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Helping you connect your values and your financial life for over 20 years. Account minimum: none. Member of First Affirmative Financial Network

Socially Responsible financial management, college savings, IRA account services. Individuals, organizations, and religious communities nationwide. Large clientele in California and Midwest. Interviewed for Barron's, ABA Journal, NY Times. Encourages new investors. Member of First Affirmative Financial Network.

My mission is to help progressive investors achieve their long-term financial goals and make the world a better place using Socially Responsible Investing. I am a Certified Financial Planner™ with 20+ years of experience in the investment industry.

As a socially responsible, ESG, fee-based investment advisory firm, we are committed to create and maintain wealth for our clients through tailored, long term, goals-based asset management through sustainable & responsible investments. We have equipped our business with the most advanced technology & services available in the financial service industry. These investments in our business allow us to give our clients an intensely personalized asset analysis, allocation and investment service.

Forty years pioneering authentic environmentally responsible architecture. Award-winning design. Nationally recognized. Healthy, high-performance green homes and remodeling, building consulting, and design consulting services. Design for Life

Offers investments and hourly consultation for socially concerned individuals. Member, First Affirmative Financial Network.

Specializes in the design of buildings suited to their environment. Incorporates green building techniques to help safeguard the ecosystem while lowering building costs.

A registered representative since 1983 working with SRI. Also operates a tax preparation and tax planning business specializing in individual, corporate, and small-business taxation. Member, First Affirmative Financial Network.

CEM Design, Architects, specializes in green building design utilizing sustainable materials, passive and active alternative energy, and adaptive reuse of our built environment.

Aligning your investments with your values and mission. Full range of investment services for individuals, families and non-profits, with experience in the Unitarian Universalist and LGBTQI communities. Fossil fuel free portfolios available. Professional member, First Affirmative Financial Network.

Since our founding in 1984, our goal has been to invest to promote a sustainable society while achieving competitive financial returns.

Part of a team of SRI consultants, SRI Wealth Management Group at RBC, that conducts long-term investment planning, asset allocation analysis, shareholder advocacy, and third-party money manager recommendations and monitoring. Enables clients to use capital markets to create social change by investing with their values.

Many of our clients want to align their investments with their values. We are experienced in reviewing options through the lens of sustainable, responsible investing. We work with you to determine your priorities and strive to meet your expectations.

Utilize your assets for environmental change, social justice, and financial return. Love to educate in SRI. Member, US-SIF..

Our practice focuses on individuals and non-profit organizations concerned with the social and ethical implications of investment decisions.

It may go by many names—including Sustainable, Responsible, Impact investing (SRI) or Environmental, Social and Governance investing (ESG)—but the goals are clear and consistent: invest your assets in ways that reflect your values.

Today SRI is a complex landscape of opportunities to support companies that demonstrate good corporate governance and are engaging in practices that promote environmental or social justice goals. At Birchwood we seek investment managers we feel have expertise in identifying businesses that are not only operating in a responsible manner, but are also attractive investment opportunities. We also seek investment managers that in our opinion are actively promoting sustainable business practices within the industry and among the corporations in which they invest on your behalf.

The advisors at Birchwood can work with you to determine what parts of your portfolio are more effective as SRI investments. While SRI has been available for over thirty years, there remain limitations on effectively implementing the strategy across asset classes. As with all of our clients, effectively communicating the strategy behind your investment portfolio is imperative to your success and our ability to build a long-lasting relationship with you. While not appropriate for everyone, we do believe it is possible to combine your values with a successful long-term investment strategy through SRI.

We design beautiful green homes, additions, and remodels. Call today for a free consultation.

Develops strategies to reduce taxes and maximize cash flow using clients goals. Specializes in employee benefits and 401(k)s. Works with individuals and corporate clients. Member, First Affirmative Financial Network.

A full-service, independent fee-only investment management firm committed to aligning our clients' values with their investment goals.

An independent firm committed to making sure your finances are sustainable through pre-retirement planning, income planning, later life planning, business planning, and socially responsible investing.

Has been managing socially responsible portfolios since 1997. Sponsors a wrap program for retail clients who demand a comprehensive investment solution using asset allocation, rebalancing, socially responsible screening, and a unique broker platform. Also manages and is the investment advisor to the Azzad Funds. For institutional clients, Azzad manages international and real estate model portfolios.

Designs private residences, stores, offices, and clinics with environmentally responsible, energy-conserving, and low-toxicity materials. Registered in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and nationally certified.

