News — Janelle Rolke

by Janelle Rolke @sustainablestepswithjanelle This is the seventh chapter from "Lead a Circular Lifestyle By Practicing the R's of Sustainability" By composting food waste you are naturally recycling decomposed organic materials. This process is one of the most simple ways to combat climate change, so I’ll cut right to the chase and ask you to start composting TODAY!   In the U.S. 60 billion pounds of food waste goes into landfills each year. Food scraps and other compostables that are sent to the landfill break down in an anaerobic environment (a place lacking oxygen) and create methane gas, which is 25 times worse...

by Janelle Rolke @sustainablestepswithjanelle This is the sixth chapter from "Lead a Circular Lifestyle By Practicing the R's of Sustainability" If a particular item cannot be refused, reduced, or reused then perhaps it can be recycled. Of the seven R’s of sustainability, “Recycle” is the most tedious topic for me to write about.  It’s  confusing, controversial, and there’s always more to learn about. I previously mentioned that the recycling industry is broken.  Here are just a few reasons to support my claim: 91% of plastic is NOT recycled, the process to pick up/sort/melt is expensive, and because plastic degrades, it cannot be reused...

by Janelle Rolke @sustainablestepswithjanelle This is the fifth chapter from "Lead a Circular Lifestyle By Practicing the R's of Sustainability" Refill Stores that offer refill and bulk purchases are encouraging customers to reuse jars and containers again and again to avoid single-use packaging.   By choosing to refill, you are bringing the previous 4 R’s of sustainability full circle: rethinking how you consume, refusing to support companies that may not align with your beliefs towards social and environmental rights, and reducing your waste by reusing a container.   Retailers that offer refill stations and buying in bulk typically allow you to bring in...

by Janelle Rolke @sustainablestepswithjanelle As children we were taught a fluffy version of an ugly reality happening in the world; “If you Reduce, Reuse and Recycle you are being a superb environmental steward.” However, as adults, we learn that it is far more complicated than that. For instance, the recycling industry is broken, food insecurity continues to be a growing issue, meanwhile food waste is higher than ever, plastic is toxic to produce, consume and recycle, and the concentration of CO2​​​​​​​ in our atmosphere is the highest it has been in human history. The current state of the world is unsettling,...