Good Wolf Gear, located in Herndon, Virginia, is more than just an outdoor equipment store; it’s a community hub for sustainable outdoor exploration and stewardship. Whether it’s through their informational blog articles, community events and activities, gear rental and consignment offerings, or the curated selection of brands they choose to work with, Good Wolf Gear’s passion for the environment, and commitment to educating the community about sustainable ways to enjoy it, are abundantly clear.

Founded just three and a half years ago by Margaret and Tana, Good Wolf gear is now a thriving business with a mission to help others get outside. The couple started the business after winning a camping trip from their child’s school. They had never camped before, but another parent leading the trip shared gear and camping know-how with the participants. This experience of benefiting from a neighbor’s generosity of spirit inspired the owners to pass it along in the form of a retail operation that encourages everyone to actively enjoy the outdoors.

Consignment and Gear Rental Programs

At the heart of Good Wolf Gear’s sustainability efforts is their consignment program. By encouraging customers to consign quality outdoor gear, they promote both reuse and reducing waste, ensuring that functional equipment remains on the trail, in the fields, or on the water, and out of landfills. The store boasts a large section with gear repair kits, tools, patches, and replacement parts. Where they do sell new equipment, they try to find products that aim toward a circular economic model, such as sleeping bags made from fully recyclable and recoverable materials, or sleeping pads made entirely from recycled foam.

At Clean Fairfax, we are big fans of the Many R’s (see our blog article on what we mean), and gear repair and reuse is a prime example of this concept in action! By taking as many actions as possible to keep materials in use before they are recycled or landfilled, we steward resources more effectively. Likewise, Good Wolf’s gear rental offerings provide individuals with opportunities to explore new hobbies and try out new equipment before purchasing their own versions–likely saving the consumer time and money, as well as reducing waste and the accumulation of stuff by sharing resources. The store’s lending library also allows customers to lend and borrow maps and nature guides so that they can freely share and reuse materials.

Community Engagement

Beyond products, Good Wolf Gear is dedicated to building a community centered around the outdoors and sustainability. They host events like “Spring Hiking with a Naturalist,” encouraging participants to connect with nature and learn about local ecosystems from a certified Master Naturalist. Additionally, their team emphasizes creating a welcoming environment that promotes sustainable practices and fosters a love for adventure.

The store also links up with other community businesses and organizations. They refer customers to local donation, recycling, and secondhand resources in the area to encourage more of the same in the broader community. This spirit of cooperation over competition and sharing resources rather than stockpiling them strengthens the local circular economy, small businesses, and sense of community.

By integrating these sustainable practices, Good Wolf Gear exemplifies how businesses can contribute positively to the environment while serving their community. Check them out! www.goodwolfgear.com

Here’s a thought to ponder: wouldn’t it be cool to replace plastic packaging with CHEESE?! Because that’s a thing we read about and are sharing in our Environmental News Roundup this week:

Board defers USD hearing to October – Annandale Today, June 10, 2025

Fairfax County’s Solid Waste Management Program has brought forth a proposal to unify the sanitation (trash and recycling collection) districts, meaning that the County would contract directly with haulers and create a unified system for all residents. This would mean fewer trucks servicing the same neighborhoods and would offer more standardized and consistent services. The Board of Supervisors was slated to hold a public hearing and vote on the concept (which would not become operational until 2030) on June 24th, but has postponed that meeting until October 14th to allow for additional public comment and outreach. 

Packaging innovations: Nestlé ‘self-packing’ cheese will have you saying ‘no whey!’ – Packaging Dive, May 21, 2025

Although you won’t find it yet in U.S. stores, product developers have invented a new kind of cheese packaging made from byproducts of the cheesemaking process. It is a bioplastic produced using whey that eliminates the need for virgin fossil fuels, according to this article. The prototype is currently being tested on products sold in Panama. Designers assert that the whey-based packaging will biodegrade within 300 days.

A salt crisis is looming for U.S. rivers – The Washington Post, June 4, 2025

Freshwater rivers are becoming saltier across the US, including in the DC metropolitan area. The December salt concentrations in the Potomac have risen by 41% percent over the past three decades. Research has found that salt used to defrost roads in the winter is a large contributor to the increased salinity in northern inland cities. In large freshwater systems, such as the Potomac River, the salinity is increasing from not only the surrounding area’s road salt, but also salt from miles away, via tributaries. In more coastal areas, there is even more salt seeping into the freshwater, as the ocean is pushing the salt front – the boundary between freshwater and saltwater – further inland. Drought and rising sea levels exacerbate this effect. While the salinity levels of our tap water are not yet enough to require more intensive removal, the increased salt is making its way into our local water sources, and can be difficult to remove.

