Earth Day 2025 from Pryce Scott, HR Benefits Specialist!

Tuesday, April 22^nd is EARTH DAY! In celebration, I wanted to dedicate this Spotlight to education, resources, and organizations working hard to make the world, and our local community, more sustainable.

Earth Day Events

• Saturday, April 19^th @ Idlewild Park (10:00am – 5:00pm) FREE
  • Reno Earth Day at Idlewild Park is an award-winning, eco-friendly celebration of sustainability and community action. This family-friendly event features hundreds of local non-profits and artisans, showcasing eco-friendly products, services, and ideas. Enjoy live entertainment on multiple stages, interactive workshops, and activities focused on environmental education. Whether you’re passionate about green living or just want a fun day outdoors, this event is perfect for all ages!
• Saturday, April 26^th at The Village at Palisades Tahoe (11:00am – 5:00pm) FREE
  • This event is a community tradition to learn about sustainable products and services offered by local organizations and businesses, meet with local area nonprofits that share Earth Day values, as well as showcasing local entertainment. Our goal is to connect the community with the people and resources found in our region who foster innovation, initiate change and ultimately implement an equitable partnership for a green planet.

Combating Food Waste

In the U.S., 38% of the food supply goes unsold or uneaten each year—about 145 billion meals worth $473 billion. Nearly half (48.2%) of this waste comes from households. Once in landfills, decomposing food releases methane and carbon dioxide, making landfills the third-largest source of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. To combat this, reducing food waste at home is essential.

• KTMB resources and education on preventing, reducing, and composting food waste

• If your backyard fruit trees or garden are overflowing this summer, consider sharing your abundance.

• 1. You can drop off unprocessed fruits and vegetables at the Reno Mobile Market (Riverside Farmer’s Market at Idlewild) on Sundays between 7:30 and 9 a.m. (that’s ideal!) or anytime before 1 p.m. Look for the dedicated table in the back, where a volunteer will be ready to receive your donation.

• 1. • These food donations, in addition to monetary donations, contribute to the Reno Mobile Market’s GiftBox Program. These boxes are packed and distributed every Sunday and handed out on a no-questions-asked, first-come, first-served basis.

• 1. If you have a LOT of quality fruit each year that goes to waste, look into getting the help of the Reno Gleaning Project, a group of volunteer pickers working to improve tree stewardship and reduce fruit waste in the Truckee Meadows through:

• 1. • FREE picking labor using professional harvest equipment
     • Crating and transportation of ripe, edible fruit to the organizations that feed our community

• 1. • Make sure to make a request and fill out the form well in advance, before June 15^th.

• Down to Earth Composting—Pickup and Community Drop Off Composting

Effective Recycling

Here is a general plastic recycling guide. Did you know that the chasing arrows DON’T mean that the product is automatically recyclable? When in doubt for plastic items, only recycle #1 and #2, and clean them of any food waste. NEVER recycle an object with food, paint, or other contaminants. Which means, yes: that pizza box and those coffee cups should not go in the recycling.

• Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful – Searchable Recycling List
• Recycling Hotline: NDEP operates a toll-free Recycling Hotline (1-800-597-5865) to provide information on local recycling services by county for common materials — like paint, fluorescent light tubes, batteries — and more unusual recyclable items — like electronics, refrigerators, cars, and lawn and garden equipment.
• [PODCAST] “Discard Anthropology (GARBAGE) with Robin Nagle” by Ologies [+ Transcript]
  • An episode interviewing Dr. Robin Nagle, a clinical professor, author, TED talk speaker, and former New York sanitation worker about what can and can’t actually be recycled, sticky mustard bottles, drugs in the trash, Swedish Death Cleaning, mobsters and landfills, Bitcoin in the dump, and the future of garbage.
    • “There was a deliberate campaign that started in the 1950s to teach us that we are the individuals responsible, and by extension, municipalities are responsible, not the manufacturers of those products. That changes everything.

      […]

      But I know, partly because I study it, and then other people know this sort of in their gut, “Yeah, I’m not sure… We’ve had recycling for a while now, I don’t see the earth getting better, so what’s going on?”