Toledo Goes Green: Exploring Sustainability Initiatives in the Glass City

Fun Guide  |  04/19/2024 3:30 pm

With Earth Day just around the corner, there’s no better time to think about ways you can lessen your impact on our environment. Our community is full of amazing sustainable ideas – embrace a greener lifestyle with the help of resources available right here in Northwest Ohio. 

GET COMPETITIVE

Keep Toledo / Lucas County Beautiful’s Litter League offers the opportunity to help the environment for those who are best motivated by the chance of winning! This summer-long program pits groups against each other to see who can pick up the most trash by the end of the season. With four categories available to enter (including Community, Nonprofit & Faith Based, Business & Corporation and Family & Individual) this is a great way to build relationships while beautifying our area. 

LESS CONTAINERS, MORE CREATIVITY

Just Toledo, a refillery service and purveyor of eco-friendly goods, began several years ago as a delivery model. Now, the company has expanded to a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown on Jefferson where you can fill and refill containers with household and bath necessities like body wash, laundry detergent, dish soap, hand lotion and more. By eliminating the need to purchase these items in a new plastic bottle each time, less waste is created. The shop also holds classes related to sustainability, such as how to make your own sourdough and creating art from recycled materials.

Should Just Toledo’s classes inspire you and you wish to keep making upcycled artwork, give Scrap 4 Art in Maumee a visit. This nonprofit art materials exchange has an incredible variety of donated items sure to inspire you, and is a wonderland for kids and adults alike! 

FARM SHARES

When food is grown locally, carbon footprints and other environmental stressors are mitigated. Several local farms offer seasonal or annual CSA. CSA stands for ‘community supported agriculture’, meaning your subscription supports the farm and, in turn, you enjoy the farm’s bounty! Also commonly referred to as farm shares, these weekly pickup opportunities have made gathering locally grown produce so much easier. Among CSAs available for pickup in the Toledo metro area, you’ll find…

Shared Legacy Farms
Three pickups available across Perrysburg, Elmore, and Sylvania.

Riehm Farms
Pickups available at a variety of locations – Ottawa Hills, Maumee, Bowling Green, Sylvania, Perrysburg, and more!

Muddy River Farms
Pickup at the farm in Waterville. 

Not ready to commit to a CSA subscription yet? Get a taste of what’s possible when you visit area farmers each week at the Toledo Farmers’ Market!

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Toledo Grows offers a robust menu of curriculum options for educators and other youth leaders to choose from. Connect with them to help grades K-12 learners in your care explore various important environmental topics such as:

Build a Bin: Take a scientific peek at what worms do all day long.  Learn why these creatures are so important to our community, and how to start your own composting system.

Pollution Solutions: How does pollution affect organisms big and small? Students will learn how water, air, and soil pollution affect their local environment.

Visit their site for standards alignment, scout badge qualifications and further details. 

CONTRIBUTE TO CLEANER STREAMS

Partners for Clean Streams is looking for, well, partners! Enthusiastic volunteers are needed to clean up area streams.

This environmentally friendly group has many volunteer opportunities - they’re holding four different stream cleanups this month alone! From Crane Creek near Magee Marsh to Highland Park near South Avenue, there’s an opportunity near you to freshen up our waterways – view the Partners’ Clean Up Calendar.

RAISING OUR NEXT FARMERS

Area nonprofit Urban Wholistics is making a major impact in neighborhoods which have been historically limited in access to open, fertile green spaces. More than a beautification group, they are raising a new generation of young farmers!

At Tatum Park on Fridays and Saturdays from June through early August, Urban Wholistics will guide youth through farming practices from seeding to harvest. These young farmers will network with farming professionals, enjoy fresh local lunches, and have the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial skills used at markets. Interested families can register for this unique experience for free here.  

NATIVE PLANT SALES

The spring season kicks off many annual native plant sales, including Lucas County’s Soil and Water District plant sale during the Backyard Conservation Celebration event, the Blue Week Native Plant Sale through Wild Ones, and Toledo Zoo sale (offering native plants grown right there among the animals at the zoo!). Not sure which plants will work best for your yard? View this handy guide compiled by Wild Ones, with options for both sunny and more woodland growing environments. 

If you rent or otherwise don’t have ample outdoor area to plant, consider joining the Wood County Parks’ Adopt-A-Garden program. Through this initiative, you’ll help to design, implement and care for the park system’s native gardens – with all plants and tools provided!

FARM TO TABLE

By dining at local establishments that promote a farm-to-table menu you not only help to keep money in our local economy, but help to keep emissions down by lessening the miles which produce and animal products need to travel prior to arriving on your plate. 

At the top of our list of mentions is Balance restaurants; their food tastes fresh, due in large part to the fact it is grown indoors year round right here in Toledo! When you visit their new downtown location on Summit Street glance across the hall into the pink lit room, which houses their vertical aquaponic gardens. The pink glow comes from specialized LED lights to optimize the growing process, and you might even spot a fish – the plants filter water for them, and they provide nutrients for the plants! Over 800 fish have been raised in the environment, and a whopping 12,000 food miles saved by the downtown effort. 

Additional spots where you can savor farm-to-table dishes and desserts include Cork & Knife Provisions, Gardenview Flowers (hosting seasonal farm to table dinners), Registry Bistro, and Swanky Scoops.

Outside of fresh-from-the farm-practices, restaurants can lessen their impact on the environment in many ways – such as reducing food waste, switching to compostable takeout products, and more. To measure these efforts, Keep Toledo / Lucas Couny Beautiful has introduced the Sustainable Restaurant Program. Interested restauranteurs can complete a short survey and consultation with the organization to receive their ‘Leaf Rating’, measuring their success in implementing sustainable efforts. 

Content Editor: Lindsay Williams