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At the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we document and promote innovative uses of local power that can be used around the country. Community composting is a way that neighborhoods can take control of what could be waste, such as food scraps, and turn it into wealth, such as healthy soil. Prospect Heights Community Farm in Brooklyn shows us … Read More
Fawnia Soo Hoo, a reporter for lifestyle blog Refinery 29, reached out to Institute for Local Self-Reliance co-director and Composting for Community initiative director Brenda Platt to discuss the waste issues of the growing trend of facemasks.… Read More
In February of 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama visited ILSR project manager Linda Bilsens’ backyard urban farm to demonstrate the benefit of growing and eating local. The home gardening magazine Clever Root details this visit and the prominence of the White House Kitchen Garden.… Read More
Urban Ore, the material recovery enterprise in Berkeley, CA, and ILSR have been working partners for over 30 years. In recent years our collaboration has focused on the effort to substitute corporate dominated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for our current recycling sector players comprised of diverse interests including organized citizens, environmental groups, haulers, processors, manufacturers, government … Read More
The newly installed White House Kitchen Garden speaks to an important throughline in American history and could be a profound new symbol of community reuse, wealth and self-reliance, all of which are vital to strengthening local economies across the country.
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The CEO of Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) commented to CNBC that, based on the facts, glass and organics should not be collected because they lack economic value for shareholders. In a related panel discussion, the need for top-down legislation to help recycling was deemed unnecessary. Accordingly, WMI is reducing its investments in recycling. “As profits in this … Read More
On September 27th, Brenda Platt presented “Composting to Build Local Equity” at the San Diego Food System Alliance’s Food Waste Summit 2 in San Diego. Brenda outlined the benefits of composting and the importance of a distributed infrastructure in order to build local soils, local businesses, local jobs, and local equity. Her remarks set the stage … Read More
In collaboration with the US Composting Council (USCC) and BioCycle, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance announces two events to be held in conjunction with the USCC’s International Conference and Trade Show, COMPOST2017, in Los Angeles: Best Practices in Community Composting Workshop and Cultivating Community Composting Forum 2017.… Read More
In my career of five decades of working in the recycling field for ILSR there is only one person I consider a true “Johnny Appleseed of Recycling” in the U.S. His name is Murray J. Fox and he remains a sage of recycling, whose own history provides insight into today’s policies and issues. He never failed … Read More
