Community Eco Conversations and Zero Waste Initiative at the NSCC

Community Eco Conversation Series at the NSCC

We invite you to join us on the first Wednesday of every month at 1:00 for an important Community  Conversation.  Each session/month we’ll dive into a new topic, such as energy savings, nurturing pollinators, sustainable gardening, creative recycling, etc. Our goal will be to share thoughts, resources, and personal stories that will spark conversations among participants about how to be better stewards of our planet.  The discussions will be lively, the ideas transformative, and the community spirit uplifting. This series of educational conversations fostering environmental stewardship and leadership is coordinated by ACES — The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards.

Here are a few links to past programs

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Toward Zero Wast - October 2nd, 2024

AES Community Eco Conversation: Plastics - January 8th, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Clean Energy for Elders - February 5th, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Sustainable and Responsible Gardening- March 7, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Your Never Too Old To Make A Difference- May 7, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Ensuring the Wellbeing of Future Generations: June 26, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: The Mass Oyster Project- Oct. 1, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: Merrimack River- November 5, 2025

ACES Community Eco Conversation: The PEG Center all Community Read- the Future We Choose- January  14, 2026

We hope to see you at our next conversation: Wednesday, May7th at 1pm.  Check back regularly for updated and important information related to conservation and resiliency.

ACES- Important information on Microplastics- July/August/September 2025

What’s All This Talk About Microplastics (part one)??? Latest information has been making its way into the mainstream news about microplastics and their appearance in every part of our life. Where are they from, how do they get into all aspects of our environment and our bodies and are there health implications? The next series of articles on reducing plastics in your life will review microplastics and try to answer these questions.

Plastics have infiltrated most every aspect of our lives; clothing, toys, toothbrushes, cars, food packaging, straws, carpets to name a few. In fact, there is so much plastic in your everyday life that the average person ingests as much as 5 grams of plastic per week (think credit card size). So, what are microplastics? They are fragments of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters in length and are created from the larger plastic products through multiple mechanisms including, mechanical wear and abrasion (toys, synthetic toothbrushes), fibers (synthetic clothing, cigarettes), particles on thin plastics and containers (water bottles, food packaging), and breaking a seal on a single use plastic container particles are released. The list goes on.

How do plastics become microplastics and get into our food, air and water (Part two)? Generally, petroleum based plastic polymers are indestructible, but they can become mechanically dislodged or some environmental factors (UV, heat) can make them more susceptible to mechanical breakdown. This can happen during manufacturing, while the plastics being crushed and worn away in the environment and weather during the disposal process, and through the digestive process of other animals. Small pieces become smaller pieces (micro plastics) and even smaller pieces (nano plastics) over time just through wear.

Some of the most pertinent examples include;

• 93% of single use water bottles are contaminated with microplastics, as is tap water
• Synthetic clothing is thought to be 85% of microplastic pollution
• When you buy meats or vegetables and fruit, these particles get transferred onto your food

Why should you care(Part Three)? Plastics are made from fossil fuels (oil & natural gas), plus the thousands of chemicals required to process the plastics to make them harder, softer, more flexible, filled, more processable or colored. A couple of the heavy hitter additives, (BPA) and phthalates, both are probable human carcinogens. Micro and nano plastics can get into humans through digestion and airway pathways and from there into our bloodstreams to every organ in our bodies. Some of the current implications of these plastic particles in your body could impact cardiovascular health, especially of a fetus, and of course release the many related chemicals into our bodies. They can be endocrine disrupting, related to mammary and prostate cancers, and nervous system dysfunction, immune system and chronic inflammation.

What can you do to protect yourself?

• Stop using single use and gallon plastic bottles for water. Glass and aluminum are much better container solutions as they have no plastics, and they are 100% recyclable
• Use filters for your tap water. There are many options, from faucet filters and carbon block filters to granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis filter systems
• Use vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters to collect the microplastics in your synthetic rugs and upholstery
• Drying synthetic clothes in the dryer releases more microplastics, try hanging them to dry.
• Consider clothing options not made of synthetic plastics. There are more options coming to market that are more sustainable and less polluting. Organic cotton being the safest bet

There is no way to keep all microplastics out of your body, but being aware where the biggest risks are and analyzing packaging and food choices can make a significant impact on yours and your family’s health.

ACES– Words of Wisdom: Using Fewer Plastics at Home- May 2025

Here are a few more ideas to reduce your environmental footprint, reduce storage and provide awareness of unhealthy ingredients in many of your personal care products. These suggestions require much less storage space that multiple plastic containers take, and are simple, effective, decluttering, while lessening your environmental footprint and improving the healthiness of your personal care products.

Instead of buying soap in the plastic pump bottles to wash your hands, use a bar of soap. It is so much less expensive, and does a better job because it doesn’t have all the additives in it, and of course, one less plastic container in the recycle bucket. Besides the soap, the mixture can also contain benzoate preservatives, fragrances, sodium laureth sulfate (discussed in previous article), cocamide MEA (thickener) and dyes. Make sure you know what chemicals you are exposing your family and yourself to.

If you prefer pump foam hand soap, you can buy one glass pump bottle and get foaming soap pods or pearls. Drop one in the container, fill with water, put the pump back on and you have foam hand soap. Again, much cheaper than buying a new bottle each time and less plastic to store, and dispose of in the trash and recycle. When deciding which is the best product for you, use the same review as you would for your laundry detergent and hand soap.

