SPOKANE ZERO WASTE
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to change the systems that make waste by shifting the values of culture and commerce.
About This Cause
Spokane Zero Waste (SZW) works to reduce waste in three sectors, textiles, food, and plastics. Our programs include Mend-It Cafe; a free monthly repair cafe that sets up at various locations throughout the year, Upcycle Fashion Lab; skills building and upcycling classes for adults and a free open lab for tweens and teens and ReCraftLab; a brand of upcycled goods and a jobs training program for immigrant and refugee women in the sewing industry. Our work reducing food waste centers on teaching the food web through hands-on experience with students, conducting waste audits in school lunchrooms, building school gardens and managing various types of composting systems. Additionally we work with local event planners to develop waste plans that reduce upstream waste and properly manage downstream waste while actively and passively educating vendors and attendees. We address plastic waste reduction through grassroots advocacy in support of local, state and national policies limiting plastic production as well as producer accountability/responsibility. Our newest endeavor addresses all of these concerns at the root. SZW is developing partnerships through which to reinvigorate a local fiber industry, using the Fibershed model. Fibershed is a soil to soil model which develops regional, natural fiber systems that generate lasting prosperity for local economies, global climate, and the health and diversity of our ecosystem. Program activities focus on one goal: the development of a regional system where textiles are grown, processed, designed, sewn, sold, worn, and eventually composted. We are currently working with The Washington State Sheep Producers Association, local fiber mills and processors as well as local artisans to develop markets for wool from fertilizer to insulation. In the end our work is about shifting the values of the dominant culture from one narrowly focused on profits regardless of the cost to human and non-human life or the impacts on the ecosystems we all depend on, to one that respects and understands the interconnectivity and interdependence of all life.