Zero Waste Ithaca Hosts Yard Sale
ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY) -- One person's trash is another's treasure. Zero Waste Ithaca, an Ithaca grassroots community group, hosted a yard sale to reduce waste. This group's mission is to promote zero waste culture and policies in the city.
Zero Waste Ithaca member, Yayoi Koizumi, said many items that are left outside and in dumpsters on Cornell and Ithaca campuses can be reused, donated or recycled.
“We know that a lot of items are going to dumpsters and to Ontario County Landfill, which is awful...landfills around New York State,” she said. “The areas around landfills are so contaminated with forever chemicals.”
Koizumi said the money raised goes into the organization's program, Ithaca Reduces, to promote sustainable practices which reduce negative impacts on the environment.
“We put the stickers on the restaurants' storefronts so people will know that these restaurants you to bring your own containers,” she said.
Koizumi said the community's response was positive and supportive of their efforts. She hopes the zero-waste initiative will encourage businesses and community members to be environmentally aware.
“I think it's going amazing,” she said. “There's a constant stream of people coming in and we raised...a couple of hundred dollars, at least.”
Organization member Christina Morrow joined Zero Waste Ithaca because she is passionate about climate change. She says it is eye-opening to see so much waste in the world.
“We make too much stuff, we have too much stuff, we have no connection to the manufacturing process sand so we just throw it all away when we move,” she said.