Specializing in environmentally sensitive, energy-efficient, healthy, nontoxic buildings. LEED-accredited professionals. See www.ecohousedesigns.com and www.greenbuildingpages.com. Please call (805)544-6075.

Gathering of US SIF members and investment colleagues interested in learning about sustainable and responsible investing.

Contact: Suzy Martin: smartin@ussif.org

An architectural practice emphasizing sustainable design. Your home, work, or learning environment deserves thoughtful attention to the quality of the space. Environmentally appropriate use of materials and energy-conserving features. 3D modeling.

Twenty-nine years of smart and healthy architectural design, grounded in environmentally sustainable practices. An architect is your best investment.

Promotes economic and community development in many regions of Nicaragua through credit, technical assistance, and outreach to low income businesses and small farmers.

Social investment fund guaranteeing South African bank loans to community development financial institutions engaged in South Africa's reconstruction process. Established the Thembani International Guarantee Fund in South Africa to strengthen grassroots financial institutions and enable them to provide increasing amounts of affordable credit for small and micro-enterprises, and low-cost housing in South Africa's most economically marginalized communities.

Offers individuals the opportunity to participate in investment and charitable funds that support nonprofits and businesses addressing key issues in food and agriculture, education and the arts, and ecological stewardship. Since 1984, RSF has made over $275 million in loans and over $100 million in grants to nonprofit and for-profit social enterprises.

Boutique manufacturer of sustainable and organic mattresses and bedding. Luxury mattresses featured in distinguished boutique hotels world-wide. Suite Sleep is a woman-owned business, specializing in beautiful sleep solutions for the luxury category.

Healthy Bedding For a Healthy Planet! We are producers of natural and organic bedding - including mattresses, mattress toppers, comforters, pillows, and solid wood bed frames. We offer local Premium Eco Wool and GOTS Certified Organic Wool bedding as well as all-natural latex options. Come visit one of our showroom to try out a variety of non-toxic mattress options and to see our beautiful USA made wool bedding line.

Nonprofit community development financial institution providing loans (affordable housing, mixed use development, small business) with technical support to benefit Michigan's communities.

Organic and natural products for the home and baby including organic bedding, pillows, mattresses, bed frames and more. For baby we have organic baby clothes, bedding, toys, bath items, crib mattresses and mattresses for "big kid beds".

Orthopedic, organic, and hypo-allergenic beds, pillows and comforters for your healthy sleep.

Sleep is essential to your well-being. Hand-crafted in Europe from natural, organic materials, SAMINA is designed for healthy sleep. Be healthier and happier with SAMINA.

A nonprofit community development financial institution that provides services designed to strengthen communities, build assets, and improve lives in economically distressed areas across the Mid-South.

We promote honesty and integrity without compromising quality.

Manufacturers of organic natural textile products. Bed sheets, organic cotton, wool, kapok, latex pillows, linen bedding, mattress pads, toppers, blankets, towels, duvet, shams, pads, bumpers, sleeper, bassinet, cradle, cribs and more.

We design eco-friendly and organic products to inspire a sustainable and healthy community. Everything we create is fashioned to the physical well-being of our customers and the planet. To do that, we stay involved in every step of the production–from design to manufacturing to marketing–to ensure high quality products that protect the environment and health of our consumers.

Oweesta's mission is to provide opportunities for Native people to develop assets and create wealth by assisting in the establishment of strong, permanent institutions and programs, contributing to economic independence and strengthening sovereignty for all Native communities.

Organic Nest is a lifestyle brand that offers healthy allergy free Bedroom and Nursery products. Since 2005

Healthy Habitat Non Toxic Furniture, Beds, Cribs. Solid woods harvested from US managed forests. Factory direct pricing, Natural Latex Mattresses. Eco lifestyle products at Organic Nest. Responsive customer service since 2004.

Who We Are

At Traditional Medicinals we have always been deeply rooted in plants and purpose. In the late 1960s the stars aligned to bring together herbalist Rosemary Gladstar and community activist Drake Sadler. They planted the seeds for their shared vision of a new kind of herbalism that offered the world something new: accessible herbal wellness, made with ethically sourced herbs.

Nearly fifty years later, we’re going strong — partnering with suppliers and sourcing communities around the world to bring the best ingredients to our products and to you.

