Fred Elser First Sunday Science: Food Matters: Impacts and Solutions in Greenwich
Sunday, October 5, 2025 2–3pm, Floren Family Environmental Center at Innis Arden Cottage, Greenwich Point Park, Old Greenwich, CT
Connecticut's waste management system is at a critical point, impacting public health, the environment and our wallets. We're generating more waste than we can handle, and our current solutions—shipping trash out of state and relying on aging incinerators—are not sustainable. Regional landfill capacity is decreasing, and incinerators are closing, creating a crisis in our state. Greenwich is already feeling the effects of this growing problem.
The key to solving this crisis is reducing wasted food, which makes up almost a quarter of our waste stream.
Join Julie DesChamps, founder of Waste Free Greenwich, to learn about the most effective solution to these challenges—diverting wasted food through prevention, donation, and recycling. Addressing food waste is the single most impactful way to reduce our waste stream, alleviate food insecurity and cut our carbon footprint. Discover the innovative initiatives currently underway and future goals of Waste Free Greenwich at home, at school and at work to reduce the impacts of wasted food and empower our community towards a more sustainable future.
This program is free of charge. No beach pass is required if you are attending the Fred Elser First Sunday Science. Please let them know at the gate you are attending the Bruce Museum Seaside Center lecture. First Sunday Science programs take place at the Floren Family Environmental Center at Innis Arden Cottage, Greenwich Point Park, Old Greenwich, CT.
Julie DesChamps is an environmental advocate and founder and chair of Waste Free Greenwich, a local non-profit that engages, educates and empowers the Greenwich community to waste less. Julie co-chairs the waste reduction sector of the Greenwich Sustainability Committee, served on the First Selectman's Waste Management Committee and is a member of the Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board. She led efforts to establish a municipal food scrap recycling program with the Town of Greenwich, as well as a textile recycling program to raise funds for recycling education. She has also promoted zero waste in local schools, serving as co-chair of the PTAC Green Schools Committee at Greenwich Public Schools and volunteering on the sustainability committee at Greenwich Academy. Julie has also advocated for waste reduction statewide, working with the CT Zero Waste Coalition.
