Next Meeting: Thursday May 8th
Note this is an off-cycle meeting date due to the Town Meetings held on Mondays and Wednesdays of early May. We will meet in the Staff Room of the Belmont Public Library 7–9p.m.
Thank you!
Thank you to our recent presenters, Anne Marie Lambert of the Belmont Citizens Forum and Idith Haber of the Coalition to Preserve the Belmont Uplands for their illuminating presentation on the Belmont Uplands: its history, significance and current efforts. Read about future events and review presentation materials via our latest newsletter.
Previous Event Follow-up
Recycling Q&A with Mary Beth Calnan, Belmont Recycling Coordinator and members of Wellington’s PTO (GREEN TEAM)
Recycling Re-Cap – Part 1: How does Belmont measure up?
Recycling Re-Cap – Part 2: Plastic, Lots o’ Plastic
Recycling Re-Cap – Part 3: Bits & Bobs & Food Waste
Ongoing Initiatives
- The Green Communities Application.
- Safe Routes to Schools Community Working Group
- Stay connected on the Belmont CommUNITY Path
- Reduce plastic bags with getmyeco.com
Will we miss another solar opportunity? Tell Belmont Light to put solar panels on the substation, before it’s too late.
April 21, 2014 at 11:43 AM 
April 17, 2014 at 4:36 PM 
Sustainable Belmont Joan S Teebagy thanks for commenting. I hear what you are saying, and I'm sure the Recycling Director in Cambridge would agree that we need to reduce first, as she said as much in a recent conference I attended. I'll paraphrase her, "we can't recycle our way out of this". That said, capturing the food waste and other materials like paper towels and napkins that otherwise would be burned or landfill, is a positive capture. This waste stream gets diverted to the biodigesters to make clean energy from the methane emissions - those methane emissions are 20x more harmful in the environment than carbon emissions. This renewable energy source (biodigesters) is targeted to increase in Massachusetts significantly. I share your concern about the paradox - it is the same with plastic bag recycling, bottle recycling - overall plastic bottles have increased despite recycling and we are still not capturing the majority (my recollection is that it is less than 50%). Food waste is unavoidable however, unlike plastic bottles & bags. Be able to include animal matter is huge - something you can't compost at home (generally). Paper towels also are not necessary, but capturing them is a better step to overall zero waste. I would expect the city also supports 'reduce' with other programming and education...many inroads! Open to more thoughts - thanks for commenting.
April 12, 2014 at 10:53 PM