A climate action evanston program

Waste Less Workshops

Join neighbors for a conversation about how we reduce our waste, and increase our resilience through repair, reuse and recirculation of resources in our community.

More info on Community Solar:

Most recent version posted on:
August 14, 2023

Alongside the broader Circular Evanston Working Group, we are hosting workshops in 2023 for residents of Evanston. The first of these was held on March 19th. Others will be scheduled soon.

Join your neighbors for a conversation about how we reduce our waste of the food, products, packaging, and still-useful products that we send to landfills, and about how we increase our resilience through repair, reuse, and recirculation of resources in our community. Our purpose is to build ideas and action to reduce waste in Evanston.

All are welcome. No expertise needed.

Refreshments will be served.

Childcare will be provided.

Resources

Evanston Roundtable Article on March 2023 Waste Less Workshop

Meg Evans' article on the March 19th 2023 "Waste Less Workshop" at Rebuilding Exchange.

Read the article

Grillio's Guide to Food Waste and Composting

Referred to us by an environmental club for girls as a way of saying thanks to us for putting together our website. It has good, relevant information.

Grillio's Guide

Guide to recycle, share, compost and reuse in Evanston

Updated May 2024, this is a material-by-material guide for how & where to handle waste — from everyday plastics and metals to unusual and hard to recycle items. Please submit corrections or additions to our Beyond Waste team.

Download the current version of the Guide

Notes from March 19th Waste Less Workshop

Notes from our first community workshop on March 19, 2023 at Rebuilding Exchange.

Click to see the Workshop Notes

Presentation from Waste Less Workshop

This is the presentation given at the outset of the Waste Less Workshop. It contains some background as well as the questions we used to structure our conversations in the workshop. Put in full screen mode if you want to see the animations correctly.

Click here to access the slides

You're Needed! Here Are Some Involvement Opportunities

22 million pounds of plastic enter the Great Lakes each year, and just over half of that ends up in Lake Michigan. Help end that by supporting a bill in the Illinois Legislature to ban styrofoam foodware.

Volunteer to Support Reuse

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Many local organizations and programs that reduce waste welcome volunteers, including Evanston Repair Café, The Rebuilding Exchange, Evanston School Children's Clothing Association, The WasteShed, and The Recyclery.

Although Climate Action Evanston is a volunteer organization, we have expenses. Increasing our revenues allows us to budget to do more. If you wish you can target donations to a specific program or programs.

We are looking for people to lead an initiative to bring (and return) reusable bags at Farmer's Markets in Evanston this season. Volunteer to staff a table and drum up support, so we can reduce plastic waste and encourage.