We’re coming to the end of our third calendar year as a nonprofit, and there are of course ups and downs along the way with any organization. We are extremely pleased with how the year went for us, and it was fitting to celebrate the year with our supporters at our first ever holiday party recently. To recap 2023, let’s start with our 3 focus areas, Plastic Pollution, Reducing Waste, and Community Rejuvenation. In the past year, we created and shared a lot content about plastic. We conducted a Plastic Free July campaign again, and throughout the month, we shared posts and went live a couple of times on social media. For the second focus area, reducing waste, we launched our Tips for Going Waste-Free page in September, and started work on our first community compost drop-off station (coming soon in 2024!). And for community rejuvenation, we continued monthly litter cleanups, only missing one month, but doing more than one cleanup in a couple of months. We finished the year with 14 litter cleanups, collected almost 27,000 pounds of litter and debris! Here are some pictures from our two largest cleanups, in February and April, both in the Historic Inner East.

Education and Outreach

We did five presentations in 2023, including going to Smith Middle School in Vandalia for the second year in a row, this time to present to both the 4th and 5th grades (total of 460 students). It was amazing to see all the kids who wanted to ask a question afterwards! We also did our largest virtual presentation, presenting to around 150 employees at a local business.

For Community Outreach events, we tabled at Earth DAYton at 2nd Street Market and the West Dayton Block Party, and we managed waste stations at 3 events, the Small Farm & Food Fest, EcoFEST, and the Outdoor Experience.

We were invited to participate in two events at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in downtown Dayton. Trash Talk took place in March, and featured two artists from the Cincinnati area raising awareness about the trash we have to deal with our daily lives. In September, we were one of the featured nonprofits during the We’re Doing it ALL Wrong exhibition.

Fundraisers

For the second year, we had fundraisers at Yellow Cab Tavern / The Pizza Bandit and Nowhere in Particular. We have so much fun playing bingo and singing karaoke with our friends that the raising money part of the events seem secondary in importance.

Plastic Free July

We participated in Plastic Free July again this year, producing our own calendar of tips for each day, sharing posts and going live throughout the month.

In the Media

Our friends at Good Day Dayton had us on their show several times again this year. Highlights from those appearances include talking bringing Natalie’s homemade mulberry lavender lemonade and talking about being waste-free in the kitchen. In February, Natalie was featured in WDTN’s Tell Me Good News segment.

Social Media

In May, we launched a YouTube channel, thanks to a new member who joined our team to focus on video content. We continued with our Humans of Waste-Free Dayton series profiling individuals in the Miami Valley passionate about sustainability, and we made more of an effort to produce reels with tips.

Scarlet, our video content creator for YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@wastefreedayton

Tips for Going Waste Free

One of our biggest achievements of the year was creating a Tips for Going Waste-Free page on our website. This had been one of our goals from the beginning, to have a comprehensive page with different tips and resources for waste-free living. This page will continue to be enhanced as we learn about new tips and resources. If you have suggestions for the page, please email us at info@wastefreedayton.org.

Coffee Chats`

During Plastic Free July, we got the idea to have informal coffee chats, where every month we pick a coffee shop and just sit down with people for an hour to talk about sustainability. Our first was in August at Pettibone Coffee. We then went to Gem City Catfe in September, Gather in October, and Partial to Pie in November. We resume the monthly coffee chats in January, with our first meetup scheduled for Tuesday, January 16th at 3 pm at ContempoRoast in Centerville.

Up and Running + Hoka Happy to Share Campaign

Co-Director Brett was selected by Up and Running to be one of the featured individuals making a difference in the community during the Happy to Share Campaign with Hoka. We had a fun time at the photo shoot.

Holiday Party

In lieu of our coffee chat in December, we decided to throw a holiday party, our first ever. We gathered at Pettibone for a year-end celebration, featuring homemade goodies, games, and ornament decorating. The party was a resounding success, and we’re thankful to everybody who was able to make it.

Thanks to everybody who came to our events, volunteered, liked and shared our posts, or made a donation. These things wouldn’t have happened without you! See you in 2024!

2023 Recap