Hawaii Governor Signs Bill Authorizing Packaging EPR Study – Packaging Strategies, June 6, 2025

In Hawaii–a state that often leads the country on waste management issues due to its limited land area available for landfills–Governer Josh Green signed a bill last week calling for a statewide recycling needs assessment study to be completed by the end of 2027. Specifically, the assessment is intended to “‘determine what will be needed to reduce waste generation, increase reuse, improve collection services, and expand local processing of materials through an extended producer responsibility program for packaging materials and paper products.’” Currently, only seven states have passed this kind of “If you make it, you take it” law, although 12 have introduced EPR packaging legislation.

First Up: We’re thrilled to share some GOOD news this week from Richmond! 

Richmond shoppers will pay tax on disposable plastic bags starting in 2026 – ABC8 News, June 2, 2025

Earlier this week, members of the City Council in Richmond passed an ordinance that will require a $0.05 fee to be charged for every single-use plastic shopping bag provided by grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores within city limits. The fee will go into effect on January 1, 2026. Monies collected from the fee will be used by the City to provide reusable bags for SNAP and WIC recipients, as well as other environmental projects that support plastic pollution reduction. Bag fee ordinances like this one encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags, reduce waste, and prevent litter. Most of Northern Virginia adopted the $.05 ordinance in the last 4 years. 

JUST IN: Youngkin schedules special election to replace Rep. Gerry Connolly – FFX Now, June 3, 2025

On September 9th, voters in Virginia’s 11th District (which covers most of Fairfax County) will elect a new U.S. Representative to take the place of Gerry Connolly, who passed away last month. Candidates have until July 11th to declare for the race, which already comprises a field of 10 from major parties. 

Tariffs stack more pressure on U.S. craft breweries, according to GlobalData report – Craft Brewing Business, June 2, 2025

This Administration’s tariff policies will increase the cost to produce local craft beers. As aluminum and steel tariffs go from 25% to 50% this week, small American breweries will have to navigate the significantly higher costs. According to this article, “Aluminum cans make up 75% of packaged craft beer by volume. Canada, the largest supplier of U.S. aluminum and steel, is now included in these tariffs. Costs for kegs, brewhouses, tanks, and even building infrastructure are climbing fast.” With at least 80 craft breweries in Northern Virginia and more than 300 across the Commonwealth, this tariff increase will be felt acutely in our region. Meanwhile, tariffs and inflation have already raised costs for other imported beer ingredients such as barley and malt. Of course, businesses facing tariffs that raise production costs cannot help but pass along at least some of the increases to consumers. Higher tariffs mean higher prices, at least in the short term. However, this could be an opportunity for more creative labeling for craft brewing cans, to increase aluminum can recycling rates in this sector. 

The AI of the storm – The Ecologist, May 30, 2025

The growth of online activity in recent decades has given rise to enormous data centers needed to store the world’s data. Northern Virginia is the world’s leading data center market, with over 575 data centers operational or under construction. All of these data centers require space, enormous amounts of electricity, and water to cool the servers, which puts increasing environmental pressure on their host communities. Now, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the already huge energy needs are becoming nearly insatiable. This article highlights the issue, noting that – incredibly – “data centres worldwide already consume as much electricity as entire countries like France or Germany. [The International Monetary Fund] forecasts that by 2030, the worldwide energy demand from data centres will be the same as India’s total electricity consumption.” Here in Virginia, a 2024 study by the state legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) also concluded that the explosive energy demands required by new data center construction will be very difficult to meet with associated power generation and transmission infrastructure. It remains to be seen how local governments here in our region will tackle AI’s environmental and energy impacts as they relate to data center expansion.

This week, we are highlighting two local environmental initiatives that Fairfax residents can participate in. We’ve also been reading about the consequences of plastic and updates on national programs.

Sustain Fairfax Challenge – Fairfax County Government, February 2025

The Sustain Fairfax Challenge is a platform that allows you to learn about and track sustainable actions you can take in your home! The challenge also allows you to connect with others in the community and to create teams or groups with friends or family members in different households. The suggestions provided through the Sustain Fairfax Challenge can help you save money and make your home and community more environmentally friendly.