With a talented and experienced team of herbalists, naturopaths, and scientists, we continue to build on our decades of practice, lifetimes of experience, with a deep commitment to both cutting-edge botany and traditional plant knowledge in all our formulations.

It Starts at the Source

To continue providing accessible botanical wellness we need an ongoing supply of high-quality herbs. This requires investing in the ecosystems where these plants thrive – and the people that steward them. At Traditional Medicinals we believe that everything is interconnected, which means supporting biodiversity in ecosystems, as well as the farmers and collectors who harvest and forage our herbs.

As a California Green Business, certified B Corp® and California benefit corporation, we hold ourselves accountable to a commitment to be transparent about our successes and our challenges and to collaborate, communicate, and educate across our platforms. We look for opportunities to reduce or eliminate emissions at the source, and we support organic and regenerative farming practices as well as voluntary certifications like FairWild® which ensure the ongoing sustainability of wild collection and the health and wellbeing of the collectors who forage.

Nurturing Interconnection

At Traditional Medicinals we believe that we are all connected. We would not be where we are today without our incredible team and our vibrant community. Together with our team and farmers and collectors around the work we are working towards our greater purpose of healing and protecting the natural relationship between plants, people, and the planet.

We have an amazing community of plant lovers who care about the work we do to support the planet, and as we look out to motivate a larger change in the world. They help hold us accountable and ask the hard questions.  At the end of the day, we want everyone to feel confident that when they pause in their day to brew a cup of botanical wellness, they are also caring for plants and the planet and the people who are growing and harvesting their tea.  When people and the planet thrive, we all thrive.

It’s Not Simple, & It’s Never Easy 

It is easy to wish that a simple project and catchphrase would be enough to show everything that we do. But it isn’t. This is hard work without a clear path. It takes thought, constant collaboration, and a willingness to accept risks and make mistakes to forge a road towards an equitable and regenerative world. 

We will continue to hold ourselves accountable as an organization to our commitments to plants, people, and the planet. They serve as our guideposts and keep us looking to the future and re-imagining what is possible, together. 

New England's largest selection of mattress and bedding made from natural and organic materials.


We’re here to help you create a blissfully healthy retreat. We are the largest, most comprehensive natural and organic bedding store in New England with over 20 mattresses on display to choose from, made by Naturepedic, Vispring, Green Sleep, Eco Bedroom Solutions, and WJ Southard. We also retail the finest, best-edited collection of pillows, linens, mattress protectors, toppers and eco-friendly upholstered sofas. Stop by to see for yourself just how incredibly comfortable a mattress can be.

Naturepedic wants to improve health by removing toxic and questionable chemicals.  We go beyond the minimum requirements of organic certification.  Naturepedic luxury organic mattresses offer a no-compromise approach to health, wellness, and comfort. Certified organic non-GMO cotton, certified organic wool, certified organic latex. Individually encased coils. No polyurethane foam, flame-retardant, flame barriers, perfluorinated compounds, pesticides, etc. Naturepedic organic mattresses do not sleep hot and sweaty. Certified GREENGUARD Gold and UL Formaldehyde Free. Certified MADE SAFE. All products meet and exceed the organic and nontoxic requirements of, and are certified to, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Organic Content Standard (OCS100), Latex certified to the Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) and/or Preferred by Nature (Forest Stewardship Council).

Naturepedic is the most highly recommended certified organic mattress. Naturepedic promotes environmental causes and advocates with organizations including Sustainable Furnishings Council, AllergyKids Foundation, Kids For Saving Earth, The Ecology Center, Zero Toxics Product Registry, American Sustainable Business Council, Rainforest Alliance, 1% For The Planet, Women’s Voices For The Earth, Organic Trade Association, and Organic Consumers Association. Twenty-year limited warranty.

"America's #1 organic mattress retailer." Certified by GREENGUARD. Crib-to-king and custom sizes, USA-made in an organic Eco-Factory™. Organic bedding, baby, home, and more.

BedVoyage manufactures eco-luxury 100% bamboo linens for bed and bath, with the utmost of luxury and comfort AND the health benefits of one of the most renewable resources on the planet: bamboo!

100% Fair Trade and organic. Specializes in small-batch roasting of sustainably grown coffees from all over the world.

Creates markets for rainforest mate which provide a sustainable economic alternative to deforestation. This principle of renewable resource management supported by consumers is called market-driven restoration.

Organic Wine Distributor in NY, NJ, CT. Largest selection of the finest USDA organic wines without sulfites. Call to find a store near you: (877)ORGANIC.

