Blog | Greener Grove

July Meeting Recap: Sustainable Fashion

written by Arthur Laciak

*Presenters Sarene Alsharif and Jodi Doyle at July 28, 2026 Greener Grove Meeting, Lincoln Center in Downers Grove*

We have all heard of the major negative environmental impacts of fast fashion, but last month’s speakers provided us with helpful tips for all of us to dress more sustainably. Greener Grove welcomed Sarene Alsharif - the CEO and Co-Founder of Tad More Tailoring & Alterations and the Tad More Sustainability Institute - and Jodi Doyle - a wardrobe stylist and the founder of Uplevel Redesign. Sarene and Jodi shared their philosophies for slow fashion and inspired each of us to buy less, waste less, and wear more.

Participate in circular fashion

What most people do not know is that fast fashion is the second dirtiest industry, after the oil industry, accounting for 10% of emissions and 20% of water waste! And each of us consumes 17 credit cards worth of plastic annually, some coming from our clothing. However, we all are able to reduce this impact, because, frankly, we all wear clothes! Every day, we can make conscious decisions to reduce our environmental impact through the clothes we wear.

Through her work, Sarene advocates for a more circular economy by helping people repair, reuse, and value the clothing they already own while creating opportunities for the next generation of skilled makers. She shared some tips on how we can participate in this circular economy.

When you have the urge to go shopping, Sarene first tells us to “shop your closet.” Take an hour of your day to go through your closet as if you’re walking into a store. Mix and match items you already own to create new outfits. And once you find a new look you like, snap the fit and save it to a “Lookbook” folder on your phone, so when you are in need of an outfit, but don’t have the time or inspiration, review your “Lookbook” for one. If you find clothing that no longer fits your lifestyle or body, then restyle it! For example, turn a dress into a top.

And when you shop, ask yourself, “will I wear this at least 30 times?” If the answer is no, then better not buy the clothing. Remember, the most sustainable clothes are the ones in your closet.

Wake Up your Wardrobe

Jodi's core belief: style is a clarity problem, not a shopping problem. She helps people close the gap between who they are and what they're choosing to wear, by helping clients see the outfits already hiding in their closets, get dressed with clarity and intention, and show up with confidence every day. She puts actions to her words - Jodi has not bought anything new in over 700 days, instead, relying on clothes already in her closet or buying second-hand.

First, Jodi tells us to recognize that shopping habits were not invented, but instead passed down from parents and grandparents. Second, a lot of shopping decisions are made because most people don’t know their own style. When someone truly learns their style, sustainability becomes the natural outcome — they buy less, waste less, and wear more of what they already love. Jodi advocates that we play in our closets, pause for a moment, and ask, “what is my closest trying to teach me?”

When you shop, ask yourself these questions:

How does it make me FEEL?
Do I LOVE it?
Is it on my intentional shopping list?
Do I NEED it?
Does this make my upleveled style better?
Would I pay full price for this?
How many different ways can I style it? (shoot for 3)
What would __________ do?

And if you can positively answer all of these, then go ahead and buy the item! Sustainable fashion does not mean to never buy anything. Instead, it challenges us to make more conscious decisions when we shop.

Learn More

To follow the work of Sarene and Jodi, visit:

Tad More Tailoring & Alterations - https://tmtailor.com/
Tad More Sustainability Institute, Serene’s nonprofit dedicated to workforce development, sustainable fashion education, and reducing textile waste - https://buylessclothes.org/
Uplevel Redesign - https://www.uplevelredesign.com/

June Meeting Recap: Up Your Recycling Game

Greener Grove Member Amy Glawe, a chemical engineer and corporate sustainability professional, and Aleksandra Plewa, founder and CEO of EcoShip, explored the two main components of a circular economy: recycling and reuse, both aimed at reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.

*Presenters Amy Glawe (left) and Aleksandra Plewa (right)*

As the Village adjusts to the new waste contract and bins, Amy and Aleksandra were able to provide some insight into a question that many of us have: what actually happens to those things you toss in your bins?

Why Recycle?

Okay, okay. Most of Greener Grove’s members might not need convincing, but Amy shared some striking statistics about recycling’s impact. Did you know that…

*For every one ton of paper recycled, we save 3 tons of trees and 7,000 gallons of water? That’s enough water to run a high efficiency washing machine 500 times!

For every one ton of plastic recycled, we save 16.3 barrels of oil and 5774 kWh of energy-enough to charge a Tesla 100 times! Almost 80% of glass recycled is actually reused to make new glass containers, tiles, flooring, landscape materials, countertops, bricks, or as an additive to pavement. *Aluminum and steel are some of the best things to recycle, as they can be reused infinitely without degrading the materials, unlike paper and plastic, which are degraded each time they are used and recycled.