Conservation Poster Contest – Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District, May 28, 2025

The Conservation Poster Contest is now open to entries until June 30, 2025! The 2025 Stewardship theme of “Home is Where the Habitat Is” must be incorporated into designs. Students in grades K-12 are eligible to submit their best designs in the categories of Hand-Drawn, Digital, Braille, or Additional Assistance Posters. Posters may be submitted digitally to NVSWCD or mailed to their office by June 30 for consideration. 

Walmart, Mondelēz, Mars, Nestlé leave the US Plastics Pact – Waste Dive, May 22, 2025

Many large companies have exited the US Plastics Pact, a group of stakeholders in the plastics value chain. The US Plastics Pact has a roadmap with targets of reduced single-use nonrecyclable plastic production and usage. A few of the companies that just left did express facing obstacles reaching their 2025 targets.

Shuttering of EPA’s Energy Star Program Would Affect Electric Bills and the Environment – Scientific American, May 8, 2025 

Energy Star, the decades-old energy-efficiency certification program run by the EPA, will reportedly be shutting down. This program saves money for companies and individuals through labelling of energy-efficient products. The Energy Star logo has become a recognizable stamp of approval on energy-saving products. Without that, it may be harder to know which products are truly environmentally and economically friendly.

Ziploc hit with class-action lawsuit over potentially harmful microplastics – NJ.com, May 15, 2025
Ziploc is facing a class-action lawsuit regarding the microplastics contained in their plastic bags. The bags contain polyethylene and polypropylene, two materials which have been found to release microplastics when microwaved or frozen. The lawsuit claims that Ziploc is misleading in advertising their products as microwave and freezer safe.

On a pristine Australian island, the seabirds have become so full of plastic they crackle and crunch – ABC News Australia, May 14, 2025

Dr. Jennifer Lavers has been studying mutton birds on Lord Howe Island, off the east coast of Australia, for 18 years. Each year she has been finding more and more plastic ingested by the birds. Now, the birds consume so much plastic that they crackle and crunch. This highlights the problem with plastic usage and waste worldwide.

This week, the following environmental news articles sparked our interest. From a significant national plastic policy move to new findings on climate risks, here is what we’re reading on recycling, pollution, and climate issues:

National Recycling Coalition Policy on Chemical Recycling – Waste Advantage, May 21, 2025
In a strong and clearly worded statement, the National Recycling Coalition has officially come out against so-called “chemical recycling,” calling it a false solution that fails to reduce plastic production and pollution. Chemical recycling, also known as pyrolysis, “advanced recycling,” or “plastics to fuel”, is a process that takes waste plastics, heats them and adds toxic chemicals, and then melts them down into a substance that can be used as a fuel stock. While a number of chemical recycling plants have been built at great expense across the United States, none has ever reported success in terms of scaled or efficient outputs. Additionally, the plastics are never in fact recycled or even downcycled into future plastic products. In this newly articulated policy stance, the National Recycling Coalition emphasized that most chemical recycling technologies are energy-intensive, often result in toxic emissions, and divert attention from real waste reduction efforts.

‘All the cocoa trees will be destroyed’ – The Ecologist, May 12, 2025
The Ivory Coast’s cocoa farmers warn that, as environmental stressors like drought, disease, and soil degradation reduce farmland productivity, the impacts threaten not just the country’s cocoa supply but also entire ecosystems. Inequitable economic relations and agricultural policies also inhibit producers’ ability to invest in and care for their land properly. This leads to more intensive and damaging farming practices that are swiftly becoming unsustainable. 

Plastic pollution may be accelerating global warming by disrupting Earth’s carbon cycles – Environmental Health News, May 16, 2025
A new study released by the Plastics & Climate Project concludes that microplastics are interfering with carbon sequestration in oceans and soils, potentially exacerbating climate change. The research shows how plastic pollution isn’t just a waste issue, but also a climate threat that could undermine key planetary systems that regulate temperature.

Finally, we would like to recognize Rep. Gerry Connolly, who passed away this week after a months-long battle with cancer. Connolly represented northern Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, which encompasses most of Fairfax County. In his long political career, he was a staunch supporter of the environment and the residents of Virginia on the national level, as well as being a good human being. 

Jen Cole, Executive Director of Clean Fairfax, reflects, “ In my capacity as new Director of Clean Fairfax in 2009, I had the opportunity to meet the Congressman, who once he found out I was from Rhode Island, talked all about the great restaurants and bakeries in Providence and Boston and of course The Red Sox. I was so homesick at the time, having made no friends here, and talking to him about home was a balm on my heart that I have carried with me for the last 16 years.

