Environmental Considerations

At Planet Worth, we make it a central focus to minimize our environmental impact at every opportunity while providing relevant services to our unhoused neighbors. It is intrinsic to our work to source goods and dispose waste responsibly and to extend the life of reparable items whenever possible.

When we look at the sheer amount of waste generated by our community, we notice that entire populations are not given access to these goods before they expire or are thrown away. This is most demonstrable with food - Seattle alone in the year 2020 tossed over 930,000 tons of food waste into landfills. As part of the local hunger relief effort, we seek to chip away at this number and reduce other categories of waste in the meantime.

We emphasize the use of local, organic, plant based foods to reduce our participation in food industries that can harm the environment and humans themselves. We use biodegradable (not compostable) serveware in the field to limit the impact of trash in our neighborhoods and reduce the use of plastic overall. Our clothing and supply donations are serviceable secondhand items seeking new life, occasionally needing a simple repair. When an item is irreparable, we seek out avenues to unconventionally use them before making a judgement to throw it away. When we provide propane tanks, we swap them for empty ones that we can then fill and keep within the cycle.

These patterns are constantly evolving, meeting each unique situation with fresh information, better resources, and more thorough skillsets. Recognizing there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, we cannot be perfect, but we are committed to doing our absolute best with what we have been given.