Plastics Collaborative seeks partners and modest funding for education series in Pittsburgh

Moses Womala, programming director at Humane Action Pennsylvania, urged members of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission to help spread an education series the nonprofit runs through the Plastics Collaborative and to consider modest financial support to expand it countywide.

Womala described the Plastics Collaborative as “a gathering of Concerned community members leaders, both in the, elected official space, nonprofit space, and we're also engaging with businesses who are genuinely concerned about the issue of single use plastics in the Greater Pittsburgh area and are committed to reducing and eventually eliminating single use plastics.” He said the collaborative’s work includes policy, business engagement, community events and a content/research team that developed the education series.

Womala told commissioners the series—branded “Lehi Plastic, More Future: Small Steps, Big Changes” in his remarks—includes modules for individuals, businesses and leaders. He said the series aims to teach alternatives to single-use plastics, explain compliance with Pittsburgh's plastic bag ban and train groups to run “plastic audits” that can produce local data useful for later policy decisions. “One of the challenges that has kind of been ongoing has been just not having it like a ton of really robust data… we're hoping if we can start getting more people to do these plastic audits… we can start sort of getting a people can start knowing for themselves,” Womala said.

Womala said three workshops have already been held (including one at the University of Pittsburgh and one at a church) and that his personal goal is to deliver at least 12 workshops in 2025, ideally moving toward roughly two per month. He said the group is currently offering the workshops free and is “bootstrapping,” and that he had come prepared to request about $2,000 but would welcome any level of financial support. He also asked commissioners for connections to schools, businesses, community organizations and library branches to host sessions, and invited commission members and their organizations to join the collaborative’s work.

Commission members responded with practical suggestions and offers of help. Helena, the city’s environmental enforcement specialist, suggested outreach through Carnegie Library branches; Lisa Eberhardt of Allegheny Cleanways and Joshua Schuneman of Pennsylvania Resources Council described existing cleanup and waste-audit activities and said they could be complementary. Kelsey Ripper of Friends of the Riverfront and others expressed interest in partnership.

Womala said the education series includes lesson plans targeted to middle-school audiences, materials for small and medium-sized organizations, and resources intended to reach communities of color that are not always included in sustainability outreach. He said the collaborative is exploring collaborative purchasing and potential grant support to reduce cost barriers for businesses seeking alternatives to single-use plastics.

Womala closed by restating the three requests to the commission: connections, modest financial support and participation in or referral to the collaborative. He left contact information for follow-up.