I would see him at events over the years and he always remembered that I was a Sox fan. He was such a good man, and a dedicated public servant and of course, a Red Sox fan. I will miss him and his big laugh. Goodspeed, Congressman; you were loved.”

We’re bringing back the Clean Fairfax Environmental News Roundup, sharing a few stories each week that we find notable. 

To kick it off, here are several recent stories that caught our attention:

Farmers market season takes root across Fairfax County, starting this week – FFX Now, Apr. 15, 2025
We’re thrilled that the Fairfax County Park Authority’s ten farmers markets are going plastic bag-free this season! Head out to your nearest farmers market (a full directory can be found on our website) and remember your reusable bags.

Maryland Gov. Moore signs packaging EPR into law – Packaging Dive, May 13, 2025
Maryland joins just five other states by passing a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law that holds companies responsible for the disposal, recycling, and end-of-life management of their products. This new Maryland law covers packaging, paper, and beverage containers. Once fully in force, it will require that stores and manufacturers deal with transportation, recycling, composting, and contamination management.

How REI reached a key zero-waste milestone before Target and Walmart – Trellis, May 8, 2025
The popular outdoor clothing and equipment coop has achieved 90% diversion of its waste from landfills and incinerators in 2024, instead recycling or composting the material. It’s the first major retailer to reach this target, and the organization continues to strive for zero waste (meaning 100% of waste is diverted). They are also working on reducing single-use packaging by requiring suppliers to find alternatives or eliminate it at the source. Great job, REI!

Starch-based bioplastic may be as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, study finds – The Guardian, May 13, 2025
This article discusses a new peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry which found that biodegradable starch-based plastics, known as bioplastics, can cause serious health problems for wildlife and humans as they break down in the environment. While bioplastics have been heralded by the fossil fuel industry as safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives to petroleum-based plastics, this study points to the fact that the source of a plastic’s base polymer may not make a difference when it comes to the product’s toxicity.

These “Old Ladies” Dive Into Massachusetts Ponds, Come Up Bearing Pounds of Garbage – Nice News, Mar 1, 2025
A growing group of women over the age of 64 who call themselves Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, or OLAUG, has been attacking the problem of sunken trash in ponds across Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Read all about their efforts and achievements here!

Our Holiday Shopping Tips & Gift Guide!

The holiday season is a time for giving, festive celebration, and connection with those we love. And this year, let’s make it a season of sustainability too! By shopping thoughtfully, we can spread joy while caring for our planet. Here are some easy ways you can make your holiday gifting more meaningful and eco-friendly.

Shop Locally and Sustainably

Supporting local businesses not only strengthens our communities but also reduces the environmental impact of shipping. Look for unique, locally made items or eco-conscious brands that prioritize sustainable materials and ethical practices. Your gift can tell a story while supporting artisans and small businesses. 🎄

Rethink Wrapping

Wrapping paper may look festive, but much of it isn’t recyclable. Instead, get creative with sustainable alternatives! Use recyclable wrapping paper, old newspapers, brown kraft paper, or natural materials like cloth wraps or twine. You can also reuse gift bags, boxes, and bows from years past to further cut down on waste. 🛍️ 

Give with Purpose

The best gifts are the ones that will be used and loved. Before buying, consider whether the item fits the recipient’s needs, style, or interests. Practical gifts, experiences, or consumables like homemade treats are thoughtful ways to show you care—without the risk of your gift ending up in a landfill. 🌍

To help you find inspiration, we’ve assembled a few holiday gift guides full of locally sourced, sustainable, and practical gift ideas for everyone—from the home chef, to the coffee or tea-lover, and the R&R enthusiast. We also encourage you to check out this recent presentation we gave on Sustainable Holidays earlier this season.

Happy Holidays!!

Welcome back to our Sustainability Spotlight series, where we celebrate businesses, organizations, and individuals making a significant impact on sustainability. This month, we’re excited to highlight Fillagreen, a local gem in the City of Manassas, VA, that is redefining the way we shop by promoting a low to no-waste, sustainable lifestyle.

The Heart of Fillagreen: Sustainable Goods & Refills

Fillagreen is not just a store; it’s a movement! Offering a carefully curated selection of eco-friendly products and a refill station, the shop empowers the local community in Manassas – and now Fredericksburg, at their newly opened second location – to reduce waste and make mindful, sustainable choices in their daily lives.

What makes Fillagreen stand out?

