This month’s Sustainable Westport Superstar is the Staples Zero Waste Committee!

The Co-Chairs of the committee are Jenn Cirino and Kayla Iannetta (pictured here), and members include Marcia Moore, a Staples custodian in charge of food scraps collection, as well as students, Jack Foster and Skylar Newman, who serve as Zero Waste Ambassadors for the Staples community.

• The purpose of the committee is to move Staples and the Westport community towards being more sustainable and zero waste. Although the work can be demanding at times, with numerous community events, producing educational material, and educating staff and students, that never stops the team from doing what they’re passionate about: sustainability!
• A big congrats to the team for earning the RecycleCT grant for the second year in a row! Last year, the committee used the grant to build the structure at the cafe that houses the compost, recycling, and trash bins. Each bin is clearly marked to indicate what belongs where. Their goal is to have a uniformed structure and signage in place so it becomes second nature to the students around the cafe when getting rid of waste.

Thank you to the Staples Zero Waste Committee for being a Sustainable Westport Superstar!

Empty wine and beer bottles, mayonnaise and peanut butter jars and all glass beverage containers … Westport accepts them all (provided they are clean and without a lid, top or cork) in the Oakridge glass recycling container located at the Westport Transfer Station.

In December 2021, Co-Directors, Gately and Jo, along with the Director of the Department of Public Works, Pete Ratkiewich, took a tour of the Urban Mining Glass Recycling facility located in Beacon Falls, CT. All the glass that Westport collects at the Transfer Station during the “soft” pilot program now underway goes to this local recycling center.

Urban Mining has created a revolutionary new product through recycling 100% post-consumer glass that is harvested and processed regionally (i.e., in Westport and surrounding towns). They clean, sort and grind down the glass, transforming it into pozzolan, an industrial filler that is safer, more sustainable and higher performing than its predecessor, fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning power plants. Their proprietary industrial filler is called Pozzotive.

Pozzitive pozzolan is used in concrete and its use dramatically reduces carbon dioxide emissions created by concrete production. Furthermore, the making of Pozzitive (1) minimizes contamination in the recycling stream, (2) creates a circular economy where regional towns provide the raw materials and can use the recycled product in their sustainable building materials and also (3) reduces transportation emissions.

Read more about Westport’s glass recycling program here and read more about Urban Mining and Pozzotive.

Emily is leading Sustainable GFS and Sustainable BMS in their efforts toward identifying and implementing zero waste projects within the schools. Emily was part of the original composting parental support team at both of these schools and is now working, along with Sustainable Westport, to support other schools as they start their composting programs.

What sustainable choices do you incorporate into your and your family’s lifestyle?

“We compost at home and use a collection service because [that way] I can put bones, eggshells and all our coffee grinds in. Plus, it’s super convenient! Also, we planted an organic garden in the backyard which provides most of our greens in the spring and summer months. And while we may have too many beans and zucchini sometimes, it feels great to reduce our carbon footprint. Oh, we switched to MowGreen this year! It’s an all-electric, organic landscaping company.”

What sustainable changes were the most challenging to make for you?

“I felt terribly having the conversation with our previous landscaper [about] the need to move to greener technologies. These are people that you have year-round relationships with, but ultimately, we felt that making the move was necessary for the environment and our family.”

Any sustainable goals for 2022?

“Yes! We already have one EV but I am excited to get rid of my gas-guzzling SUV this year and replace it with something that is electric.”

Aubrey Benmosche

Aubrey is an 8th grader at Coleytown Middle School who is working to keep Long Island Sound and our local beaches trash free! For her bat mitzvah tikkun olam (“repair the world”) project, Aubrey organized a group of people to join her (and Save the Sound) in a beach clean up at Compo.

Here’s what Aubrey had to say about her experience:

“The ocean is a major part of our earth and our survival. And many living creatures depend on a clean ocean. By 2050 there will likely be more plastic than fish in the ocean if we don’t do anything! We noticed a lot of little plastic pieces and styrofoam pieces…bottle tops- metal and plastic. Good to pick up the big pieces of trash but it’s those little pieces of plastic that get lodged in the stomachs of sea creatures. Also a number of cigarette butts- gross. Though the trash seemed somewhat camouflaged, when you really looked it was surprising how much trash there was stuck in the sea grass and seaweed along the beach. The project made me proud that I was doing something for the planet. It was also eye-opening because of the variety of trash that people leave behind …rubber parts of tires, dental hygiene products, a sock, broomstick, confetti stars.”

