Learning How To Be Less Wasteful With Habits Of Waste

Aired October 22, 2023:How wasteful are we? Are you? Habits of Waste believes in the power of the individual to make small changes within their daily lives to protect the planet and combat climate change. They offer suggestions and provide solutions, helping individuals to live more eco consciously without overwhelm. We all have a role to play. H.O.W. founder Sheila Morovati successfully spearheaded the historic ban on single-use plastic straws and cutlery in the City of Malibu. Sheila realized that an iconic beach city like Malibu would create the ripple effect that was so necessary to create change. Malibu was the first city to make such a ban go into effect and the number of cities and countries that followed suit is awe-inspiring. Since then, Sheila created numerous campaigns that have effected change such as #CutOutCutlery, which successfully convinced Uber Eats, Postmates, Doordash and Grubhub to change the default setting in their applications so that users only receive plastic cutlery upon request. This campaign is ongoing. Sheila also founded a non-profit called, crayoncollection.org, which has grown to become a tremendous success with a presence in all 50 states and 9 countries. Her idea was to redirect would-have-been-trashed crayons from restaurants and well served communities and distribute them, along with free art education curricula, to Title 1 Schools and Head Start Centers within 5 miles of the donor. Restaurants throw away over 150 million crayons per year, which do not decompose as they are made of paraffin wax. In addition, Sheila felt this behavior was subliminally teaching, our children, that a throw-away culture is acceptable. Since inception, Crayon Collection has redirected over 20 million crayons from landfill and continues to set a new norm throughout society, that still-good crayons are not trash. It's ALWAYS a good time to talk about ways to improve our environment and planet as a whole, but with the holidays and holiday parties here...what better time to prepare to NOT be wasteful. The non-profit organization Habits of Waste is ALL about spreading that message YEAR-ROUND as they are focused on changing people's daily habits by encouraging everyone to rethink wasteful behavior. Their mission: Cleaning up the planet one “habit of waste” at a time. They’ve got some valuable tips and campaigns in place that are already making a difference, but they’ll be even MORE IMPACTFUL if more of us jump on board to FUEL REAL CHANGE by being less wasteful...as the U.S. produces 268 million tons of waste — 140 million going into landfills — each year, with the average American tossing 4.5 pounds of trash per day. TONS of great info on their website...Get Started with a Reusable Starter Kit/ NO Plastic Straws & Cutlery/ NO Plastic Bottles/Food Waste/Water Waste/Air Pollution/ Energy Plant-Based Diet/Say NO to Palm Oil/Use REUSABLE BAGS AT THE GROCERY STORE/Start with MEATLESS MONDAYS...and so much more!Lisa Foxx chats with Sheila Morovati, the Founder Habits of Waste for a very informative and eye-opening conversation. There's SO MANY easy ways to start being less wasteful and we can start NOW. Find out more at habitsofwaste.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.