Reduce Waste

From discarded wrapping paper to retired e-waste and uneaten leftovers, Americans produce 25% more waste during the holiday season! Visit StopWaste's Sustainable Holiday Guide for tips to reduce your carbon footprint, including cooking, eating, giving, wrapping, and more.

Shop Local

Shopping local helps our community and the environment thrive! When you shop local 67% of what you spend stays within the Alameda community, supporting your neighbors and local businesses. It's also cuts down on transportation emissions, reduces excessive packaging, and conserves resources through local production.

Alameda Backyard Growers (ABG) plays a crucial role in helping Alameda reduce food waste while helping to feed Alameda families through its Project Pick program. Homeowners with fruit trees in Alameda can donate their extra fruit, and volunteers from Project Pick help harvest and deliver the food to the Alameda Food Bank (AFB). Project Pick is celebrating a huge milestone in 2025 having broken all previous annual records with nearly 15,000 lbs of fresh produce donated to the Alameda Food Bank this year!

But we do more than pick fruit. We:

• Grow: Teaching neighbors how to grow their own food.
• Connect: Helping residents share resources and get to know one another.
• Give Back: Reducing food waste and feeding local families.

Get Involved! Visit AlamedaBackyardGrowers to sign up for monthly meetings, other upcoming events, access resources, find volunteer opportunities, or learn more about donating your fruit with Project Pick. Most of events and workshops are free and open to everyone in Alameda and the surrounding areas.

Whether you are an experienced gardener or have never planted a seed, you are welcome at Alameda Backyard Growers! 

Over 50 student volunteers from the Alameda High School Leadership Class planted 110 trees at Main Street Linear Park with ARPD in November! Congrats to Leadership students and ARPD!

The Bay Area Air District’s Clean Cars for All program recently relaunched and provides up to $12,000 to eligible Bay Area residents to retire their older car and replace it with a new or used electric, plug-in hybrid, or fuel cell electric vehicles, or to get pre-paid card to use for public transit and purchase e-bikes. 

To learn more about the health benefits of electric vehicles, visit Lung.org/EV.

Do you have a gas-powered wall furnace, water heater, fireplace, clothes dryer, outdoor grill, or pool/spa heater in your home?

You may be eligible to participate in a new study led by researchers at Berkeley Lab on measuring methane emissions from gas appliances in California homes.

Study participants will receive a $60 gift card for completing the methane measurement visit. 

If selected for the suty, they will receive an additional $50 gift card for completing about 2 months of monitoring their gas appliance usage.

Visit the study website to learn more and participate: indoor.lbl.gov/carmec-study