LOCALS
Toward Zero Waste founders Dargan Gilmore (left) and Leigh Williams.
PROJECT ZERO A local organization works to reduce waste in the Triangle and beyond
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by KAYLA GUILLIAMS photography by MICK SCHULTE
hen Leigh Williams prepared to go scuba diving in Kho Tao, Thailand, in 2003, she imagined what would be waiting for her on the ocean floor: a collage of oranges, pinks, and blues; myriad corals, fish, and sea flora. But when she went underwater, what
awaited her was much duller. “The coral was all faded, it wasn’t vibrant, and there was trash on the ocean floor,” she says. “Every single time I dove, I came up with trash in my back pocket. I picked batteries up off the bottom of the ocean, I picked up caps from the tops of plastic bottles — I picked up all kinds of weird trash.”
The trip started Williams on her environmental journey, eventually inspiring her to start the nonprofit Toward Zero Waste with a friend, Dargan Gilmore. The organization, based in Cary, aims to address plastic pollution and waste by encouraging communities, businesses, and local governments to adopt a “zero waste” mindset. THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 35