THANK YOU to Aubrey for being a Sustainable Westport Superstar!

Sustainable Westport thanks Westporter Jenine Suchanec and family for sharing their recent home energy audit experience with us and inspiring the launch of our Profiles in Sustainability series. Jenine had nothing but positive news to share about the outcome of the audit and remediation work conducted by a certified HES contractor during the pandemic. We encourage everyone to schedule a free home energy audit to reduce energy use, save money, live more comfortably and lower your carbon footprint. Contact admin@sustainablewestport.org if you’d like to share your personal sustainability experience for this series.

Being both financially and environmentally conscious, when I saw fellow Westporters talking about having a home energy audit on the Westport Front Porch Facebook group, I was interested. My husband and I live in a recently renovated home, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a chance for us to improve our energy usage. Even so, I was a bit skeptical about both paying the fee and having someone in our house with the pandemic in full swing. When I called to have to schedule through the Energize CT Home Energy Solutions program, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the home energy assessement would be completely free and they had excellent COVID protocols.

I didn’t really know what they would do and if they’d do anything that was worthwhile, but we decided to take a shot and schedule them to come in and do the audit. After all, even if they fixed the one door where it felt a bit drafty in the winter, it’d probably be worth it. Before they came in they asked us to send some pictures and talk about points of interest in our house (our attic, our basement, our HVAC, etc). Even just talking to them about these provided useful information about the energy usage in our home.

The crew that came in to do the audit was excellent. We have a huge number of can lights in our ceiling and the builder had put in incandescent light bulbs. We had already been replacing them with LEDs as they burned out, but part of the audit process was to replace a large number of our old, energy inefficient incandescent bulbs. Even before any of the other more substantial improvements, replacing bulbs with LEDs made them coming in worth it.

The major part of the work involved them putting a frame with a fan over our front door to conduct a blower door test measuring how much air our house leaked. They then went through looking for places where air could or was leaking and sealing that. That meant using a clear caulk around the baseboards, adding spray foam in some places, adding door sweeps in our basement, and other various minor improvements. There were no major changes, just simple common sense things. They also told us more major changes we could consider like adding insulation to our crawlspace area under our master suite.

On-the-spot energy fixes they did:

• Replaced 16 light bulbs with LEDs
• Did clear caulk around floor baseboards
• Foamed around the interior water lines (in our bathrooms, ones going to the outside spigots)
• Insulated the attic hatch in upstairs bedroom
• Wrapped the ducting in the floor vent in the kitchen
• Adjusted the door plate on the patio door to make it more air tight
• Did more insulation (foam) gaps in the attic
• Put door sweeps on the basement doors

We were sent a full report on the same day. Now, all we had left to do was decide whether to do additional recommendations they gave us. The number of improvements they had made to our home in a single day for free was unbelievable!

Since having the audit our utility bills have gone down and we are reducing our family’s carbon footprint. So it’s truly a win-win both for our finances and the environment. I’d say to everyone, there is no reason to not take advantage of this service. Even if there are not as many improvements to make in your house as we had, you will at a minimum be better informed about your home and feel better about your carbon footprint.

End note: Sustainable Westport encourages everyone to schedule a free home energy audit to reduce energy use, save money, live more comfortably and lower your carbon footprint. Visit EnergizeCT to learn more about the HES program and receive a list of certified contractors.

Sustainable Westport and the Town of Westport have announced that the recipient of its third Residential Green Building Award for Achievement in Sustainable Design and Construction is 227 Hillspoint Road.

Date: September 23, 2019
Project Team: Robin Tauck, Owner
Architect: Michael Greenberg
Consultant: TecKnow

This house, completed in January 2018, is a zero-energy-ready residential home and the third residential recipient of the Green Building Award for Achievement in Sustainable Design and Construction.