What Makes Something Recyclable?

In order for an item to be considered recyclable, a system to capture and reuse it has to be in place. This system has to include a method to collect, sort, and reprocess it into raw materials, and, crucially, there must be an end market for those raw materials in order for reuse to occur. Items like paper can be recycled 5-7 times before the materials are too degraded to reuse, while items like aluminum cans can be recycled an infinite number of times without degrading the material.

Source: "What Makes Something Recyclable (Source: Amy Glawe's Presentation)"

Recycling Guidelines

The collection and sortation process is crucial to get the things we put in our bins on the right path to reprocessing and reuse. We have a role to play in ensuring that what goes in our bins are actually recyclable and don’t contain contaminants. While instructions might vary by material, here are some general guidelines to follow:

* Clean it. For things like pizza boxes, scrape off food, but oil residue is fine! For cans and bottles, give them a quick rinse. For cardboard boxes, don’t worry about ripping off labels and every bit of tape but feel free to pull off large/loose chunks.
* Dry it. Make sure cans, bottles, and cardboard are dry before adding them to the bin.
* Make sure everything that goes in the bin is larger than a credit card or 2 inch cube. Anything smaller than that is too small to be sorted.
* NEVER put batteries in your recycling bin. These can explode and cause fires in the truck or in the processing facilities.
* NEVER include plastic bags or other soft plastics like bubble wrap or mailers, as they create jams and damage machinery in recycling processing facilities.
* When in doubt, throw it out. One contaminated item can devalue an entire bale, and “wish-cycled” items will be pulled out and landfilled anyway-but may cause other items to be landfilled along with them!

For material-specific guidelines, see below.

Cardboard & Paper:

*Remove bags or liners from food packaging. Soft plastics can be dropped off in grocery stores-see below!
*Flatten boxes to make space for more recyclables.
*Do recycle pizza boxes after removing food residue.
*Remove staples and paper clips where possible, but don’t worry about perfection.
*Don’t worry about removing tape from boxes or plastic windows from envelopes.
*No tissue paper or embellished wrapping paper.
*No paper towels and napkins-put these in your compost or organics cart!
*Cartons for juice/milk/stock are recyclable in Downers Grove-empty, dry, and replace the cap!

Plastics

*Downers Grove accepts all types of plastics except #6 (polystyrene, which is used to make styrofoams).
*Keep lids on bottles; they’re too small to recycle on their own.
*Empty, rinse and dry all food and drink containers.
*Make sure detergent containers are free of soapy residue.
*No soft plastics, like plastic bags, bubble wrap, or plastic wrappers from food or packaging, as these can jam and damage machines used in sortation. These can be dropped off at store pickup locations instead! Find a local pickup location at https://plasticfilmrecycling.org/
*Avoid putting black take-out food containers and other black plastic items into the bin-current sorting technologies cannot “read” these items on the conveyor belt.

Metals

*Empty, rinse and dry food and beverage cans.
*Aluminum foil is recyclable as long as it’s not soiled by food-ball it up into pieces larger than a 2-inch cube and toss it in the bin!
*Don’t include things that could be hazardous, like razors blades, needles, or sharps.

Glass

*Keep lids on bottles, since they’re too small to recycle by themselves.
*All colors of glass are acceptable!
*Pyrex or other heat-resistant glass is not recyclable as it is a different formulation.
*No broken glass… Safety first!

So Where Does it Go?

Once it’s collected curbside, recycled items are taken to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Here, they are sorted by type, baled, and ultimately sent on to the end market where they will be processed and turned into something new! If you’re curious about what happens at a MRF, Amy shared this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUGWFPj4T-U&t=38s

Items thrown into your organics cart (like that food you scraped off your pizza box before recycling it!) are taken to commercial compost facilities like the Willow Ranch facility in Romeoville or Theland Materials in Antioch. Be sure you follow the guidelines for acceptable materials. In Downers Grove, these are helpfully printed on the lid of the organics cart provided by LRS!

The most common contaminant in organics bins are those tiny stickers on fruit-be sure you remove those before throwing peels in the bin!

What about at the State and Corporate Level?

While consumer recycling is an important component of waste reduction, the state and businesses have roles to play, too. Amy shared that Illinois currently has 5 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws in place for mercury thermometers, electronics, paint, auto switches, and electronics. New bills have been introduced to expand legislation to paper and plastic products, ban polystyrene food containers, and establish minimum post-consumer recycled material requirements for all newly manufactured plastic items sold in the state.

