TALKING TRASH

As reducing one’s garbage footprint slowly becomes a movement, Northeast Ohioans change the game through low-waste shopping, cutting food waste Story and Photography by Amanda Koehn

Living without trash may seem impossible in a culture that depends on disposable packaging for takeout meals, toys and more.

12 | BALANCEDFAMILY | SPRING 2020 While many strive to make and get more, leaving a trail of less may seem novel, strange or perhaps radical. But once some absorb the idea that everything that goes into the trash can – as well as some of what goes into

balancedmag.com recycling – will exist essentially forever, they fi nd it hard to look away.

Low-waste living is a lifestyle Teresa Mazey maintains and is trying to make more popular for others through her Canton store, Empty Bin Zero Waste. The storefront opened Aug. 1 2019,

selling items that replace single-use plastics and paper. Think shelves lined with bulk items like soaps, oils and cleaning ingredients to buy in reusable containers. It also supplies recipes for creating products, and Mazey sews many of the items sold.

“Our belief is through low waste, we are going to improve the environment for future generations,” she says.

While Mazey is one of a growing number of entrepreneurs around the country dedicated to selling products and offering recipes that allow one to reduce their trash footprint, Empty Bin is the only such shop in Ohio.

From a different angle on a related mission, Rust Belt Riders is a Clevelandbased company that collects home and business food waste, preventing compostable items from going into landfi lls. It works to make composting easy and effi cient, and to produce quality soil to benefi t local agriculture. As many may feel increasingly helpless about addressing and adapting to climate change, reducing waste is one way individuals decrease their personal and household carbon emissions, among other environmental benefi ts. And while some choose to radically alter their lifestyles, those dedicated to the cause agree everyone can likely adopt – and enjoy – at least some shifts to make their lives, literally, less trashy.

balancedmag.com LOW WASTE LIVING AS BUSINESS The idea behind low-waste living starts with taking stock of everything one places in a trash or recycling can on a regular basis. Then, they take measures to stop purchasing items – whether food, personal care, cleaning or other – that will ultimately become garbage, striving for reusable and compostable items instead, and refusing unneeded items.

It’s a lofty undertaking – the average American generates more than 4½ pounds of municipal solid waste daily, according to 2017 Environmental Protection Agency data.

As far as recycling, the aim is to fi rst cut down, and where you can’t, purchase items in more highly recyclable and eco-friendly packaging, such as glass or aluminum rather than plastic. and compostable items instead, and refusing unneeded items.

It’s a lofty undertaking – the average American generates more than and compostable items instead, and

Opposite page: Teresa Mazey at Empty Bin Zero Waste, which she opened last August and is the fi rst low-waste focused store in Ohio. Above: Bulk products at Empty Bin Zero Waste, which customers can buy in reusable containers.

Whether the aim is a major overhaul of a trash-producing lifestyle, or a few small changes that make a big impact, Mazey’s shop tries to serve as a missing link for items that could be diffi cult to fi nd under one roof.

Mazey, 43, says she grew up recycling and has been interested in environmental issues throughout her life. When she got married and started living with her husband, Darrick, and his four daughters, convenience took over. Like many families, they would use plastic water bottles and paper plates. At that point, it seemed more important to spend time together as a family than implementing new practices.

“When I had my fi rst granddaughter, I really started thinking about a lot of the plastic waste and what we are doing with the environment,” says Mazey, who now has three grandchildren and one on the way. “As cheesy as it sounds, the reason I do everything here is for them.”

Mazey, who has resided in Akron for 18 years, says the turning point came in 2015, when she learned she could make her own laundry detergent. She started learning to make as many of her own products as possible.

Although she had never owned a business – she had a variety of jobs ranging from truck driving to waitressing to offi ce-based customer service – after learning about bulk-centric stores in

SPRING 2020 | BALANCEDFAMILY | 13 Europe, she realized opening a similar shop near home could provide an opportunity to share products and what she’s learned about low-waste living. She learned to sew items like produce bags, organic facial cloths and handkerchiefs, started selling them at farmer’s markets and eventually, found a deal she couldn’t pass up on a Canton storefront.

