Grateful for D.C.'s Zero Waste Omnibus Bill
Hello, Fellow Compost Champions,
Need something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving? Look no further than the DC City Council! You probably know that the District's Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act has been revived. In their first reading, the Council voted unanimously for it last Tuesday, November 17; the second vote is scheduled for next Tuesday, December 1. Now is the time to thank our Councilmembers for their support and remind them to vote again for this influential bill. It is just as crucial for constituents to inform their policymakers when they agree with them as when they don't - and here is an excellent opportunity to show our representatives we applaud their actions. To inspire you, see the below photo of a mechanized composter side-by-side the dumpster it would replace - with this legislation, we could do this all over the city!
Here is a list of the DC City Council Members with their emails:
Chairman Phil Mendelson - pmendelson@dccouncil.us
At Large:
David Gross - dgrosso@dccouncil.us
Anita Bonds - abonds@dccouncil.us
Elissa Silverman - esilverman@dccouncil.us
Robert White - rwhite@dccouncil.us
Ward 1: Brianne K. Nadeau - bnadeau@dccouncil.us
Ward 2: Brooke Pinto - bpinto@dccouncil.us
Ward 3: Mary Cheh mcheh@dccouncil.us
Ward 4: Brandon Todd - btodd@dccouncil.us
Ward 5: Kenyan McDuffie - kmcduffie@dccouncil.us
Ward 6: Charles Allen - callen@dccouncil.us
Ward 7: Vincent Gray - vgray@dccouncil.us
Ward 8: Trayon White - twhite@dccouncil.us
And here is a sample email you can send or modify to your desire. Adding your personal success story with composting will speak to the Councilmembers:
Dear Council Member XX,
Thank you for your support of the Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act. I am writing to encourage you to vote the same way next Tuesday.
The bill requires the DPW to develop a plan to address small decentralized composting systems and create a bonafide organics management infrastructure in the public space District-wide. It supports the tenants of the Sustainable DC plan and will contribute to DC's resilience in the era of climate change, including for our most marginalized communities. The Zero Waste Bill will be a significant step toward meeting our Zero Waste goals of an 80% reduction in waste by 2032. We applaud your vote to bring this goal to reality.
As a composter supporter, I am interested in the sections regarding a District-wide comprehensive organics management plan, requirements for specific private collection properties to source separate back-of-house commercial food waste, and establishing a grant program for on-site organics processing equipment. DOEE has already provided local non-profits a grant for an on-site composter in Ward 8’s THEARC DCCK Cafe, which is successfully composting food waste from the cafe and then directly providing that compost to the co-located THEARC Farm. We know it works! Let's see more enterprising projects such as these come from this bill.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Ward X
Thanks - writing these kinds of emails truly make a difference! And please let us know if you have any questions regarding this email, the Zero Waste Omnibus Amendment Act, or Loop Closing at info@loopclosing.com. Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe!