Food Waste Recycling Drop Off in Cary, NC
By Emma Castleberry
The holiday season tends to be a time of great consumption and waste, but it doesn’t have to be. The North Carolina nonprofit Toward Zero Waste (TZW) is focused on helping individuals, families and communities minimize waste of all kinds, during the holidays and year-round. “We want to help folks ease into a zero-waste lifestyle and feel good about the changes they are making,” says Leigh Williams, co-founder and Cary community co-director. “No guilt. Low stress. Just simple lifestyle changes, habits built over time, that matter.”
A statewide organization, TZW is based in Cary, with its most established groups there and in Raleigh. Cary is located in Wake County, where the landfill is expected to hit capacity by 2040. “There is no plan B,” says Williams. “That means that no other land has been found that is suitable for a landfill and that in the future, our trash will either have to be shipped out of the county or incinerated. And that means that whatever we do once the landfill closes will be more costly, both to our pocketbooks and to the environment.”
The easiest, most effective way to extend the life of the landfill in Wake County—and in your community, which also has a finite amount of landfill space—is by taking small steps to reduce your waste. TZW encourages individuals to pick one “reuse” habit and start building on it. This might be switching from paper towels to dish cloths, carrying a reusable water bottle, or bringing a container for your leftovers when you go out to eat or a travel mug when you go to the coffee shop. Another extremely impactful way to reduce waste is by composting your household food waste. “In Cary, a recent study found that 27 percent of what residents send to the landfill is food,” says Williams. “That’s a very large percentage of our waste but similar to what is being seen across the US. Though we first need to reduce food waste at the source, we also need to compost what truly cannot be used instead of sending it to a landfill where it creates methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.”
TZW recently worked with the Town of Cary to establish a Food Waste Recycling Drop Off where residents can drop food scraps if they do not compost at home. “This service has been hugely successful, beyond what we or the town could imagine, and we are now working with the town toward even more encompassing ways of preventing food waste and/or diverting it from the landfill,” says Williams. The group has also seen great impact with their landfill tours. “When people see first-hand how vast the landfill is and learn that it will hit capacity by 2040, it makes an impact,” says Williams. “Many of our volunteers started with a landfill tour and learned so much they couldn’t help but get involved to help push for change.”
Food waste becomes a major concern during this month with the Thanksgiving holiday. In addition to composting, try coordinating your meal for less waste: ensure you don’t have multiples of the same dish and only cook what is sure to be eaten. Avoid using plastic utensils, plates, and cups—instead, ask attendees to bring their own. Avoid plastic wrap when storing food by choosing glass storage containers and reusable food bags and wraps.
Smitha Joy lives in Cary with her husband and two sons. “As someone who grew up in South India and later uprooted to the US, it was always overwhelming to see the wastefulness of our culture here,” she says. “It tugged on my heart, but really took a front row seat once our children were born. I knew that I needed to be a better example for them and also teach them better, to be mindful, to be a conscious consumer.” Through a friend, Joy learned about TZW and started following its social channels.
Joy and her boys have participated in litter pick-ups with the group and, after attending a composting class with TZW, she now has a compost pile in her backyard. The group has also helped her to expand her vegetable gardening skills and efforts. “It has been an amazing transformation and I am so thankful that I learned of TZW when I did,” she says. “I still have miles to go, but I am happy to say that we as a family have made substantial changes in our lives that our children will carry on with them. And I think that should be reason enough for anyone to learn about this wonderful organization that’s trying to make a difference in this world full of waste and plastic. We all have a responsibility to take care of each other and our planet.”
TZW will have a booth at Cary’s Harvest Fest on Saturday, November 19, from 12–4 p.m. at Good Hope Farm, 1580 Morrisville Carpenter Road, Cary. To learn more or get involved, visit TowardZeroWaste.org.
