The Zero Waste Committee organizes many of Sustainable Saratoga’s annual events including the well-known Saratoga Recycles Day and Paint Collection Day. The Committee focuses on finding creative solutions to the waste stream, with the goal of reducing, as much as possible, the amount of waste entering landfills. This goal is driven by our principle of the 5 R’s- reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, and rot.

Recycles Day

Recycles Day is an annual fall event that focuses on recycling, reuse, and redistribution of donated household items to community members in need. We partner with local nonprofits and businesses to collect unwanted household items such as electronic waste, small appliances, scrap metal, textiles, musical instruments, children’s books, bikes, eyeglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, backpacks, and camping equipment. The 2024 Saratoga Recycles Day will be on Saturday, October 19 at the SPAC overflow parking lot and is sponsored by Adirondack Trust Company. 

Paint Collection Day

Paint Collection Day is a partnership between Sustainable Saratoga and GreenSheen, that began in 2022 after NYS became a Paint Steward State, committing to recycling paint in collaboration with manufacturers, retailers, and recyclers. GreenSheen transforms old paint into high-quality recycled paint that is then re-sold to be reused. The 2024 Paint Collection Day will be on Saturday, September 21 at the Saratoga Springs High School.

Composting workshops

Our Zero Waste Committee volunteers also lead regular backyard composting workshops that are free, public education opportunities for local residents to learn how to compost in their own backyards. The next workshop will be Saturday, September 14 at Pitney Meadows Community Farm.

Repair Café

Saratoga Springs Repair Café is co-hosted by Sustainable Saratoga and the Saratoga Springs Public Library. Repair Cafés are free community events with the goal of repairing broken objects to extend their life, keeping things out of landfills, and fostering an appreciation for the art of repairing things.

Team Up to Clean Up

We organize an annual volunteer Team Up to Clean Up to raise awareness about the impacts of litter pollution, specifically single-use plastic pollution. Since the first clean up in 2021 we have removed 302 bags of litter from local streets and parks.

Helping to Make Community Events Greener

In February 2024, our Zero Waste Committee launched a reuse initiative at ChowderFest. Thanks to the participation of Discover Saratoga, Hattie’s, and Caffe Lena, our volunteers were able to wash and distribute over 800 reusable bowls to customers at Hattie’s on Phila Street. This demonstrated an exciting sustainable solution to replace single-use disposable products  ChowderFest that we are excited to expand upon in 2025. 

If you’re interested in volunteering with our Zero Waste Committee or leading a specific project, email zerowaste@sustainablesaratoga.org for more information!

Read the latest Zero Waste blog posts

Artificial Turf — Sustainable Solution or Environmental Problem?
Chowderfest Gets Sustainable — One Cup at a Time

UPDATE

The December 2023 Repair Café was a success! We had 45 guests, who brought 48 items to be repaired. Most of those items left the Café as good as new: 38 were repaired, and several guests left with advice on what to do with an item that couldn’t be repaired or completely repaired.

Here’s the rundown on what guests brought for the coaches to look at:

Photo credit: Wendy Mahaney

13 pieces of clothing and textiles
11 lamps
5 small appliances
4 small electronics
2 computer-related items
3 clocks & watches
2 pieces of jewelry
2 pieces of furniture
6 miscellaneous electrical & mechanical items

Sustainable Saratoga and the Saratoga Springs Public Library will co-host our tenth Repair Café on Saturday, December 9th. If you’ve never been to a Repair Café, I invite you to stop by the Harry Dutcher Room in the Library between 1 and 4 pm on Saturday to see what it’s all about. Better yet, bring something broken with you and get it fixed! It’s free, and you don’t need a reservation.

Dutch environmentalist and former journalist Martine Postma came up with the Repair Café concept. She organized the very first Repair Café in Amsterdam on October 18, 2009. Fourteen years later, there are 2,943 Repair Cafés all over the world, including one right here in Saratoga and several more in the surrounding area.

Why Repair?

There are many reasons for repairing your broken things. Protecting our environment is a really powerful incentive. Repairing and reusing reduces what goes into landfills, and reduces demand for new goods made with precious natural resources and/or toxic substances. When you give historical and sentimental items new life, they can go on to serve future generations. Fixing a cherished toy puts a smile back on a child’s face. 

