The New Sustainability Committee

We are excited to announce the new Sustainability Committee, as part of the Old Worthington Partnership. Joanne Dole, board member and coordinator of the Sustainable Worthington Facebook page, is taking on this green mission, focused on addressing sustainability issues in our downtown.

"I have worked on several sustainability projects for our downtown through the Partnership, but creating this new committee was an attempt to recruit new ideas and energy to work on these issues,” Dole says.

Sara Gallaugher, Worthington resident, committee member, and owner of Worthington business Full Circle Source invited the committee and the Worthington community to tours she organized through SWACO and Rumpke. This allowed community members to get an up-close look at how Worthington’s recycling and trash are processed. They are already planning more trips in the future, so contact Sara to join future tours!

The group is also launching their first community project - creating reusable bags for the Worthington Farmers Market vendors to use in place of plastic bags. Sara brought the project to the group after spending years shopping in the market with her own reusable bags.

"We’re really excited to be gathering the community to sew produce bags and hand them out at the Worthington Farmers Market for free,” says Gallaugher. “We gathered cotton fabric over the last three weeks, and we will be meeting in August to cut the fabric, iron, and sew bags. These bags will be around the size of 12”x 15” when complete. Thanks to all the wonderful people who donated fabric!”

This project was inspired by blogger and plastic-free advocate Anne-Marie Bonneau who lives in California, and has done this project for her local farmers market. Because plastic bags are not recyclable in curbside recycling bins, this effort works to reduce the amount of bags shoppers use.

If you are interested in helping, you can join the group to help sew and cut fabric during the  August 17th, 2-4 p.m. and August 20th, 6-8 p.m. events at the Griswold Center. If you would like to help with this project, sign up here.

Those who would like to get involved in this event and the committee as a whole should email the committee or send a message through instagram @sustainableworthington to see their latest initiatives and needs. Their Facebook and Instagram pages also provide links to sign up for specific events and volunteer opportunities.