Signers of pledge agree to block Trump Administration appointments to the Federal Energy Resource Commission; Action called for on FERC’s rubber stamping of pipelines

Washington DC//March 8, 2017 - Over 130 organizations across the country announced today that they will oppose nominees made by the Trump Administration to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The move reflects the growing resistance nationwide from residents, farmers, business owners, physicians, and environmentalists to FERC’s practice of recklessly permitting pipelines that put hundreds of communities and the drinking water of millions of Americans at risk, in addition to the global climate.

The 135 groups range from dozens of local community organizations and activists to national nonprofit organizations (Beyond Extreme Energy, Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and Green America). At a time when citizens are increasingly calling on Senators to oppose appointed officials that support the fossil fuel industry, the pledge signers, representing over a million people nationwide, pledge to work against each nominee to FERC made by the Trump Administration, and to call on U.S. Senators to use the nomination process to highlight FERC’s rubber stamping of pipeline projects and refusal to listen the legitimate concerns of community groups. For the group sign-on statement and full list of signers go to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLFwOPKc3Qc85YrNVItTnK4n1FDhnPr_yex5PUqkFfeuRDwg/viewform.

FERC is the agency primarily responsible for reviewing applications for pipelines and conducting environmental assessments, and the agency has been increasingly criticized by local communities impacted by pipelines for its failure to take into account community concerns and independent environmental impact analyses documenting the risks.  

Awareness of the dangers of pipeline construction has been heightened with the opposition to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. These are just two of the dozens of pipelines nationwide that are being planned and constructed. The risks are clear: Over 1,000 pipeline accidents occurred between 2010 and 2015 across the U.S. Yet, FERC has rejected only one gas pipeline in 30 years, and relies extensively on the industry’s chosen experts for environmental impact data.

Beyond Extreme Energy, one of the groups coordinating the campaign to oppose Trump’s nominations to FERC, says they are exploring different ways to stop or delay the nominations, including through petition, call-in days to Senators, Senate office visits and rallies, and nonviolent civil disobedience.

“FERC serves the industry it supposedly regulates instead of the American public, and its rubber stamping of pipelines nationwide puts millions of people at risk,” said Todd Larsen, executive co-director of Green America. “It is imperative that all Americans voice their opposition to business as usual at FERC and oppose any Trump nominees to the agency.”

“FERC is abusing its powers and the law in how it reviews, approves, and greases the wheels for pipelines cutting through communities across America,” said Maya van Rossum, of the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “Given the level of harm pipelines inflict on communities, Congress should be working hard to prevent new nominations to the FERC commission in order to prevent restoration of the quorum they need to approve new pipelines, rather than working with President Trump to advance them.”

“Five days ago, Pruitt's EPA cancelled all the regulations on venting methane and dumping coal ash in streams,” said Maggie Henry, an anti-fracking activist from Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.

 “Something must be done to stop the insanity and hold polluters accountable for devastating impacts on people lives and the environment.”

“It is important that Americans understand these pipelines are being used to export our resources, not for us to use them for our energy independence,” said Briget Shields, outreach director, Friends of the Harmed. “I work with families who have been harmed by the extraction of fossil fuels. We need to stop promoting the O&G industry and start protecting the people and the future for our children. It's time to do away with FERC and fossil fuel expansion and invest in renewable safe energy.”

"Pipelines promote and enable increased fracking, which puts our climate in peril,” said Heather Cantino, Athens County [Ohio] Fracking Action Network. “With methane being 86 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2 (at the 20-year time frame) and methane leakage at high rates unavoidable at all stages of production, fracking is worse for the climate than coal. There is no place for fracking in a livable future."

“Despite numerous conflicts of interest, strong evidence of harm, demands by Senators and the Governor, FERC permitted Spectra to build their ‘Algonquin’ Pipeline expansion only 105 feet from critical safety infrastructure at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.” said Dr. Courtney Williams, coordinator with Resist Spectra. “This egregious disregard of public health and safety must be investigated and rectified before FERC is free to act again. We must not empower FERC to harm with impunity.”

“We cannot allow this or any administration to hold the American people and the environment hostage while a handful of oil and gas billionaires develop an energy policy based on climate change denial,” said Tim Spiese, Lancaster Against Pipelines.