Using Fewer Plastics at Home- March 2025

Here are a few more ideas to reduce your environmental footprint, reduce storage and be more aware of unhealthy ingredients in many of these products.

If you have ever looked into your kitchen, bathroom and laundry closets and wondered why there is no space in there? It’s time to take a fresh look at your home and discover practical ways to cut down on bulky, redundant plastic items. Here are some simple, yet effective, ideas to declutter and lessen your environmental footprint.

Consider washing your clothes with clothes detergent sheets, pods or powders (from cardboard containers). Pods and sheets are becoming readily available at the market, with huge selections on-line. The importance of this change-over is the significant decrease in your eco footprint by keeping that huge piece of plastic out of recycle/landfill. Other considerations are carrying, lifting and storing that heavy container that is 25 -50% water around your house, leaving a sticky mess wherever you put it down. Think of the space you will save not storing those large containers. The choices of products, especially on-line, is large with variations in effectiveness, ingredients, where it is produced (there are many produced in the US) and cost. Information to look for from the manufacturer include; 1,4 dioxane free, phthalate free, phosphate free, shipping cost, and third party testing. You should also consider looking for these ingredients on other products you use: skin care, shampoo, conditioners, cosmetics, soaps. The 1, 4 dioxane will not show up on an ingredients list, but seeing sodium laureth sulfate (note, sodium laurel sulfate is a safe chemical) is a good indicator that the 1, 4 dioxane will be there as it is an off shoot of the manufacturing process. Also scan for any phthalates, for example, BBP, DBP, and DEHP. Doing laundry is a significant household task, make it as easy and healthy as possible by re-thinking your products composition.

Using Less Plastics at Home- COA Waste Ambassador Team - February 2025

This is one in a continuing series of educational columns about fostering environmental stewardship and leadership coordinated by ACES — The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards

If you have ever looked into your kitchen, bathroom and laundry closets and wondered why there is not any space in there, here are a few ideas on how to use less space and decrease plastics going into the waste stream.

Coffee K-Cups an easy place to start. Buy a reusable pod at the grocery store, usually on the coffee aisle. In that way you can use your favorite ground coffee to make your brew and not have to ingest the toxic plasticizers that get transferred from the plastic pod into your cup with the addition of hot water, the grinds go to compost and there is no plastic waste. And prevent waste when drinking coffee or tea outside your home by bringing your own thermos cup to the get your drink at the café. This insures your beverage stays hot or cold, doesn’t create more trash, and you don’t ingest the plastic coating used on the inside of the cup that makes it waterproof.

Wash your clothes with clothes detergent sheets or pods. It will also keep that huge piece of plastic out of recycle/landfill, and you don’t have to pay for and carry that heavy container that is 25 -50% water around your house, leaving a sticky mess wherever you put it down. Think of the space you will save not storing those gallon containers. Try pods from Dropps or sheets from “Hey Sunday” or “Clean People” brands.

Instead of buying soap in the plastic pump bottles to wash your hands, use a bar of soap. It costs less and does a better job because it doesn’t have all the additives in it. If you prefer pump foam hand soap, you can buy one glass pump bottle and get soap pods or pearls. Drop one in the container, fill with water, put the pump back on and you have foam hand soap. Less costly than buying a new bottle each time plus and less plastic to store and dispose of in the trash or recycle.

Hair shampoo and conditioners have new eco-friendly options. High quality shampoo and conditioner bars are available on line and at specialty shops. Not only do they work well, they travel well and fit into soap container. Also, they don’t take up so much space in cabinets with partially filled bottles and the bars don’t contribute at all to the waste stream.

Other personal hygiene products showing up on the shelves that will help you decrease hard to dispose of plastics include; tooth tablets and deodorant in glass containers. Before the invention of tooth pastes, people used tooth powders to clean their teeth. The powders have evolved a lot over the past century and now come in tablet form with many flavors and with or without fluorides. They clean as well as pastes and they have minimal additional chemicals added associated with the pastes that go into your digestive system. Empty toothpaste containers are not recyclable, and just go to landfill, while tablets have very little environmental impact.

Deodorants are another example of difficult to recycle plastics with additional, sometimes harmful/harsh chemicals, used to make the product. Coming onto the market are deodorant creams available in glass jars which are much easier to recycle than any plastic. They are more natural and organic, which in most cases are much less irritating than many deodorants and have a lot less additives.

An important note is that many of these innovations are small businesses and made in America. Using these products is great for the environment as well as your personal health. These examples are not specific endorsements, as they are only a small fraction of what is available, look for the products that make sense for you; local, organic, no animal testing.

ACES is pleased to work with the following members of the Council of Aging’s Waste Ambassador Team:  Audrey Clarkson, Fran Norton and Nicki Girouard. Working at the Newburyport Senior/Community Center as contributors to the Toward Zero Waste program, they ask that everyone considers all possible alternatives to any product contained in plastic.
 

ACES is committed to working with and supporting everyone who wants to work towards a more sustainable world. Please offer to help in any way you can, with any volunteer group that interests you. If you think knowing more about ACES, our Allies, and Partners could be important for you to use your stewardship interests, skills and ideas, please contact us here: https://www.aces-alliance.org/contact