No Waste Dayton | Photo by Monica Brutto | The Wright State Guardian
Started three years ago, this Facebook-group-turned-nonprofit aims to create a more sustainable Dayton through trash pick-ups, compost stations, education and more.
Mission and creation
Natalie Warrick is the founder and co-director of Waste-Free Dayton. As co-director, Warrick delegates and grows the Waste-Free team, participates in Waste-Free’s events, curates all social media platforms and keeps the operation running smoothly.
“Our slogan or tagline is we are a community collaboration to help implement a healthier and more sustainable future,” Warrick said.
The nonprofit focuses on three areas: fighting pollution, promoting rejuvenation and reducing waste.
The team currently consists of five volunteers besides co-directors Warrick and Brett Bogan.
“I just saw it as an opportunity to take a personal belief and passion of mine and be involved in it,” Bogan said.
Originally, Waste-Free was just a Facebook group started by Warrick in April 2020. Warrick was blown away by statistics regarding sustainability, especially in regards to food waste.
According to the World Economic Forum, around 931 million tons of food goes to waste each year.
Warrick knew they needed to do something about it.
“The COVID pandemic [had] started at that point, and I’ve been thinking about wanting to connect with others and my own sustainable journey and share some tips and tricks I have found,” Warrick said. “I just want to learn from other people and just not have it online, so I founded the group.”
A few months later, Warrick connected with Bogan to become co-directors.
Waste-Free finally gained its official nonprofit status in Oct. 2021. The Facebook group now has 720 members, and their Instagram has over 1,500 followers.
“There are some great places in Dayton, some really beautiful places and also people, beautiful people,” Warrick said. “So how can we come alongside the litter clean-ups and improve the neighborhoods?”
Making Dayton waste-free
Much of the way that Waste-Free Dayton helps Dayton is through action. Every month for the past three years, Waste-Free Dayton hosted at least one litter pick-up. In just January 2024 alone, Waste-Free hosted three litter pick-ups. Often, the nonprofit partnered with various Dayton neighborhoods to do these pick-ups. While occasionally assisting in Cincinnati and Columbus, the organization mainly focuses on the greater Dayton area.
“It’s just looking for opportunities, filling in the gaps like we saw with our composting. There’s some services in the Dayton area; we support those services, but how can we increase composting, how can we make it more accessible?” Bogan said.
Since August of last year, the organization has hosted “Sustainable Coffee Chats” every second Tuesday of the month to talk about living sustainably and connect with the Dayton community.
Helping other organizations
Soon, the organization will assist NuSol Farms in cleaning up the land before spring planting.
Waste-Free is also one of the host sites for the Living City Project initiative.
Helping out other missions, Waste-Free Dayton assists the Metroparks in maintaining their waste stations, educating Dayton on how to properly sort their waste during events.
Continuing the theme of education, Waste-Free also talks on sustainability to local schools.
Students may have seen Waste-Free Dayton and local festivals and events, where the nonprofit engages and educates the Dayton public about what they do.
Waste Free’s compost station, located conveniently next to Pink Moon Goods, currently serves 77 people as a place to dispose of compost and is still taking sign-ups through the Waste-Free Dayton website and the QR code at the station. All sign-ups are completely free, having started in February of this year. Overall, approximately 451 pounds of food waste have been collected.
Looking ahead
A future goal of the organization is to expand the number of compost stations and gain a more robust volunteer team.
Bogan mentioned a long-term goal of one day starting a podcast for Waste-Free Dayton.
Much of the fundraising for Waste-Free is through Instagram and Facebook fundraisers. Previously, the nonprofit also fundraised through local breweries.
“People come alongside you and say, ‘Hey, I support what you’re doing, and you’re doing a good job, keep on going.’ It’s really, really encouraging,” Warrick said.
Both Warrick and Bogan reiterate that people should make an effort to be sustainable with what they can, but they should not feel guilt regarding what they cannot. Everyone is on their own sustainable journey.
Waste-Free Dayton is currently accepting volunteers through their volunteer webpage. The same page includes a calendar of events.
Click here for more tips on going waste-free.
Social media
You can visit Waste-Free Dayton on their website or through Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn or their Instagram, @waste_free_dyt.
