May 2026
Sustainable Warwick Minutes
May 20, 2026
Presentation
Coolest Recycling Drive: This is the 4th year for the Coolest Recycling Drive and one of its most successful.This year there were 199 appliances recycled plus 17 appliances given to the Town of Warwick for re-use in Mountain Lake Park. We’re grateful to the many community organizations and people who provided support, including:
Warwick Valley High School Interact Club members
Greenwood Lake Lions Club and Mayor Tom Howley.
Florida Lions Club and Mayor Dan Harter
SUNY Orange
Many other Sustainable Warwick members
Sustainable Warwick ended up spending a little over $700 on this initiative, but the benefit was an estimated avoidance of more than 160 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent – a great public benefit at a low, low price! CleanEnergy@sustainablewarwick.org
Action Reports
Pollinator Pathway: This committee had a very successful plant sale. Altogether 125 seedling trees and shrubs will be planted in Warwick. Roughly 50 of these plants will be contributed to Warwick parks and the rest will be planted by residents throughout the town. This was the first year for the native seedling sale; the committee learned lots of lessons and is considering future sales. They also continue to meet every second Tuesday of the month at Mountain Lake Park to tend the garden they started last year and to remove invasive weeds. New volunteers are always welcomed. Pollinators@sustainablewarwick.org.
Green Screen: The Green Screen Committee interviewed all the candidates running for the School Board on issues of sustainability. This was carried in The Advertiser and shared with the SW mailing list. We received feedback from several members about how much they appreciated this initiative. SteeringCommittee@sustainablewarwick.org
Hiking Club: We welcomed old and new members to our first hike of the year, a walk around Sterling Lake, led by retired arborist, Pat Burke and his wife, Joan. It was a great success. Great weather. Great hike with the added benefit of information shared on various trees, plants, flowers, and invasive species. Even the spotting of several beaver dam structures worthy of awe. Pictures from the hike are on our webpage. Our next hike will be at Wawayanda State Park towards the end of June, during rhododendron season. Details to follow. Events@sustainablewarwick.org
Food Scraps to Compost: We have returned to the Farmers’ Market in Warwick for the fifth year. We offer a convenient way for anyone to drop their household food scraps with us. This year, we’re excited to offer fresh compost available to our fellow scrappers! Bring a bucket or container. We’re happy – and proud – to share this earthy product to liven up your home garden. Volunteers are always needed, a great way to meet really nice people! If you’d like to volunteer some Sunday, please reach out to us at garden@sustainablewarwick.org or visit our webpage for additional details!
Book Club: Our book for May was “Is a River Alive?” by Robert Macfarlane. After reading the book, the club came up with this concise summary: With local guidance, this author dove into exploring the concept of a river being alive. He recounts journeying to Ecuador, Chennai and Canada with lyrical, evocative language.
Our next book is “Blowout” by Rachel Maddow for our meeting on Tuesday, June 9th, at 3 PM (via Zoom).BookClub@sustainablewarwick.org
Waste Not Survey: The survey is now closed. Thanks were spread across the survey team, as well as support from our co-sponsors, all three libraries, and especially to Christy to help bring the survey to life. More than 320 people responded. The survey proved very useful in highlighting the low level of awareness in a number of robust recycling initiatives and also on the question of a town-wide composting program (majority in favor), and dual – versus single-stream recycling (large majority in favor). A series of articles are planned to share survey results in more detail. Respondents appreciated the dedicated Waste Not Resources page. Going forward, we will maintain this list with a link on our homepage for easy access. (Please let us know if there are additional programs we can share!) SW will continue to look for ways to engage and inform our residents on recycling initiatives. SteeringCommittee@sustainablewarwick.org
Social Media: This summer we will begin posting on Instagram, in addition to our Facebook page. We hope to engage a much broader audience, including younger members. If you have an Instagram account, be sure to follow us. We’ll have lots to share throughout the year!
Upcoming Events
Pollinator Festival at Warwick Valley Winery: This event is sponsored by Orange Environment in association with Warwick Valley Winery and will be the 4th Annual Festival. SW will be at this event on Saturday, June 5th from 1:00 - 5:00pm, so come and visit us! More details are here.
Zero Waste Picnic: June 17th
We will host a picnic the evening of June 17th, in lieu of our monthly Zoom meeting. We will either be in Mountain Lake Park or Wickham Woodlands. Prior to the picnic, we’re asking high school and college students to join us for an hour or so of removing invasive plants from the park.
During the picnic, we’ll be eager to hear from students what kind of sustainability projects they would like to take on during the summer. We encourage everyone to attend and bring friends. Details to follow. Stay tuned!
Hope to see you soon!