When Robin Tauck bought the property, and the adjacent lot, she wanted to maintain the feeling of the small beach community at Old Mill Beach. In furtherance of this, she set out to maintain the same footprint of the existing tear down to minimally impact the environment and create a model for future homes.

She also built an innovative guest cottage, built in a similar vein as the main house.

The house uses many sustainable building practices and innovative technology, as advised by TecKnow, the Westport-based company that combines automation technology with green energy building materials and products. The house is run almost entirely off the grid, utilizing solar and Tesla Powerwall energy battery storage.

The house is an example of the pillars of the Green Building Award, including rehabilitation, energy efficiency, innovation, conservation, sustainability, and modeling for the future.

Sustainable Westport and the Town of Westport have announced that the recipient of its second Residential Green Building Award for Achievement in Sustainable Design and Construction is 23 Oak Ridge Park.

Date: October 10, 2018
Project Team: Steven Sun and Kelly Shue, Owners
Architect: SellarsLathrop

Contractor: Signature Home Remodeling, Bill Towle

This house, built in the mid-1950s, and renovated in the 1980s, was again fully renovated in 2015/16. It was stripped down to the walls to significantly increase the amount of insulation. By renovating an existing structure, instead of building a new home, a significant amount of waste was diverted from the landfill. New windows are primarily triple glazed and doors double glazed, including the floor to ceiling doors/windows which look out onto the garden and Saugatuck River. In addition, the owners installed air sourced heat pumps which run on electricity and 9.2 Kw solar photovoltaic system on the roof to offset the electricity demands by about 50%. The owners, Australians who are accustomed to water shortages, installed a cistern to collect water from the roof and water the garden. No gardening water is taken from Westport’s aquifer.

With a HERS rating of 23, this home is 77% more energy efficient than a new home built to 2006 building codes and at least 100% more efficient* than the typical resale home. It has been renovated with energy efficiency in mind, resulting in a home that is environmentally friendly, enjoys a high comfort level and benefits from lower energy costs.

This residential building is the third recipient of the Green Building Award and the second residential building to be awarded this honor. Great value is placed upon home energy efficiency measures, as Westport homes consume over 50% of all energy used in town.

Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe stated, “Reaching Net Zero by 2050 is only going to be possible through the combined efforts of the town, local businesses, and our residents. I’m so pleased to see both businesses and residents valuing sustainable construction and renovation that embraces energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

Chair of the Westport Green Task Force David Mann, said “In a town where the tear down of the day has been a staple news item, it is rewarding to see sustainable redevelopment. The project team is to be commended for setting an example of how to responsibly handle the rejuvenation of our existing building stock for the current real estate market and life in the 21st century. Projects such as this one are key to a sustainable future for Westport.”

Click the images below for a larger view:

The first residential Westport Green Building Award for Achievement in Sustainable Design and Construction was awarded to 54 North Avenue!

Date: July 31, 2018
Project Team: Alfred Popken, Owner
Architect: John Rountree

Contractor / Passive House Consultant: Chris Trolle, BPC Green Builders

This house, built in 2016, has average monthly energy bills below $50. This is achieved in part by its high R-value insulation throughout (almost three times the building code) and a continuous air barrier, resulting in exceptional air tightness; the 10.72 kW solar photovoltaic system; LED lighting and triple pane windows. The house is conditioned by a ducted air source heat pump, and water heated by an electric heat pump water heater.

This residential building is the second recipient of the Green Building Award, the first being 500 Post Road East, owned by Fred F. French Investing LLC, a 37,800-square foot office building that underwent an extensive renovation, including installation of high R-value insulation, LED lighting, 247 solar panels on its roof and efficient air source heat pumps that condition the building.

Jim Marpe, Westport’s First Selectman, said “Reaching Net Zero by 2050 is only going to be possible through the combined efforts of the town, local businesses, and our residents. I’m so pleased to see both businesses and residents valuing sustainable construction and renovation that embraces energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

David Mann, Chair of the Green Task Force, notes “ there is momentum in Westport to move towards more sustainable development and redevelopment. To get to net zero, we need to dramatically improve the performance of our buildings. It is our hope that these early examples and the leadership serve as guiding lights to a sustainable future for our town.”

View this tour of 54 North Avenue:

A Path to Net Zero