 8 suggestions for what to do with those […]
I imagine most of us at some point in our Toward Zero Waste journey have ended up standing in front of the waste bins wondering if what we have in our hands is truly recyclable – I mean it has a recycling symbol on it so it has to be right?!? From clamshell containers to compostable cups decisions of what goes where is confusing…you just don’t want to toss it out and instead you succumbed to, you guessed it – Wishful Recycling.
Sometimes our food may begin to look a little sad, like when your greens begin to wilt a bit. But that doesn’t mean that you still can’t enjoy these foods in your next meal, you just have to revive those foods! With a little bit of extra love, you can bring life back to you […]
Freezing foods is a great way to cut down costs on your grocery bill, reduce food waste, and to make your life just a bit easier! But, there is a process one should master when attempting to freeze their foods. But have no fear, Sustainable Connections is here! We would like to help answer all […]
Did you know that with just a few small steps, you can utilize all the space in your fridge and, in turn, reduce food waste? Pretty neat, huh! Here is our guide to organizing your fridge to help squatch waste! 8 organizational tips to help reduce waste borne from an unorganized refrigerator! Temperature control […]
Meal planning may seem like a daunting chore. You’re a busy person with many tasks to knock off your to-do list in a day, and meal planning may be the last item you want to prioritize. But, what if we told you that carving out a little bit of time each week could keep your fridge […]
This quote from Albert Camus struck me – he wrote, “All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.”
Samson Rope connects the employees to local food One of the things we love most at Sustainable Connections is helping to make more local food connections. For the last 7 years, we have been connecting local employers with local farmers in the Farm Fresh Workplaces program, to get deliveries of farm-fresh produce straight from […]
n the beginning a massive beer party seemed like a daunting task and I had my doubts how we could make the Toward Zero Waste efforts a successful one. Events themselves pose additional challenges and each event has its own intricacies that complicate the process. When you combine hordes of people, music, food trucks, a festive atmosphere and a few adult beverages, at first one may think as I did, this could be a recipe for waste stream contamination disaster!
The recurring image of edible foods discarded into the compost bin or worse the landfill bin was constantly on my mind and a catalyst for a major initiative I was hoping someday Sustainable Connections as an organization could take on. Other local hunger relief organizations are working hard to collect and deliver non-perishable foods and redistribute them but where a large gap exists is prepared edible foods that need to be redistributed in a much shorter time frame.
By Mark Gardner, Legislative Analyst / December 18, 2017 The city of Bellingham tied for third place in the final round of the Georgetown University Energy Prize (GUEP), a two-year, nationwide competition involving 50 communities to rethink the way America’s small and medium-sized towns and cities use energy. In the final round, 10 top-performing […]
Thank you to Julien Scherliss for these great photos Congrats to our 2018 Sustainability Champion Award Winners! Sustainable Connections awarded four Whatcom County businesses and two individuals Sustainability Champion Awards last Thursday for their deep commitment to making a positive impact locally. The Awards are an annual recognition of Sustainable Connections members who are leaders […]
Along with active kids come packed schedules with varying soccer practice times and after school commitments and when combined with a few late nights of work on the parent side and you have a recipe for wasted food.
Whether we see a slight increase in prices, a switch to service charges or other kinds of solutions, it is important for us to remember all that it takes to bring us a delicious plate of food.
It has often been said that it is an indelible human tendency to overstate our own self-importance and good deeds. This is not to say that many of us do not do many good things but rather we have tendency to feel we are doing better than we really are. Sometimes it takes a good look around to gauge where we are really at and take stock of what efforts we are making.
We are excited to announce that Samson Rope, Kombucha Town, and Mallard Ice Cream submitted the winning proposals to receive free in-depth sustainability reporting services from the Sustainable Business Development Program! Integrative reporting had been a developing trend which incorporates appropriate sustainability information alongside financial information and provides organizations with a broad perspective of […]
Raising awareness of the issue is an important step in having a better outcome so fireworks debris won’t pose a threat to the public, wildlife, and our waterways.
He said, “My most valuable asset walks out the door every evening–that asset being my employees.” The implication being that on the most basic level they were free to come back each day–or not, and if they indeed came back, what attitude would they have when they walked in the door?
Our aim is to help you get to where you want to be. Due to the generous support of the Whatcom Community Foundation and their Community Development Grant, we can do just that!
Imagine my surprise when yours truly, the supposed Toward Zero Waste expert, fell victim to my own personal definition of “sustainable” leading to my purchase of the wrong product. As we work to reduce food waste and increasingly divert organic material from landfill, contamination is the bane of a commercial composter’s existence.
Among the many wonderful aspects of my position here at Sustainable Connections, one of the best is the opportunity to work with and learn from such bright business people. I am truly amazed at the wealth of knowledge we have in our community and the overall ethos of many businesses among us that are working hard […]
Incredulousness abounds and you say to yourself, “What does hamburger have to do with a 90-minutes shower?” The cold hard truth is we consume the same amount of resources whether you take a 90-minute show or throw away one hamburger patty.
Healthy Pet® has engaged deeply with Sustainable Connections and takes part in the Toward Zero Waste, Community Energy Challenge, Eat Local First, and Sustainable Business Development Campaigns. Their Toward Zero Waste efforts have diverted over 80% of their waste from landfill, and their participation in the Community Energy Challenge was a partnership that led to the program’s largest LED lighting retrofit to date.
Raven Breads is a small, artisan bakery in Bellingham, WA, making whole grain, sourdough bread & pastries with organic ingredients grown and gathered (with a few tropical exceptions) in the Pacific Northwest. The selection changes from week to week, depending on the season and the baker’s whims. To keep tabs on Raven Breads, visit Sophie at the Bellingham Farmers Market or sign up for the newsletter.
Characterize Your Waste seems like an interesting phrase and is certainly open to interpretation. I imagine many of you thought this would be a great opportunity to pull out the crayons, create characters and illustrations, and jam with Macklemore and Oscar the Grouch. Grooving with Macklemore and Oscar is one way to get down with your waste and I encourage it, but keep reading to learn more about what the term means to those of us working in the Toward Zero Waste World.
Faber Construction was founded by Rick and Debbie Faber in 1987. While originally specializing in agricultural buildings, they have since expanded both in project volume and scope of work. They are now a full service construction company working in both the public and private sectors. Faber is committed to the health of the communities they […]
The Chrysalis was one of the original participants in the Community Energy Challenge back in 2011. Since then they have done a series of measures to save energy in their building. Including installing; high efficiency boilers, water heaters, lighting sensors, and replacing existing lighting with LED bulbs. More recently they have done analysis on saving […]