Before fast fashion and planned obsolescence became the norm, repairing was just what people did. They mended torn clothing over and over again and put broken tools back together. Things were made to last and constructed so that they could be repaired. And, fixing broken items saved money, which is not always the case today. The Repair Cafe website says it best: The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves…The Repair Café teaches people to see their possessions in a new light. And, once again, to appreciate their value.

The impact of Repair Cafés

According to the website, Repair Cafés worldwide fix nearly 53,000 items per month, and kept an estimated 420,000 kilos (463 tons) of waste out of landfills in 2019.

Closer to home, guests have brought 532 items to our Saratoga Repair Cafés since June of 2018. Our coaches have a great rate of success, and are able to repair most of the items they are presented with. The most common items guests bring in include lamps, clothing, jewelry, vacuum cleaners, and other small household appliances. But our coaches will give anything a try! If they can’t fix it, possibly because they don’t have a replacement part on hand, or the appropriate tool, they can often advise on where to get a professional repair.

The thing I like best about Repair Cafés is the atmosphere of community and positivity. The coaches really enjoy what they do, and guests get into the spirit as well. When you bring something to repair, we encourage you to watch and even participate in working on the repair, learning about how things work and how we can extend their useful lives. As a textile coach myself, I get a real sense of satisfaction from seeing something go from useless to usable, and from seeing how pleased people are to be able to wear or use their items again. 

Exhibit Hall buzzes with energy. Photo credit: Scott Bergmann Photography

Saratoga Sustainability Fair delivered information and hands-on learning to an eager audience

Media Contact: Caroline Rothaug (caroline@sustainablesaratoga.org)

The Saratoga Sustainability Fair buzzed with energy on April 16. Over 350 attendees explored the exhibit hall and engaged with organizations representing all aspects of sustainability, including land and wildlife conservation, green energy and transportation, zero waste, and environmental justice. Visitors to the EV Car Show learned about various models from owners and dealers, and young eco-warriors got their hands dirty in the Kids’ Cove. Repair Café guests and coaches worked to fix items including lamps, small appliances, clothing, jewelry and computers. Kelsey Trudell, Sustainable Saratoga’s Executive Director, was “overjoyed with the attendance at the Sustainability Fair. The positive feedback was encouraging and we are already looking forward to next year’s event!”

EV Car Show draws interested motorists. Photo credit: Scott Bergmann Photography

Jen Natyzak, Assistant Director for Sustainability Programs summed it up: “The keynote from Jen Kretzer and Elodie Linck of the Wild Center provided a pathway to make a climate action plan, and the workshops and exhibitors demonstrated how climate action takes many forms, as repair café’s, community organizing, land conservation, policy, and so much more. Thank you to the 30+ organizations and businesses who made this event possible and powerful!”

Skidmore College and Sustainable Saratoga would like to thank the Fair sponsors for their generous financial support:  Citizens’ Climate Lobby, MLK Saratoga, New York Solar Energy Society, Saratoga Lake Association, Sustainable Sundry/Tree Huggers, Sustainable Wealth Advisors, and Faculty Director of Civic Engagement, Eric Morser. 

Visit the Fair website for information about exhibitors, sponsors, and presenters. Watch the entire Keynote address.

About Skidmore College

Founded in 1903, Skidmore College is a highly selective private, coeducational liberal arts college of about 2,600 students. Skidmore is consistently named one of the “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” by U.S. News and World Report and has recently been recognized as one of “America’s Most Entrepreneurial Colleges” by Forbes, a “Top College Value” by Kiplinger and one of “The Best 388 Colleges” by The Princeton Review. Travel and Leisure has also called Saratoga Springs, home to Skidmore’s campus, one of “America’s Best College Towns.”

About Sustainable Saratoga

Sustainable Saratoga is a not-for-profit organization that promotes sustainable practices and the protection of natural resources through education, advocacy and action, for the benefit of current and future generations in the Saratoga Springs area. Since 2008, Sustainable Saratoga has been a leader in promoting awareness of environmental issues and what we as a local community can do to minimize our ecological impact while maintaining a high quality of life. To learn more about Sustainable Saratoga, visit: https://sustainablesaratoga.org/