Reducing Arlington’s waste was on the Arlington annual Town Meeting agenda this May.
Zero Waste Arlington member Jim Ballin presented the year-in-review report. Here are his remarks.
Read the full report
The big news: last year you all passed a Resolution supporting a Zero Waste Plan. Thank you! We have started work on that plan through 3 working groups. We hope to eventually have funding to hire a consultant to assist with a final report. So, right now it is a DIY project, where we’re building a roadmap to less trash.
Our Reduce Single Use programs had a banner year. At the Beer Garden, we avoided about 1,000 single-use cups per event with reusable cups. We even tested whether beer tastes better in a reusable cup. We think so.. At Town Day, we gave away over 800 rescued water bottles, provided free water from the a MWRA water truck, used 124 reusable food containers, and collected a barrel of compost.
And the schools are crushing it—Gibbs switched to reusable trays, four schools now use metal utensils instead of single-use plastic, and all K-12schools are replacing those little single-use ketchup packets with pumps.
Arlington On Tap keeps growing—we now have seven outdoor refill stations, adding Parallel Park and Pierce Field this spring. Our website has an interactive map of every filling station in town. The goal is simple: make tap water so convenient that buying a plastic water bottle is like using a pay phone – really not necessary anymore.
On the legislative front, we also like to track waste reduction legislation. We’ve been pushing the updated bottle bill, Extended Producer Responsibility for paint, mattresses, and batteries, and single-use plastic bans. The bottle bill got tabled again this session, which is disappointing but we never give up hope. We’re cautiously optimistic about the battery bill though, since even the battery industry supports it. Turns out that recycling lithium ion batteries is good for the environment and keeps garbage trucks from going up in flames.
Our outreach keeps growing. Facebook is up to 1,160 followers—a 10 percent jump. Our Google Group has nearly 400 members. And we’re out at community events, with at least one person trying to convince you to carry a reusable fork at all times.
A few numbers for the data lovers in the room. We are seeing some good trends. We diverted 28 more tons of textiles this year, earning schools over 16,000 dollars. 2025 solid waste, recyclables, and yard waste numbers have stayed about the same as 2024. And we know the new 65-gallon carts are a bit big for many of us, but if yours is mostly empty on trash day, congratulations—you’re doing it right.
Arlington population is over 46,000; so over 5% of the population is subscribing to Black Earth (doesn’t include Feed FiDO or homes sharing a Black Earth subscription).
Larry Slotnick, Scott Mullen, and Priya Sankalia stepped down this year after many years on the committee We greatly appreciate their years of service. With their departures, we have three open spots. So if you’ve ever wanted to spend your third Thursday evening talking about food waste, plastic and trash with passionate people, this is your moment.
Lastly, I want to thank Charlotte Milan, who is retiring this spring as Arlington’s Recycling Coordinator, for her contributions to our committee and her dedication to helping Arlington achieve its recycling and waste reduction goals. We will miss her.
So join the efforts of Zero Waste Arlington! Check us out online and in-person. We’re always looking for volunteers. Thanks for sticking with me—I know waste stats aren’t exactly exciting, but we so much appreciate everyone’s efforts to help us with our mission to reduce Arlington’s waste and hopefully save the Town some badly needed money. Thank you.
Resources:
- Zero Waste Arlington Town Meeting Report 2026
- Town Meeting Report 2026 Presentation Slides