1. Zero-Waste Shopping: Fillagreen is dedicated to helping customers reduce their reliance on single-use plastic by offering a variety of bulk goods. Whether it’s skin and beauty products, toiletries, or household cleaning products, the store encourages shoppers to bring their own containers to refill, thus cutting down on packaging waste. But don’t worry, if you forget your container at home, Fillagreen offers containers for sale as well as a free container library (just remember to bring your container next time!). Similar to other low waste stores in our region, this model helps foster sustainable habits by bringing high-quality products direct to consumers, making it extremely easy to reduce, reuse, and refill all their products.
   
2. Eco-Friendly Products: Fillagreen’s product selection features a range of sustainable goods, from reusable bags and water bottles to bamboo toothbrushes and organic cleaning supplies. They also feature self-care and beauty products, such as shower steamers, tinted lip balm, perfumes, lotions, aftershaves, and more! Yet even with such a variety of products, every item is thoughtfully chosen with an emphasis on minimizing environmental impact and promoting ethical production.
   
3. Personalized Local Touch: Fillagreen is community-focused with a presence at two local farmers markets (Haymarket and Historic Manassas), and they also offer doorstep refill exchange and delivery for anyone within a 10 mile radius of their store. Customers can also subscribe to an “Earthwise Surprise Subscription Box,” which delivers an exciting selection of eco-friendly goods each season throughout the year. The staff are eager to help customers try out the refill system, give product recommendations, and provide personalized curbside service – this level of attention can only be found at a local, small business!
4. Educational Focus: Beyond being a retail store, Fillagreen serves as a community hub for sustainability education. The team regularly hosts events and shares information that empowers local residents to take action on environmental issues. Fillagreen staff will speak at community groups, events, and schools about sustainability and eco-friendly lifestyle choices to build the zero waste movement.

How Fillagreen Is Shaping a Sustainable Future

Fillagreen is playing a crucial role in the Manassas and Fredericksburg communities by demonstrating that sustainability doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. By offering an accessible and welcoming space to shop sustainably, they are inspiring customers to take simple but meaningful actions toward reducing waste. In doing so, Fillagreen is not only helping individuals live more sustainably but is also contributing to the larger global movement toward a circular economy.

A Commitment to the Community

At Fillagreen, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword – it’s woven into the fabric of their business. The store is committed to fostering a sense of community and collaboration, and they are deeply invested in creating a space that encourages environmental stewardship. Whether you’re a longtime advocate for sustainable living or just starting your green journey, Fillagreen offers the resources and support you need to make a difference.

Why It Matters

As the demand for eco-conscious products continues to grow, businesses like Fillagreen are showing that sustainability can be both practical and stylish. By reducing packaging waste, supporting ethical production, and offering eco-friendly alternatives, Fillagreen is helping pave the way for a greener future.

Fillagreen’s commitment to sustainability proves that even small businesses can have a large impact! And by supporting companies that prioritize the planet, we all play a role in building a more sustainable and resilient future for generations to come.

Visit Fillagreen:
Fillagreen is located in the heart of downtown Manassas, VA (with a second location recently opened in historic Fredericksburg, VA). If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by and explore the store’s incredible range of sustainable products. You can also check out their website and social media pages for updates on new products, events, and sustainability tips. Let’s keep the momentum going! We’ll continue to spotlight businesses, organizations, and individuals who are leading the way in sustainability – and we hope that Fillagreen’s example inspires you to take your own steps toward a more sustainable future.

Stop Talking Trash: How one man, one dog, and a truck are transforming waste into recoverable resources

Resource Recovery Project founder, Ed Ehlers, never talks trash. Instead, he collects recoverable resources (a.k.a. recyclable materials) from his project members in Clifton, VA, and makes sure that they get to a facility where they can be used again. 

Several years ago, Ehlers was walking his dogs and would habitually pick up trash wherever he found it. He noticed that many littered items could have been recycled, but instead they were treated as waste. He looked more closely at the recycling system and found it to be broken in many ways. It’s complicated, messy, and hard for the average person to understand. Traditional commingled curbside recycling is not very successful, through the lens of resource recovery. Many municipal recycling centers have contamination rates of 25-40%, meaning that at least one out of every four items we throw in our blue bins, while technically recyclable, ends up as trash because it is dirty, contaminated, damaged, or can’t easily be separated. And once our recycling has been sorted, not every stream even has a market for the facility to sell it to. So where do those things go? You guessed it: in the trash pile. Incredibly, according to the Recycling Partnership, only one in ten recyclable items flowing through the municipal recycling system will actually be recycled.