“At every step of the way, FERC has worked against efforts to protect people's health and safety from harms caused by the gas industry,” said Donny Williams, We Are Cove Point. “FERC gave the go-ahead for a $3.8 billion industrial behemoth to be built directly in our community, with homes as close as across the street. FERC allowed Dominion to use safety standards that were written when LNG export terminals didn't even exist in the US to help the company avoid the stringent review processes that are required by modern standards. The safety and well-being of people and ecosystems across this country are helped by FERC not being able to issue permits due to lack of a quorum.”

“In our work to keep our communities healthy and safe from the Northeast Energy Direct proposed gas pipeline, we were continually affronted by the ways in which the FERC process looked like it might protect citizen and community interests, but always turned out to whitewash our concerns and favor industry,” said Becky Meier, Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline. “It is a process which gives the illusion of fairness, but precludes real meaningful considerations. We were also dismayed that it gave Eminent Domain powers to private-for-profit pipeline corporations at the expense of private property landowners.”

“The clear intent of the current administration to further disempower and block a truly independent regulatory review process, which gives proper weight to those most impacted by the permitting process and most at risk of decisions that do not weigh factors of environmental justice and human well-being, means appointments to fill vacancies on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission need to be made by parties independent of the administration,” said Mark C. Johnson, executive director, The Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice. “A new way must open.”

“Over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of environmental advocates and impacted citizens, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's willful disregard for the public it was charged with protecting has become one of Washington's worst-kept secrets,” said Karen Feridun, founder, Berks Gas Truth. “The Senate has a rare opportunity to address the issues while the lack of a quorum has stopped the clock on the Commission's ability to make its reckless and devastating decisions. For the sake of our communities now and in the future, the Senate must act."

“The evidence is clear: fossil fuels put the health and well-being of workers and many communities at risk,” said Maureen McCue, Iowa Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Extraction sites involve serious environmental damage and occupational risk.  The health of those living along transport routes and pipelines, like those living near refineries is adversely affected; health impacts associated with fossil fuel induced climate change are complex and widespread.  Fortunately, there are cleaner, healthier alternatives.  Efficiency and clean fossil-free fuels like wind and solar bring well-paying jobs and minimal to no health or adverse environmental impacts.  It's time to consider the real costs and benefits of our dependence on fossil fuels.”

“To take more than we need and leave a ransacked world is not worthy of us as moral beings” said Cathy Strickler, Climate Action Alliance of the Valley. “FERC must change.”

“China, most of Europe, Japan, and even impoverished Island, Central American, and African nations have made substantial progress in transitioning off fossil fuel towards renewable energy,” said Ed Griffith, New Progressive Alliance. “Thanks to FERC, however, the United States is not among the leaders. It matters not whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House or which party controls congress, FERC acts as an irrational anchor to the past.”

“What does it say about the tyranny of the pipeline profiteers who use eminent domain for private gain when just one pipeline, Energy Transfer's Rover, filed a recent lawsuit against resistant landowners with 258 pages of the complaint dedicated to the names of all the people who are being sued?” said Lea Harper, managing director, FreshWater Accountability Project. “FERC is plundering human rights, and the antiquated Natural Gas Act is being used to destroy democracy in the U.S. for the sake of the multi-national investment community that cares nothing for our long-term environmental protection and economic prosperity.”

“Faced with an onslaught of fossil fuel infrastructure buildout, environmental activists have stepped up their pressure on FERC over the past few years, but FERC has responded by digging in to reinforce their pro-industry stance,” saidStuart Anderson, Concerned Citizens of Otego NY. “Despite overwhelming public opposition, FERC has almost invariably sided with the companies that they are supposed to regulate. We need regulators who understand that the damages done by the fossil fuel industries will haunt all humanity for decades to come.”

“If even the former FERC chairman Bay recognizes that FERC is set to cause even more economic and environmental damage unless a different path is chosen, ‘…analyzing the downstream impacts of the use of natural gas and to performing a life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions study…,’ then we must insist on waiting for new commissioners who will manifest a much higher standard of environmental care,” said B. Arrindell, director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability along the Delaware River

“New fossil fuel infrastructure, from extraction sites through pipelines, shipping lanes and railroads to refineries, locks us into decades of growing fossil fuel use,” said Janet Scoll Johnson, Sunflower Alliance. “Such expansion means both additional global impacts of rising GHG emissions and worsening public health of front line communities. In defense of our communities and the future of life here on earth, Sunflower Alliance opposes all such projects.”

