Image by Amanda Iyana Michaels
Our Goal
Our team of community volunteers is working towards a Zero Waste Pacific Palisades. We are currently focused on two campaigns. Our Choose to Reuse campaign promotes reusable shopping and produce bags in the Palisades (and more broadly, is committed to replacing our throw-away culture with one of sharing and re-use). Our Commit to Compost campaign is working on several strategies for composting our food scraps as individuals and as a community.
Choose To Reuse
Reusable Bags
Zero Waste’s Reusable Bags campaign encourages Palisadians to reject single use shopping bags, produce bags, and bread bags and replace these with reusable bags. Palisadians who sign our pledge not to use single-use bags are given a free Reusable Produce Bag at our Farmer’s Market table, which pops up every few weeks at the Pali Farmer’s market.
Resilient Palisades has purchased a large set of stainless steel reusable cutlery and cups. We make these available for use instead of plastic cutlery at our Pali Veg Fest events. They are available for free loan to members of our community hosting larger events.
Contact us to arrange a loan.
Reusable Cutlery and Cups
Request stainless steel cutlery and cups for your next event
#CutOutCutlery
In order to save restaurants money and reduce plastic waste, Resilient Palisades is supporting the #CutOutCutlery campaign by Habits of Waste. We are asking local restaurants to provide plastic cutlery ONLY when diners ask for it. This saves money and reduces plastics from entering our oceans. Postmates and Uber Eats already joined in and changed their default setting for plastic cutlery to be available “upon request” only, and within one year Postmates saved 122 MILLION packs of plastic cutlery from entering the waste stream!
We are hoping for 100% participation from Pacific Palisades restaurants. Participating restaurants will have the #CutOutCutlery sign in their front window.
These restaurants are already part of our campaign and more will be added. Please make sure you support them and tell them you are happy they are participating in the #CutOutCutlery campaign!
Caffe Delfini
* Casa Nostra Ristorante * Casa Nostra Trattoria * Cinque Terre West * Edo Bites * Domino’s Pizza Palisades * The Draycott * Fiesta Feast * Golden Bull * Hank’s * Kayndaves * Palisades Garden Cafe * Palisades Pizza * Patrick’s Roadhouse * Porta Via * Pure Energy Cafe * Taco Bell * Taj Palace * Vittorio’s
Reusable LA
Resilient Palisades is pleased to have joined the coalition of organizations supporting ReusableLA which is “working on resolving LA’s plastic pollution issue by championing a reusable culture and empowering other cities to do the same.”
Commit to Compost Campaign
The Zero Waste Commit to Compost Campaign facilitates home composting by hosting community outreach and education events (in-person and via Zoom) and by pairing Palisadians with local composting mentors.
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If you are interested in hosting a composting demonstration in your neighborhood, please contact us.
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You can find our guide to vermicomposting here.
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To learn more about home composting, check out LACompost’s helpful guide.
Food Scrap Drop-off and Collection Options
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Resilient Palisades is working to create a centralized community composting hub in Pacific Palisades. Please contact us to get involved in this effort or to help us fund it.
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Meanwhile, a Resilient Palisades leader is facilitating free food scrap drop-off at a private location in Pacific Palisades. Learn where and how to drop off your food scraps here.
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CompostableLA provides a (fee-based) regular pickup service for your food scraps. Here is a great video about CompostableLA’s work.
SB 1383
Senate Bill (SB) 1383, which went into effect January 1, 2022, requires residents and businesses to recycle food waste and other organic waste to reduce methane production, which is a major contributor of greenhouse emissions.
LA Sanitation has indicated that they are not yet ready to receive household food waste in the green bin. Eventually we can expect to be able to place our food scraps into our green bins. The green bin contents will likely be transported to facilities that will anaerobically digest the organic matter, creating biogas which will be captured and used. Alternatively, we can even further reduce emissions while improving the health of our soil by composting our scraps at home or locally in our communities.
Here are some helpful articles and resources:
LASanitation’s List of FAQ’s about SB1383
Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance – Food Waste
CalRecycle Information on SB 1383
Why is Composting So Important?
Organic waste accounts for a significant portion of California’s waste stream. Left to decompose in landfills, the organic waste releases methane, a gas that traps the sun’s heat, warms the atmosphere, and contributes to global warming and climate change. Organic waste in landfills also emits air pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), which contributes to health conditions like asthma. (Source: https://www.sandiego.gov/environmental-services/recycling/sb1383)
Composting is beneficial because it:
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Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests.
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Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.
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Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material.
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Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.
(Source: epa.gov/recycle/composting-home).