Many companies are already setting their own goals for using recycled contents in their products, reducing plastics, or making their products recyclable or compostable. Recycled inputs, however, often cost more than virgin materials, presenting cost challenges to businesses. Recycled materials can also present efficiency challenges, especially when used in food products, as materials must meet FDA food contact regulations if going back into food packaging.

What about Hard to Recycle Items?

Some items just aren’t possible to recycle. Our speakers shared solutions for many of these, starting with EcoShip’s work to reduce waste and strengthen communities through reuse and circular economy initiatives. Aleksandra Plewa founded EcoShip in 2021 to solve two problems: reducing the amount of packaging and shipping material sent to landfill, and to provide these materials to small businesses at affordable prices.

Since 2021, EcoShip has expanded significantly and now operates out of a 3000-foot space in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood. They have expanded their items collected from packaging and shipping materials to include more than 60 hard-to or impossible-to recycle items! Materials are guaranteed to be reused by local businesses or partner nonprofit organizations.

Take Action: Recycling Resources

If you are holding onto items that can’t go into your recycling bin, one of the following resources shared by our speakers can likely tell you where to take it! Or, save the date for Greener Grove’s Recycling Extravaganza on September 19th, where a wide variety of hard-to-recycle items will be accepted.

Resources:

Carton Recycling Locator
Dart Container Corporation styrofoam recycling center
Earth 911’s Recycling Database
EcoShip
How2Recycle: Learn about the recycling symbols on product labels
NexTrex Plastic Film Recycling Locator
Plastic Film Recycling Locator
SCARCE

Help make Downers Grove a more sustainable community! Take the Village of Downers Grove Greener Way Pledge, and check out The Greener Way Guide here. The Greener Way Guide has 200+ actions that residents can take; it also lists recycling resources and much more.

May Meeting Recap: Natural Lawn Care 101

written by Irene Hogstrom

Gardener, environmentalist and talk show host Mike Nowak, shared his insight and knowledge of natural lawn care at our May meeting. He explained some of the consequences of traditional pesticide and synthetic fertilizer use and provided tips for achieving a safe, healthy and sustainable lawn naturally.

*Mike Nowak describes proper mowing techniques at Greener Grove meeting, Lincoln Center, May 26, 2026*

Mike provided some staggering statistics of traditional lawn care in the United States:

- 8 billion pounds of fertilizer used annually
- 67 million pounds of pesticides applied annually
- 800 million gallons of gasoline consumed by lawn mowers each year

The heavy use of fertilizers has created a dead zone in the Gulf and contributes to algae blooms in other water bodies.

He also reminded us that if it is in your lawn, it is in your house and on all members of the family, including children and pets. According to the National Cancer Institute, dogs with malignant lymphoma were 30% more likely to come from a home where homeowners or a lawn service treated their lawn with pesticides.

There are alternatives that are healthy for people, pets and the environment. A few local municipalities, such as Skokie, are promoting natural lawns on public property. Mike described several techniques to maintain a healthy and sustainable green lawn.

Apply mulch around trees to reduce competition

Apply a circle of shredded hardwood mulch around trees instead of grass. It reduces competition for water and protects trees from damage by lawn mowers and string trimmers. The mulch ring should resemble a donut and not a volcano.

Mow to help reduce grass and weeds

Mike pointed out several mowing techniques to improve the lawn:

- Keep grass at a taller height to increase competition with weeds.
- Use a mulching lawn mower and leave clippings on the turfgrass as compost.
- Mow the grass at a lower height for the first and last mowings of the year.

Water Wisely

Proper watering techniques will help encourage a healthy lawn:

- Water infrequently but deeply. A one inch depth is recommended.
- Stop watering during a drought period and let the lawn go dormant. It will green up again once the drought is over.
- Be aware that garden hoses often contain lead and use a lead-free hose for watering.

Apply compost as fertilizer

Fertilizing is only necessary once per year. Grass naturally greens up in the spring, so fall is the best time to fertilize. Avoid fertilizing prior to a heavy rain event, as it will wash away as runoff. The best fertilizer is to add nutrients to the soil by using compost.

-Apply a ¼” to ½” of sifted compost as a top dressing to the lawn.
- Use a compost spreader or broadcast and rake.
- Apply compost tea as another option.

Learn more

Mike provided an extensive list of additional resources, available at this link: tinyurl.com/gglawncare.

Visit the links to resources specifically about pesticides used in lawn care:

Take action

Lead by example and switch to natural lawn care and adopt sustainable practices.

What You Can Do:

- Learn to tolerate some weeds and make your lawn an environmental asset.
- Replace gas powered equipment with hand or electric tools.
- Compost food scraps and leaves to use as a natural lawn and garden fertilizer.
- Share concerns with neighbors on the hazards of pesticides used in lawn care.
- Participate in the Less Lawn More Life challenge.