Sustainable Practices

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world" ~ Margaret Mead

Our Community Engagement

Recent Press

The Cape Plastic Bottle Ban is an educational and citizen advocacy initiative focused on raising awareness of the environmental and human impact of single-use plastic bottle consumption. In 2019, we initiated the Municipal Plastic Bottle Ban, which focused on eliminating non-emergency single-use plastic bottle purchase by town governments and sale of beverages in single-use plastic containers on town property across all towns in Barnstable County, Cape Cod. As of year-end 2020, the Municipal Plastic Bottle Ban was adopted by 13 of the 15 towns that comprise Barnstable County. In 2020, we initiated the Commercial Single-use Plastic Water Bottle Ban. The Commercial Ban eliminates the sale of non-carbonated, non-flavored water in single-use plastic bottles of less than 1 gallon in size within the jurisdictional area of a town. Due to COVID-19, efforts in some towns were postponed. In spite of the challenge, seven towns adopted the Commercial Ban at Fall Town Meeting: Brewster, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, and Wellfleet, by vote.

In 2021, the Municipal Ban will appear on the Town Meeting warrant in both Truro and Bourne and the Commercial Ban will be on the warrant in Chatham, Dennis, Sandwich, and Yarmouth.

Coverage of our Bottle Ban activities can be found on our News page.

Our Activities

As a community-based volunteer led and staffed organization on Cape Cod, we are focused on promoting local stewardship of our environment and the long-term sustainability of the Cape. We organize community-building and educational events on the values and benefits of conscious consumption for long-term sustainability.

We are currently engaged in three ongoing community initiatives:

The Cape Plastic Bottle Ban campaign, a grassroots effort to promote understanding and civic engagement with respect to the adverse consequences of plastic consumption on both human and environmental health. The Ban initiative was announced in March 2018 and has been covered by multiple news outlets.
Sustainable Practices Sustainability Film Series, is a documentary screening series started in the fall of 2017. Due to COVID-19 our films are presently screened online and are available on-demand. Please see our Virtual Film Series page for a listing and schedule of films and to order tickets.
Sustainable Practices, a podcast and radio show, is hosted by WOMR and airs the first Friday of every month at 9:00 am. Podcasts are available for listening on-demand under Events on on the WOMR website.

As part of our routine civic engagement we maintain four Adopt-A-Highway sites and one Adopt-A-Visibility site on highway 6 on Cape Cod. Our areas are cleared of and patrolled for debris by volunteers on a monthly basis between April and November. Our sites are located between exits 10 and 12 on both the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway and include the Eastham Rotary, where highway 6A and 6 merge

Our Initiatives

Cape Plastic Bottle Ban

Sustainable Practices Sustainability Film Series

The Cape Plastic Bottle Ban is an educational and citizen advocacy program to raise awareness of the environmental and human impact of plastic bottle consumption. In 2020, we added to our 2019 Municipal Plastic Bottle Ban initiative with the launch of the Commercial Single-use Plastic Bottle Ban. As of January 2021, 13 of 15 towns have adopted the Municipal Ban and 7 towns have passed the Commercial Ban at Town Meeting. We are committed on continuing town adoption of these articles across the remaining towns.

Details on the Bottle Ban effort, including upcoming activities can be found on the Bottle Ban page.

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Sustainable Practices Sustainability Film Series

The Sustainability Film Series will screen My Country No More July 16-25.

Tickets can be purchased on our Virtual Film Series page, where more information on the films and upcoming selections are also available.

Sustainable Practices Sustainability Film Series

Sustainable Practices

Sustainable Practices is our namesake radio show. Our show airs the first Friday of every month at 9:00 am on WOMR. Each episode highlights an aspect of environmental sustainability that impacts us locally but also has global implications.

We cover a range of topics from municipal water quality to recycling with a focus on the importance

We cover a range of topics from municipal water quality to recycling with a focus on the importance of local action in protecting our commons.

Our archived podcasts are available on WOMR and are accessible on our Podcasts page.

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Join the Cape Plastic Bottle Ban