Adapted from Sustainable DC’s wonderful newsletter With Thanksgiving just around the corner, meal planning and preparation is in full swing. You’ve spent the entire year cutting down on plastic, eating less meat, and conserving water — and now Thanksgiving presents a great opportunity to put another feather in your sustainability cap. According to the Natural Resources …

Clean Fairfax is proud to introduce Litter Free Virginia, an initiative to fight for litter prevention legislation across the state of Virginia! At its core, Litter Free Virginia is a coalition of people and organizations (non-profits, businesses and more) that are frustrated with litter and waste management issues, and want to develop and support policies …

It can be difficult to see the good in this rough and tumble world of conservation. There are so many things that need improving, so many people that need help. But sometimes we need to stop and smell the roses. What roses, you say? Today’s rose is Fairfax County Public Works and Environmental Services, and …

We all do it, probably on a hourly/daily basis. There’s a fast food cup nestled on the bed of grass next to the sidewalk, or a Snickers wrapper blowing down the street towards the cul-de-sac. You shake your head disapprovingly, but walk by without picking it up. You think, “I’m not touching that — who …

Clean Fairfax is excited to announce the development of our Community Map! Found on our website’s homepage, it displays local Fairfax County cleanups (hosted by Clean Fairfax or otherwise) as well as community events and markets. Our website typically garners thousands of unique views a month, and consequently, we believe that this will be a …

Plastic is plaguing our environment. It comes in all sizes and forms, but the smallest types are called microplastic. Microplastic is defined as “extremely small pieces of plastic debris in the environment resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste.” (US Department of Commerce) We know that microplastic comes from various …

Clean Fairfax is committed to the 5 R’s of sustainability — refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot. Each method has its own purpose and place in the sustainability toolkit. Together, they comprise a way of living that is increasingly being referred to as “zero waste.”  Ideally, zero waste means not creating any waste at all, but more practically, …

On a crisp Wednesday morning, Clean Fairfax schlepped into the District of Columbia to learn more about sustainable food production systems at the 2018 Food Tank Summit. Food Tank, a think tank that focuses on all things food, hosts several conferences around the country each year and welcomes leading thinkers on food systems issues to …

Do you like fresh vegetables? Do you like to support local farmers? Sign up for a local CSA program! Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are simple: members pay a set weekly or monthly fee in advance for shares of a local farm’s produce, which is delivered to your door or a nearby pick-up location. It’s …

There’s no getting around it: shopping for food in an ethical and sustainable manner is difficult. The information needed to do so can be hard to find, and is in many cases unknowable to a non-expert. Transparency is not a main prerogative for most products offered in groceries or restaurants. Far from it — products …