Dear ZWI Supporters,

We trust this message finds you well. Thank you always for supporting Zero Waste Ithaca for BYO (Bring Your Own effort), opposition to synthetic turf projects, trash pickup and other social events, and much more. Zero Waste Ithaca is in the middle of the 2024 fundraising season and we're reaching out to our community for support.

Online Silent Auction: We’re excited to share our online silent auction, offering gently used items and experiences to support our mission of fostering a cultural shift in Ithaca toward Zero Waste.

The auction went live on our website starting Monday, November 18th. More Ithaca businesses are joining us so we will be extending our bidding period to December 29, 2024. Here are the list of 30 amazing Ithaca businesses and organizations supporting our fundraiser and our Reuse Sticker Program for Bring Your Own (BYO) and Skip the Stuff (Utensils etc. by Request Only). Thank you, Ithaca!!!

Cayuga Climbs
Diamond Indian Restaurant
Discover Cayuga Lake
Dolce Delight
ETA Pie
Finger Lakes Reuse
Forty-Weight Coffee
Franco's Pizzeria
Gimme! Coffee
Hazelnut Kitchen
Home Green Home
Hound & Mare
Italian Carryout
Ithaca Beer
Ithaca Coffee
Ithaca Farmers' Market
Lansing Pizzeria
Paddle'n'More
Plum Tree
Pudgie's Pizzeria
Sal's Pizzeria
Sangam Restaurant
South Hill Apiaries
State Diner
Tacos CDMX
Taiwanese Cakery
The Rink
Water Front Cafe
Wegmans
Wok This Way

How You Can Contribute: Please start bidding in our silent auction. We have many great items!

Otherwise please consider simply making monetary contributions here.

If you know businesses that are interested in supporting our cause with donation of auction items, please contact Sarah at sarah@zerwasteithaca.org.

Why Your Support Matters: By supporting Zero Waste Ithaca, you contribute to projects aimed at ending over-consumption and promoting environmental justice. Our initiatives include:

BYO (Bring Your Own) Sticker Program: We collaborate with the national network BYO - US Reduces, the original Canada Reduces, and Zero-Waste Chef, we promote the use of reusable containers to reduce single-use plastic waste. This initiative aims to cut down on unnecessary packaging while encouraging mindful consumption. We ask participating businesses to encourage their customers to bring their own containers by displaying our stickers at their storefronts, on menus, or in other noticeable locations. Our program has gained local media attention, with coverage in Ithaca Journal, Ithaca Week, Sierra Club’s Susquehanna Sierran. We are actively working alongside statewide allies from BYO - US Reduces network on the “Rights to Refill” state legislation. (Learn more)
Advocacy for Local Legislation of Single-Use Package Ordinance including Skip the Stuff: We are actively working with county and city legislators to implement policies that will move Ithaca and Tompkins County toward becoming a Zero waste City and County. The Skip the Stuff initiative asks local businesses to refrain from automatically providing utensils and condiments etc. for takeout orders unless specifically requested by customers. Our recent Letter to the Editor and an Op-Ed was published in the Ithaca Times and Tompkins Weekly, helping to raise awareness and support for these efforts. (Learn more)
Opposition to Toxic Artificial Turf: Our fight against synthetic turf began in 2023 with Ithaca College’s plans for a new field, and in 2024, we continued the battle against Cornell University’s plan to install additional synthetic turf fields, which threaten both the environment and student health.

Early in the year, we hosted a webinar with support from national environmental organizations, featuring six independent experts from across the country, which attracted over 300 registrations. Following this, we launched a petition opposing Cornell University’s synthetic turf expansion, which has now garnered over 1,200 signatures. Throughout the spring and summer, our members attended city and town planning board meetings, submitting comments and presenting a 70+ page bibliography highlighting the environmental risks. The boards canceled meetings multiple times over the summer, eventually issuing a Negative Declaration for the Environmental Impact Assessment, ignoring our well-researched concerns.

In September, as soon as the school year resumed, the Cornell administration flooded the planning board floor with uninformed student athletes, who were unaware of the health and environmental impacts of synthetic turf. Our rally in front of City Hall on the same day prior to the meeting, drawing attention to the health and broader environmental justice issue were drowned out by this tactic. Synthetic turf, made from plastics, pollutes throughout its lifecycle, affecting vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

This fight is far from over. Synthetic turf is a fossil fuel product, and we need your support to hold the city, town, and the goliath Cornell accountable. Our efforts have been featured multiple times in local media, including front-page coverage in the Ithaca Times, as well as in WSKG, the Ithaca Voice, The Ithacan and Cornell Daily Sun. Read more about our work on our website here.
Reusable Foodware Initiative at Ithaca City School District: Zero Waste Ithaca is playing an active role in the journey to switch the Ithaca City School District from reliance on toxic single-use flatware to reusable ones. Our endeavors have been featured in the IHS Tattler and Tompkins Weekly (Learn more)

Opposition to Land Application of Sewage Sludge: We work with newly-forming state-wide organizations, No Safe Levels and Zero Waste New York, opposing this toxic practice and urging the county and state-level ban on the land application of sewage sludge as soil amendment. Zero Waste Ithaca passed an organizational resolution in January 2023 opposing this practice (Read more) and was featured on Ithaca Times for their comments on the county’s 10-year solid waste management plan.
Trash Pickups and Community Collaboration: We actively engage with the community through trash pickups and other social events, partnering with local organizations like Paddle-n-More, Friends of Stewart Park, Ithaca Rotary Club, and Cayuga Watershed Network.
Encouraging Reuse and Exchange through Buy Nothing Groups: Promoting a gift economy through ethical and sustainable gifting practices. We are always looking for more volunteer admins for our Buy Nothing groups on facebook. We especially need volunteers in the Enfield/Trumansburg area and Dryden areas. Please get in touch if you are interested in receiving training. (Learn more)

Get Involved: Volunteers are the heart of Zero Waste Ithaca. Whether you can spare time or resources, your contribution is invaluable. Please fill out this form if interested in volunteering.

Thank you for considering our cause. Together, we can create a more sustainable and Zero Waste future for Ithaca.

Sincerely,

Team ZWI

$95 Family Membership to Museum of the Earth + Cayuga Nature Center