Meet Gabrielle!

Gabrielle grew up in Germantown, Wisconsin, and has always been familiar with the Milwaukee area. Living near Milwaukee provided Gabrielle with many hikes and opportunities for outdoor adventures. Through her work with local municipalities, she has gained knowledge of native plants, wildlife, and tree planting. She is earning her Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Environmental Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is looking to further her career in the environmental science field through community engagement and advocacy. In her free time, you will find Gabrielle horseback riding, playing piano, hiking, going to concerts, and traveling.

Upcoming Plastic-Free Clothing Swap!

Plastic-Free MKE’s next clothing swap will be in partnership with Bublr Bikes, the Urban Ecology Center, and Milwaukee Riverkeeper on October 14th, 2023 from 10:00 am-1:00 pm at UEC Riverside. This is an opportunity to swap gently used or new clothing with other people in the community. Grab your reusable bags for anything you acquire and find some new outfits for the fall and winter seasons! No requirement to bring clothing to participate. If you have clothes to swap please wash them beforehand. No registration is required.  

Register: WasteCap Workshop

WasteCap is a 25-year-old Wisconsin-based non-profit helping businesses and institutions get to zero waste. They are offering free waste reduction workshops for small businesses. Waste is a sign of inefficiency, it saps your budget and isn't doing your neighborhood any good either.  Take a few hours with WasteCap and Plastic Free MKE to look at your business processes and find ways to stop throwing away $!

Register here or email dhartsig@wastecap.org 

Participate: The Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2023 

During the whole month of October, head to Milwaukee’s beaches to search for Nurdles. Nurdles are small pellets of plastic used as raw material that get melted down to make plastic products. They pollute our lake and get ingested by fish and birds. To raise awareness, The Great Global Nurdle Hunt was created allowing people to form groups and collect as many nurdles as they can. After collecting the nurdles, you can submit your photos and results to their website to be used as data. 

Take Part

Watch: Sian Sutherland: "Innovating the Business of Plastics" | The Great Simplification #89 

Co-founder of A Plastic Planet and PlasticFree, Sian Sutherland, talks about the importance of society stepping away from the plastic industry. She discusses how plastic is affecting our health, environment, food, water, and air. During her interview, Sutherland calls for better leadership from our government, mandates on the plastic industry, alternatives to plastics, and widespread education and awareness of the harm plastic causes. 

Watch Here

Why Glass, Aluminum, Paper and Other Options Aren’t the Simple Alternative to Plastic That They Seem to Be

“In the United States, recycling facilities typically can effectively process only No. 1 and 2 plastic. One peer-reviewed study of a recycling facility in the United Kingdom also found that 6 to 13 percent of the plastic processed there could end up being released into water or the air as microplastics.”

Read the full article

Dead Flies Could Be Used To Make Biodegradable Plastic, Scientists Says 

"The researchers found that chitin, a sugar-based polymer, is a major component of the flies and it strengthens the shell, or exoskeleton, of insects and crustaceans. Shrimp and crab shells are already used for chitin extraction. Researchers said the fly-sourced chitin powder seemed purer than that from crustaceans and obtaining chitin from flies could avoid concerns over some seafood allergies."

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How Microplastics Are Making Their Way Into Our Farmland 

“Our recent investigation of microplastic levels in Canadian municipal biosolids found that a single gram of biosolids contains hundreds of microplastic particles. This is a much greater concentration of microplastics than is typically found in air, water or soil.”

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'We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world

“In trenches packed with dirt and waste, they found a slimy film of bacteria that had been happily chewing through plastic bottles, toys and other bric-a-brac. As they broke down the trash, the bacteria harvested the carbon in the plastic for energy, which they used to grow, move and divide into even more plastic-hungry bacteria. Even if not in quite the hand-to-mouth-to-stomach way we normally understand it, the bacteria were eating the plastic.”

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#BreakFreeFromPlastic Members Encouraged by the Zero Draft for a Global Plastics Treaty Call for Ambitious Negotiations

“The most promising areas presented in the draft include options for progressive reduction of plastic production, elimination of polymers and chemicals of concern, elimination of problematic short-lived and avoidable plastics, the recognition of the need for transparency, just transition, and the setting up of systems and targets for reduction and reuse, among others.”

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