"The Citizens' Climate Collaborative of North Carolina absolutely opposes the environmentally reckless permitting of gas and oil pipelines by FERC,” saidTana Hartman Thorn, Citizens Climate Collaborative, North Carolina. “The health of people and planet are infinitely more important than the profits of big energy investors."

“We oppose the appointment of any and all commissioners to FERC until the agency establishes an Office of Public Participation,” said Dave Elder, VeRSE (Vestal Residents for Safe Energy). “Congress passed a law in 1978 directing the agency to create such an office, but for almost 4 decades, FERC has refused to comply. The agency clearly does not care about how pipeline projects might hurt the public, as evidenced by its recent approval of a 42-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline passing dangerously close to a nuclear power plant only 25 miles north of NYC. That project alone presents catastrophic risks for the entire NYC area, and demonstrates FERC’s total lack of concern for public safety.”

The pledge reads in full: 
We understand that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, ignores and dismisses community and climate concerns when reviewing industry permits for fracked-gas pipelines and other infrastructure. 
 
Research indicates that the agency has rejected ONLY ONE such application, in 2016, in 30 years. FERC is in essence a rubber-stamp agency for the fracked-gas industry.
 
Donald Trump will be able to nominate three Republican commissioners and one other commissioner to the five-member panel over the next six months, one of whom will be a new chair. There are now three vacancies, given the resignation of former chair Norman Bay in the last week of January, and one sitting commissioner’s term expires in June.
 
Within just weeks, FERC could be controlled by Trump. As bad as things are now with FERC, they could get worse. All FERC-sponsored, open community meetings on proposed fracked-gas infrastructure projects could become one-person-at-a-time, behind-closed-door meetings, as has happened already under the current regime in Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Virginia. FERC could institute rigid, compressed timelines for action on permit applications. Landowners fighting eminent domain abuse could face greater pressure from pipeline companies anxious to take their land. FERC staff could be ordered to do even worse jobs on Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements that deal with threats to community health, safety and climate. The FERC public relations department could actively attempt to portray communities that oppose proposed pipelines in the most negative light. The FERC building security in DC could become more repressive against those who protest there. 
 
Trump’s nominations need to be approved by the full Senate. We call upon members of the Senate, especially those on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee which has to review those nominations, to speak out about the myriad problems with FERC and press Trump’s nominees about its rubber-stamp history for gas industry expansion.
 
We pledge that when Trump makes his first FERC nomination we will work actively against it and the other nominations, as best and as much as we can, in collaboration with other organizations doing the same.

MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin, for Green America, (703) 276-3255 or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com.

The Road to Recycling Contamination

Single-stream recycling, the simple act of dumping all of your recyclables into one bin, has become one of the most common recycling methods in the US. Public participation has increased due to the ease of single-stream bins, but the chances for contamination have skyrocketed. Reducing contamination is critical to making our recycling system effective and sustainable. Unfortunately, contamination can occur anywhere in the recycling journey: Broken glass and food or liquid residues can ruin paper bales. Likewise, the wrong types of plastic and food/liquid residues can spoil plastic bales. These items then become unrecyclable and likely to end up in landfills or incinerators, or they may be sold to countries with lower contamination standards.

1. Your curbside bin is where you have the most control over reducing contamination (click the image to see our 9 steps for how to help). Toss in a coated paper receipt or #5 plastic bottle, a dirty aluminum can, or a handful of broken glass, and you can contaminate entire batches of recycling.

2. Waste management trucks scoop up your recyclables, where they remain commingled and are tossed in with all your neighbor's bin contents. Glass may break, posing risk to recycling workers, and food and liquid residue can ruin batches of recyclables.

3. The materials then arrive at a waste transfer station if you live in a larger city, which is like a pit stop for waste to be sorted into what goes to a landfill and what can be taken to a composting or recycling facility (depending on what your community offers.) Transfer stations offer another opportunity for glass to break or food and liquid to contaminate paper.
 

4. At last, the recyclables arrive at a materials recovery facility (MRF), where they are pre-sorted by hand. Mechanized screens seperate items by weight and shape, and powerful magnets sort aluminum out. Each type of recyclable is packaged into bales, which are sent on to facilities specializing in recycling those particular materials. These facilities are where the contamination occurring at any point on the recycling journey takes effect. Broken glass may make its way into paper or plastic bales, making them unfit to recycle. And food or liquid can spoil entire bales of paper.