The shop, which is fi lled with natural light and maintains a minimalistic but welcoming aesthetic, also contains a recipe book to help customers create products ranging from deodorant to lotions to mouthwash to household cleaners. The recipes are also available at emptybinzerowaste.com.

“It takes time, but I really want people to focus on making their own products … you know every ingredient, you are putting it in your own packaging,” she says. “Half of my store is for that.”

While Mazey says she has already exceeded selling expectations, a struggle is ensuring items from vendors are zero waste – she tries to reuse anything that comes in unsustainable packaging. Empty Bin’s biggest seller? Reusable straws, and a variety of kinds. Mazey also sells items online and, via library talks, tries to educate those in her community about cutting down on trash.

Personally, she says eating a vegetarian – almost vegan – diet

Teresa Mazey holds a pouch she sewed to sell at her Canton low-waste shop. It can be used for holding food (or anything else) and then cleaned in a washing machine.

14 | BALANCEDFAMILY | SPRING 2020 contributes to cutting down on food waste and packaging, as well as focusing on whole foods, rather than packed and processed food. Her husband has also made sustainable changes, making it a household interest. Mazey also tries to bring her own containers for leftovers at restaurants, and her own jars and bags for bulk items and produce at grocery stores that allow it, such as Raisin Rack Natural Food Market and Earth Fare, both in Canton. In Northeast Ohio, Fresh Thyme in Mayfi eld Heights, Zagara’s Marketplace in Cleveland Heights and Lucky’s Market in Cleveland also allow customers to fi ll their own containers, after a cashier tares the weight of the container. In the future, Mazey says she’s looking to move her store to a larger location where she can sell bulk foods. She says as people become more aware of environmental issues, the waste reduction movement will likely take off further, although she acknowledges there are still barriers. “There are people who don’t want to change – and they just like fl at out don’t want to – and then there are people who want to, but don’t have the fi nancial means to do so,” she says. Replacing plastic items with sustainable, reusable or compostable materials can cost more at the outset, but reusable items will likely be cheaper in the long run. Buying in bulk can also be cost effective depending on the store and price.

“A lot of times, people will leave and they don’t (buy) anything, and then they will come back ... and they bring friends with them,” to Empty Bin, she says. “I think (by the) middle of this decade, Ohio will be hardcore into it.”

THE COMPOST COMPONENT

Recycling food waste is a major contributor to reducing carbon and trash footprints. Food made up the largest component of American landfi ll waste at 22%, according to 2017 EPA statistics.

That’s where composting comes in, or the system of food and other natural matter breaking down into soil conditioner, helping plants grow – a process that will not occur in a landfi ll due to lack of oxygen.

“Consumers are wanting to buy things that last a lifetime, and if they don’t last a lifetime, they at least can be infi nitely recycled,” says Daniel Brown, co-founder of Rust Belt Riders, a Northeast Ohio community compost service. “And we are at this really interesting nexus of that because food can always be infi nitely recycled.”

Rust Belt Riders’ facility near E. 55th Street and St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland includes offi ces in a warehouse surrounded by compost piles at various stages outside. There, Brown describes how his company originated from collecting food waste for community gardens, to now – in a light month –

balancedmag.com collecting 200,000 pounds of food scraps from almost 600 households as well as area businesses and institutions as large as University Hospitals or Case Western Reserve University.

Brown, 31, grew up in South Euclid and returned to Northeast Ohio after graduating from DePaul University in Chicago. He started working in a community garden, where he realized the diffi culty of growing vegetables and herbs in compacted, urban soil. So in 2014, he and Rust Belt Riders co-founder Michael Robinson, also now 31, asked their boss at Spice Kitchen + Bar in Cleveland if he would pay them a little extra money to take the restaurant’s food waste.

They bought a mountain bike and asked a friend to build a trailer to attach to it.

“We were riding around largely the near west side of Cleveland picking up food waste, like 300 pounds at a time, and taking it to community gardens and turning that food waste into usable compost for them,” Brown says.

Slowly the pair, who had no other business experience, began collecting more and more food waste from local companies. When they began teaching about their process at community events, they realized there might be a market for collecting compost from households as well: individuals and families who want to compost, but either don’t have the means or interest in learning to do so themselves. For a $5 monthly fee, Rust Belt Riders started letting people drop off compost at their facility.