Enter: the Resource Recovery Project.

Disrupting the Status Quo

Ehlers set out to change this process. In April 2021, with a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, he recruited a few dozen of his neighbors in Clifton, VA as pilot project participants. He distributed “Big Green Bags” for people to put their recyclables in and drove around once a week to collect them in his pickup truck. His conditions: he would take anything clean and dry that was “not yucky”– and no medical, hazardous, or food waste. Once back at his sorting center, he would manually separate everything into bins, bags, and boxes. Over time, he researched take-back, recovery, and recycling programs for 31 different streams – from traditional things like cardboard and aluminum, to trickier items such as beauty care packaging and holiday lights. “Solutions are as variable as the resources in the world. There is no magic bullet,” he says.

Since the project’s inception in 2021, Ehlers (and one part-time helper) have processed 76,500 pounds of resources by hand, with an astounding 96% recovery rate. Where does it all go? He personally delivers or sends items to the proper destination, including municipal recycling facilities, donation centers, and business-based collection centers. One day you may see Ed delivering a truckload full of bicycles to the bicycle donation drop-off at Fairfax County’s I-66 Transfer Station. Another day he may drop off a box full of health and beauty aid containers at Nordstrom Rack’s Beauty Cycle collection point. Wherever he goes, Ed carefully weighs, tallies, and tracks everything he handles. Good data helps him understand his business and its impacts, which he proudly shares several times a year on the Resource Recovery Project website and social media accounts. The metrics show that this project is possible, that it is efficient, and that it is making a difference.

Greater Goals

Ed’s aim is to demonstrate that single stream curbside recycling, if done well, can be effective at diverting unwanted items for reuse, repurposing, recovery, or recycling. It may not be glamorous work, but it is certainly innovative and important as our society faces ever-increasing pressure from waste and pollution. The Resource Recovery Project offers proof that one person, a dog, and a pickup truck are all that’s necessary to begin finding a new and better way of doing things. Let’s all #StopTalkingTrash!

And bonus for us at Clean Fairfax: Ed Ehlers not only serves as our Board Secretary, but he also features as a member of our Speakers Bureau. Want to learn more about recovering resources, improving recycling success, or how to deal with hard-to-recycle items? Head over to our Speakers Bureau page and request a speaking appearance by Ed at your group’s next gathering.

#StopTalkingTrash!

Demystifying nature and restoring native landscapes with Pollinative

Founded in 2024, Pollinative Sustainable Land Management is a mission-driven native landscaping and educational services company which is leading the charge in sustainable land management in the DMV. 

We sat down this spring with Founder and CEO Rob Nowell to talk about his new venture, what inspired it, his vision for changing the sustainability landscape (pun intended!) in our region, and more!

Sustainable Land Management

Pollinative promotes balance with nature when designing and maintaining a yard. There are of course human needs and aesthetic qualities that can be inhibitors to giving back part of your yard to nature. Pollinative strives to educate and demystify nature and lower the barriers to going native, so that you don’t have to compromise and can sleep better at night knowing you’re helping boost your local environment.

Committed to sustainability in all aspects of their business, Pollinative uses electric and battery powered equipment as much as possible. The company also avoids the use of chemicals, which can be challenging when it comes to invasive removals, but is critical for protecting native plant, animal, and insect health. Additionally, they encourage clients to retain yard debris as much as possible, especially if they have available space in the yard. – Did you know? A dead tree actually supports more species than a living tree! – Yard waste eventually decomposes into fertilizer and soil that would otherwise have to be purchased and transported to the homeowner’s yard. 

Pollinative Origins

Likewise, having seen his family’s trash reduction from composting food scraps and brown cardboard, Rob wondered if he could help others take the leap. On a snowy February day, Rob offered to his local Facebook group a local composting dropoff site. The response was overwhelming, and he knew he was onto something. 

With several years of landscaping experience, Rob has observed first-hand the high costs of yard maintenance and the lack of resources and services specifically devoted to native landscaping. He saw an opportunity to enter the space and become that resource for others who have faced similar challenges on their own property. 

On Earth Day 2024, Pollinative officially opened for business offering sustainable landscaping services including: seasonal maintenance, invasive removals, and native garden design and installations. With each new project, Rob continues to share his knowledge and contagious passion for sustainability wider and farther. Explore all that Pollinative has to offer on their website! https://gopollinative.com/

#GoNative!