Mainstream waste-management companies will often landfill or incinerate dirty glass or plastic, as well as contaminated bales of recycling. It’s up to us to maximize recycling. Wash and dry your recyclables, and don’t “wish-cycle”!

Ninety-four percent of Americans say they recycle in some manner, according to a 2014 Harris Survey. That can only be a good thing, right? For most people, yes. But for some, the impacts of recycling aren’t always all positive. In fact, they can be devastating.

“For those who make environmental and industrial decisions, communities of color—regardless of their class status—have been considered to be throw-away communities; therefore, their land [is most often] used for garbage dumps, waste transfer stations, incinerators, dirty materials recovery facilities, and other waste disposal infrastructure,” says Dr. Robert D. Bullard at Texas Southern University, who has conducted pioneering research and leadership on environmental justice. In other words, along with the environmental benefits recycling brings come deep concerns that all communities must consider to ensure that no one is bearing too much of the trash burden.

“Dirty” vs. “Clean” Recycling

Community recycling systems come in two main types—and one inherently brings more environmental-justice problems than the other. When garbage trucks come to collect your curbside recycling bins, their destination is usually a waste transfer station. Here, waste is sorted and taken to a MRF or materials recovery facility (recyclables), a municipal composter (organic waste), or a landfill or an incinerator (everything else). Rural areas may have some combination of these in one or two locations.

At a MRF (rhymes with “smurf”), recyclables are sorted by type (i.e. paper, glass, plastic, etc.), then sent out to facilities that specialize in doing the actual recycling. Here’s where the key differences lie. MRFs come in two types: clean or dirty. In a clean MRF, recyclable materials arrive at the facility already separated from regular trash—generally by individuals who sorted them at home. Either all recyclables will arrive commingled, which is called single-stream recycling, or further sorted by separating fiber (paper and cardboard) from containers (metal, plastic, and glass), known as dual-stream recycling. Any further pre-sorting is known as multi-stream recycling.

Generally speaking, the more pre-sorting that occurs before the recyclables arrive at the MRF, the cleaner the MRF is. However, single-stream MRFs using best practices to recover as many recyclables as possible can still be top-notch. A “dirty” MRF is one where trash and recyclables arrive mixed together, no at-home separation required. It’s the easiest for households because it requires no thinking whatsoever. Just toss everything into the garbage with the knowledge that it will all be sorted right at the end. Or will it?

Along with the environmental benefits recycling brings come deep concerns that all communities must consider to ensure no one is bearing too much of the trash burden.

The city of Houston is currently fighting off plans for a dirty MRF. The proposed “One Bin for All” initiative would get rid of all recycling programs in the city and build one giant dirty MRF that would accept recyclables mingled with trash for sorting. The problem with this plan is twofold, says Melanie Scruggs, Houston program director with the Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE). First, she says, “recyclers are looking for materials that are clean and dry. The biggest problem when you combine trash and recycling is that it contaminates the recyclables and diminishes their value.”

Since China and other major buyers of US recyclables no longer want dirty materials that aren’t cost-effective to recycle, US waste management companies have become much more careful about what they send to recyclers (see p. 15). More often than not, they’ll divert dirty recyclables to landfills or incinerators as a precaution. Dirty MRFs automatically cause excessive recycling contamination. Therefore, it’s very appealing for operators to pair them with incinerators, says Scruggs.

She points to a dirty MRF in Indianapolis that was trying to get a municipal contract last year. Representatives claimed the facility would recycle 100 percent of what went in, but it actually ended up incinerating 80 percent and recycling only 20.

“Dirty MRFs don’t have to set a particularly high recycling target and can still call themselves a recycling facility,” even with an incinerator on site, she says.

Incinerators spew a variety of toxins into the air, including carcinogenic dioxin, according to the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). In addition, they create toxic “bottom ash” containing heavy metals, dioxin, and other pollutants that must then be landfilled. And while many incineration projects tout their “waste-to-energy” benefits, these are more than offset by the fact that incinerators emit more carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour than any fossil- fuel-based power source, including coal plants, according to GAIA. Dirty MRFs also often tend to be located in communities of color. Houston’s proposed dirty MRF is no exception.

“The city was originally going to build [the dirty MRF] at an existing landfill or transfer station, which are all located in predominantly minority communities,” says Scruggs. “Houston’s trash is distributed to nine landfills and three recycling facilities right now. We don’t need to consolidate it into one neighborhood.” But when Dr. Bullard, TCE, and their allies raised this issue with the city, “local officials were quick to respond that Houston would not be burdening one community like that,” says Scruggs. “They changed their tune very quickly.”

