On March 31 we had a wonderful event with our supporters at which we presented our accomplishments for 2022 and outlined our goals for the next 24 months. We are excited to share that plan and the pilot projects that informed it. Our plan has 5 main program areas:
1. School Engagement
We are proud to announce that The Palapa School achieved the Agente Cero/Agent Zero designation in 2023 in recognition of its achievements in becoming a zero-waste campus and reducing waste at events. Palapa students will now be zero waste ambassadors as we roll out our program at all 16 public schools in Todos Santos and Pescadero
2. Community Engagement
The community embraced zero waste in 2022! Several Todos Santos festivals including GastroVino, Dia de Muertos, the Film Festival and the Open Studio Tour were all single-use plastic-free and are making plans to produce even less waste in 2023-24. There were community and beach cleanups and our new head of Community and Education Engagement, Carla Ramirez, is actively working on programs to engage more of the community in zero waste actions.
3. Waste Reduction
We will employ several means to educate and inspire our community to reduce the amount of waste they produce, but the main theme of this program is reducing the number of single-use plastic water bottles purchased and discarded in our community. In 2022 we facilitated the establishment of free, public water bottle refill stations at Plaza Amigo and El Mercado at DoceCuarenta with our wonderful partner Water Ways Baja. These complement the water bottle refill taps at A Granel and Mini Super Munchies. In 2023-24 we will work to expand this network of refill stations and create a map for locals and visitors alike. Water Ways Baja also created portable water bottle refill stations and is making them available for public events.
4. Waste Separation
In 2022 we conducted pilot projects in waste separation with 3 large businesses in town, 2 of which will certify: Hotel San Cristobal and Rancho Corazon. Both made impressive progress and became so inspired that they each started their own, on-site composting operations. Based on their experience, Hotel San Cristobal helped us create a waste separation manual that we will use as we roll out the program in 2023-24 to high impact businesses, educational institutions and property managers. Rancho Corazon now diverts almost 73% of its waste from the landfill.
5. Organic waste management
Our goal is to divert organic waste from the landfill to make high quality soil products to be used in our own community. In 2022 we completed 3 pilot projects with community composters, and our 2023-24 goal is to continue to maximize local composting operations, continue to roll-out on-site composting for homes and businesses, and to create a scalable community-based organic waste farm that creates high quality soil to be applied back into our community.
THANK YOU to all of you who attended the March 31 fundraiser for helping to kickoff this ambitious 24 month plan. And thank you to all of our wonderful Alianza Cero Basura supporters who have invested in the zero waste future of our community and have allowed our programs to flourish thus far. If you would like to increase your level of support, please click on the Donate button on the top of the page. If you have any questions or would like to have a more detailed discussion about our two year plan, please send us an email.
Team Alianza Cero Basura