“Even being in a location that might not be super convenient to people blew us out of the water. I think within the fi rst year we had something like 75 people (dropping off),” Brown says. “We realized we should probably invest in this.” In 2018, Rust Belt Riders began partnering with community organizations to offer more drop-off spots, now maintaining fi ve locations: the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes and The Dealership, both in Shaker Heights; Saint Michael’s Church in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Lakewood Park in Lakewood and at the primary Cleveland facility.

Rust Belt Riders also sells soils made with locally collected compost. And

just this year, the company launched a weekly pickup program for households in several east side communities.

Brown says while the dire state of recycling – China restricted imports on recyclables in 2018 – is concerning, the upshot is it forces consumers to realize recycling was never a perfect option. Some recyclable packaging ends up in the landfi ll, even if you follow the rules of the municipality – and many don’t, assuming all items labeled with a recycling number can be recycled, which is not true.

And as individuals realize hard truths about what isn’t recycled, it relates to the realization that what one eats and its packaging can have a major environmental impact.

“Your food choices have a disproportionate impact on your carbon footprint,” Brown says.

He says while some customers are motivated by environmental values or a low-waste lifestyle, others simply want to support a small business or have access to good, locally produced soil. He says while he believes many people are “very climate conscious, more so than we give them credit for,” we also live in a service-oriented society. People are looking for ways to do more, but may need an easy access solution to actually do it.

“A big push that we have is to provide such a level of service that it becomes inexcusable to not at least consider the offering,” Brown says. “We often say we are making people aware of a virus, and then selling the (medication).” aware of a virus, and then selling the (medication).” take the most effective steps.

“I try to educate people that (recycling) is the last thing you should be doing – you should be even composting before you recycle – and just not buying what needs to be recycled,” says Mazey, who refers to her 4-year-old granddaughter, Valencia, as her business partner.

Mazey also says she’s focused on being honest about where she struggles to make environmentally friendly changes. She says she readily tells customers some low waste tooth products are not for her, and she keeps a roll of paper towels in the shop in case of a spill emergency.

“We are big on transparency, because there are so many companies greenwashing right now,” she says, referring to either companies conveying misleading information about their products being environmentally sound or greatly overestimating the environmental value of some “green” practices.

Also, if you can make your own product or know you won’t use something that catches your eye in Mazey’s shop, she doesn’t want you to buy it. She says don’t buy her “unpaper towels” (washable cloth towels that mimic paper towels) if you can cut up old clothes that serve the same purpose. And don’t buy that new, trendy reusable water bottle or canvas bag if you already have enough, or know you won’t use it.

While Mazey urges her customers to navigate eliminating trash items one by one, Brown agrees a good start can be individuals and businesses looking to make a difference, even if their initial time and effort commitment is low.

“We want to appeal to the people who are like, ‘I’m just too lazy to compost,’” Brown says. “It’s like, well, cool – you are just the kind of person who would love our service. Because you don’t have to do anything – you just have to put it out on your front steps.”

And as more businesses are created with sustainability at the forefront – and more individuals make tackling environmental issues and a wasteful culture a personal and public cause – others have more opportunities to learn and make energy effi cient choices.

“Whether it’s like skipping the straw or bringing your reusable bag, I think people are realizing these changes are modest but have like massive, massive impacts,” Brown says. BF

SAVE NOW Balanced Family readers can use code “BalancedFam” to save $10 on Rust Belt Riders’ pick-up or drop-off programs at rustbeltriders.com.

balancedmag.com STEPPING (SUSTAINABLY) FORWARD

While some take radical steps, research suggests, in general, people may tend to overestimate their environmental behaviors. A 2019 study from University of Gothenburg asked 4,000 people from the United States, Sweden, England and India about their perceptions of their own environmental behaviors. The majority rated themselves as more environmentally friendly than others. Magnus Bergquist, the environmental psychology researcher who authored the study, told ScienceDaily the risk of such over-optimism is it may stop people from doing more, or adapting to FORWARD may tend to overestimate their environmental behaviors. A 2019 study from University of Gothenburg STEPPING (SUSTAINABLY) FORWARD