At Race to Zero Waste (R20W), we are well-known for sharing our knowledge about reducing waste, reusing what you have, and recycling & composting correctly. But what happens behind the curtain?
We do our best to take putting Sustainability in Action seriously and walk the talk!
In fact, here are some Zero Waste Actions that we’ve implemented:
- At Dolores Park, we use reusable towels to clean our Zero Waste Station Pop-Ups.
- At the Zero Waste Forum, we take into account the venue, food and beverage, and more, always doing what we can to nudge our hosts closer to zero waste. For example, we worked with a local restaurant to get reusable pizza boxes to use not just for the Zero Waste Forum, but for other catered events in the area, as well.
- Teresa and Hayden talked about the various ways we reduced waste at the 2026 Zero Waste Forum on our YouTube channel. Check it out here!
- We purposefully avoid printing posters, flyers, business cards, and stickers. We only print a few strategic flyers a year, such as for Zero Waste Month and the Zero Waste Forum!
- At Zero Waste Fest and other events, we have worked with Stainable Ink, a local Bay Area company, to screenprint the R20W logo on up-cycled t-shirts that otherwise would have been thrown away.
- We’ve purchased pre-owned items like a clicker counter to collect data about the number of single-use cups we collected at Zero Waste Station Pop-Ups at Dolores Park (almost 2,000 cups per month, if you’re curious).
- When expanding our Zero Waste Station Pop-Up program to other organizations, the standing banner we purchased was made from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester from Go-GreenBanners.com.
Keeping the Zero Waste Hierarchy in mind.
It is important to note that we don’t always avoid waste 100%. Sometimes, we purchase items that are the lowest cost, the only ones available, or the best option to keep our team safe.
While we know that some waste is still unavoidable, like some personal protective equipment (PPE) items, we always try to reduce first and keep reuse, followed by recycled content, at the top of our minds when making purchasing or operational choices.
You can do it, too!
Can you think of any opportunities in your company or organization to implement a Zero Waste Action? Could you use reusables instead of single-use packaging? Purchase equipment second-hand? Buy supplies made from recycled materials?
Whatever you think of, make a commitment to doing it this October for #ZeroWasteMonth!
This blog was written by R20W Zero Waste Coordinator, Sherry Gong.
AI transparency statement: No AI was used in the writing or editing of this blog.
