Detailed summary

Founding and Background of Zero Waste Ithaca

  • Yayoi Koizumi, a single parent who raised her son with autism, became interested in the pervasiveness of toxic chemicals and their effects on children, which ultimately led her to start Zero Waste Ithaca, a grassroots environmental group, in 2019, after her son went off to college.
  • The group, Zero Waste Ithaca, has been actively fighting waste and pollution by suing Cornell University for its plan to install artificial turf, pushing Ithaca’s school district to transition to reusable cutlery in its school lunchrooms, and lobbying the city and county to improve their waste reduction commitments.
  • Koizumi believes that eliminating waste is not just about reducing trash and environmental toxins, but also about questioning the pattern of consumption and consumerism, and she thinks that zero waste is a way to fight the economic system built on disposability and profit at the expense of people’s health and the planetary environment.

Policy and Legislative Efforts

  • Zero Waste Ithaca was among the advocates that successfully lobbied for a city-wide waste reduction proposal in the city’s draft Climate Action Plan, which includes exploring opportunities such as single-use plastic ordinances and promoting programs that provide incentives for manufacturers to design greener products.
  • Koizumi’s group has also collected hundreds of petition signatures from businesses and residents in support of a Bring Your Own campaign, which encourages shoppers to bring their own bags and containers, and over 100 businesses have become part of the program.
  • In addition to her local efforts, Koizumi is also active in advocating for improved legislation at the state level, pushing for a statewide bill that would require establishments to allow people to bring their own reusable containers for leftovers or drink refills, known as the “Right to Refill” bill.

Expanding the ‘Right to Refill’ Initiative

  • Koizumi would like to see the “Right to Refill” bill go further, allowing people to bring their own containers for take-out orders at restaurants and for deli items at grocery stores, and she worries that waste reduction efforts often stop at improving recycling, which does not address the production of trash and the unnecessary use of less sustainable materials.
  • Koizumi sees zero waste policies as a more affordable and attainable avenue toward sustainability for local governments and individuals, providing a concrete way for people to participate in climate action, rather than just waiting for the city to implement larger-scale changes.

Opposition to Plastic and Synthetic Turf

  • Koizumi, an Ithaca woman, is actively battling against the use of plastic and synthetic turf in her community, citing the unnecessary desire for convenience as a major driver of these projects, and instead advocating for essential needs to be met in a more environmentally friendly manner.
  • She has been involved in various initiatives, including spearheading opposition to local synthetic turf projects at universities, filing lawsuits against Cornell for its renovations, and organizing community events such as film screenings and trash-pickups, with her team of volunteers having collected 800-pounds of trash from the Cayuga Inlet in a single cleanup effort.
  • Koizumi’s organization, ZWI, has been critical of the presence of “forever chemicals” in synthetic turf, which are carcinogenic and potentially carcinogenic compounds that do not easily break down in the environment, and has prompted her to take action against the university for providing misleading information on the matter.

Promoting Zero Waste and Overcoming Challenges

  • Through her activism, Koizumi aims to promote zero waste and has been working with the city to include zero waste in their climate action plan, with the ultimate goal of giving people the freedom to choose reusable containers over single-use plastics.
  • Despite facing numerous obstacles and challenges in her efforts, Koizumi remains resolute and unwavering in her commitment to reducing plastic use, and she believes that those who insist on continuing to use single-use plastics are the true “hardliners”, rather than herself and others who are advocating for more sustainable practices.