For those who make environmental and industrial decisions, communities of color—regardless of their class status—have been considered to be throw-away communities; therefore, their land [is most often] used for garbage dumps, waste transfer stations, incinerators, dirty materials recovery facilities, and other waste disposal infrastructure.

Dr. Robert D. Bullard, “Father of Environmental Justice," Texas Southern University

More Waste Means More Trucks

New York City residents and visitors produce over 20,000 tons of solid waste every single day, according to the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), a network of local environmental- justice organizations. “About 75 percent of that solid waste is processed in just a handful of communities: specifically in Southeast Queens, South Bronx, and North Brooklyn,” says Priya Mulgaonkar, a policy organizer with NYC-EJA. The population in these areas is primarily African-American and Latino.

The resulting concentration of waste transfer stations and MRFs has been making people in those neighborhoods sick—literally.

“Especially in the summertime, when these facilities aren’t being closed properly, then people live and breathe garbage,” she says. “Some of the [waste-hauling] trucks aren’t sealed, so trash flies off during transport. It’s right in people’s backyards.”

Further exacerbating the pollution in these areas are the trucks that carry trash and recyclables to and from the facilities. Mulgaonkar notes that the commercial waste haulers, in particular, tend to be very inefficient about their routes: “These huge diesel trucks chug pollution into the streets, traveling an unnecessary amount of miles in these three main communities.” Due in part to the number of garbage and recycling trucks that rumble in and out of the South Bronx, a 2013 University of New York study found the area to have one of the highest asthma rates in the US.

Mulgaonkar notes that this extra truck traffic also contributes to safety concerns. “With over 250 carters competing to pick up enough waste to make a profit, drivers are often pressured by their bosses to speed, cut corners, and to ignore traffic signals,” she says. “This puts pedestrians at risk on the roads, and is also really unfair to the workers themselves, who are largely people of color, undocumented, and formerly incarcerated folks, and who often work 12-14 hour shifts.”

It’s not a matter of luxury for us. … It’s about, ‘Can my kid breathe? Can I breathe? Can we have a healthy and happy family here in the places we have to live?'

Kellie Terrie, South Bronx resident

Environmental Justice Advocates Fight Back

Thanks to activist-led initiatives, municipalities across the country are waking up to the fact that there are ways to recycle that don’t put an undue burden on one neighborhood over another.

The Texas Campaign for the Environment is pushing for the state to embrace true zero waste—no dirty MRFs or incinerators. Austin and Dallas now aim to divert 90 percent of their trash from landfills and incinerators by 2020, and San Antonio aims to divert 60 percent by 2025. San Antonio and Austin have mandatory recycling and municipal curbside composting already in place, and Dallas is working toward both. TCE is pushing for Houston to adopt a zerowaste plan as well.

Dr. Bullard, TCE, and their allies have fought off One Bin for All—so far. Though the plan could come back, the city just signed a two-year curbside recycling contract that has stalled the dirty MRF.

NYC-EJA and its allies have been uniting their efforts around the Transform Don’t Trash campaign, advocating for a cleaner, healthier waste system in New York City. In particular, they are calling for the city to award commercial waste-hauling contracts to companies that have the highest environmental standards, worker-safety and health standards, and worker salaries. In 2006, NYC-EJA and other organizations worked closely with then-Mayor Bloomberg’s office to develop a 20-year city-wide waste-disposal policy that, for the first time, relied on environmental- justice principles. The plan called for a reduction in waste facilities and truck traffic in overburdened communities, and a reduction in overall waste processing.

Unfortunately, Mulgaonkar says that the plan has yet to be fully implemented. The groups continue to pressure city leaders to fulfill the promises they made in 2006. Because, as Kellie Terrie, a resident of the South Bronx, told Transform Don’t Trash, environmental justice around recycling and waste hauling is critical. “It’s not a matter of luxury for us. We don’t have a choice,” Terrie said. “It’s about, ‘Can my kid breathe? Can I breathe? Can we have a healthy and happy family here in the places we have to live?’ Environmental justice is not an option for us. It’s a life-or-death issue.”

In our latest issue of Green American, we look at how to do recycling better. It's not only important to reduce, reuse and recycle: it's important to do it the right way.