Green Hudson June Newsletter

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Green Hudson Enjoyed a Very Successful HudsonFest

Representative Kate Hogan (center right) stopped by Green Hudson's tent for a check-in on our progress. She is shown surrounded by Linda Miller, Jackie Gillis and Brian White.

HudsonFest is always a big day for Green Hudson. We had an information booth with lots of things: information sheets to take away, posters explaining recycling, a quiz to take, and a raffle! Volunteers staffed the booth all day and had many interesting conversations with the people visiting the wide range of vendors along the length of South St.

This year Green Hudson completed year 4 of a 5-year plan with the ultimate goal of “A Waste-Free HudsonFest.” Over these past 4 years, we added recycling and composting bins along with the DPW trash bins at 3 locations. In the beginning it was sometimes hard to get people to slow down and think about whether their “trash” was indeed trash. Questions arose about what was recyclable and what was compostable. Education was a large part of our contribution.

Two years ago, the DPW remarked that we had managed to reduce the trash produced by HudsonFest by almost half. This year, we were determined to get the facts. At the end of the day, we weighed all the recycled materials, the composted food, all the compostable serving

HPD's Murf helped out!

materials, and the less-than-a-bag of trash. And the results are in:

By recycling and composting whatever we could, Hudson diverted over 62% of all of HudsonFest’s trash out of a landfill and into recycled or composted materials.

We are proud of these results. Now we're thinking of ways to eliminate the rest of the trash for the 5th and final year of our "Waste-Free HudsonFest" plan. The vendors at HudsonFest have been working with us, some for a few years already. Next year can be even better.

We are also pondering how to bring this process to the Town as a whole. Please contact us if you have thoughts about this: [email protected].

Committee Reports

The Climate and Energy Committee

The committee continues to work on plans for the Heat Smart program. Contact Brian White at [email protected] if you're interested in joining.

The Education and Outreach Committee

We’ve had a busy month on the outreach and education committee. In May, we held a Climate Cafe focused on "Aligning your money with your values." Sia Stewart and Tom Rawson from

Third Act Massachusetts presented a wealth of information about how we can each support climate action—and avoid funding fossil fuels—by how we handle our money. Whether we are low, middle, or high income, there are actions we can take. Their presentation was videotaped, and with the help from Sara at HUD-TV, it is now posted on our website at GreenHudson.org. Take a look at their videotaped session and find something you can do! For more information, contact: [email protected].

The Plastic Reduction Committee
We're pleased to announce that we'll soon be adding to the Green Hudson website a list of twenty ways to limit your exposure to plastics. Here’s one:
Don't put plastic items in your dishwasher: the high heat will cause them to shed microplastics and to leach chemicals more readily.

Love your tea? Skip the plastic! You may have read in the news that many tea companies are now packaging their tea in tea bags made from plastic. A disturbing 2024 study by the Autonomous University in Barcelona found that tea bags release between 8 million and 1.2 billion microplastic and nanoplastic particles per millimeter of boiling water they're dunked in. These findings are in line with those of other recent studies including a 2019 study done by McGill University in which researchers found that a single tea bag can release more than 11 billion microplastic and three billion nanoplastic particles per cup. (Beyond Plastic)

Even if the bag is made from plant fibers only, the sealant around the bag, or the string on the bag, is often made from or coated with polypropylene, which can release microplastics when steeped in hot water. Celestial Seasonings for instance, told us that they have switched to all plant fiber bags but do still use a sealant; they are looking for alternatives. Whole Foods has plant fiber bags but could not answer our question about the sealant.

What can you do? Brew loose leafed teas, which can be obtained right here in Hudson from the Evergreen Restaurant shop, or in many natural food stores. There are some tea bags which reportedly are plastic free. Beyond Plastic recommends the following brands: Stash, Numi and Yogi Teas, and Traditional Medicinals. Can you add to this list?

Beyond Plastic currently has a campaign to urge tea companies to switch away from plastics altogether. You can add your two cents at https://www.beyondplastics.org.

Please email us with questions or to join our efforts: [email protected].

Legislative Update

The 2025-2026 legislative session is well underway with several climate-oriented bills having had hearings. The Environmental and Natural Solutions (ENR) committee held a hearing on the plastic bag ban bill and plastic reduction bill. It also held a hearing on the drought bill.

The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy held a hearing on bills including one that stops utilities from using customer billing income to pay for lobbying fees.

The bottle bill (HB3464) Will be having a hearing on June 18 at 1 o’clock. See link below:

HB3464—An Act to update the bottle bill; Sponsored by: Rep. Michelle Ciccolo (D)

Hearing Scheduled: 06/18/2025, 1:00 PM—Committee Hearing (Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy), State House, A-2 and Virtual

Governor Healey filed a new bill on "Energy Affordability" that has many components to it. Since Hudson has its own power company (Hudson Light and Power), we are not burdened by the high rates of electricity that other residents in Massachusetts experience. However, those Hudson

residents who have Eversource Gas have experienced high gas rates this past year.

The Massachusetts Chapter of Elder's Climate Action has kindly shared their "Legislative Priorities for 2025-26" with Green Hudson. It's a more comprehensive look at what their interests are for the Commonwealth and it can be found here.

Green Hudson's Raffle Winner at HudsonFest

Congratulations to Michaela C. who won our “green” products and local goodies raffle bag at HudsonFest. Green Hudson member Linda Miller put together a great selection of products including Hudson Hives honey and a Cafe 641 travel mug.

The raffle entry form had a quiz about what items are trash, which can be put into household single-stream recycling and which have special requirements. The items in the list are among those most frequently misplaced at the transfer

station. See how well you know your Hudson recycling.
You can find the answers below or at https://greenhudson.org/recycling-quiz-answers/.

Tuesday, June 24th at 7:00 p.m.

We will be meeting at the Hudson Public Library, upstairs in the McClellan Room. You are welcome to come early to talk with others in our community, and to sample some snacks and drinks. We will close by 8:20 to make sure the library staff go home on time!

June’s Climate Cafe will round out our second year of Cafes 🥳. And this month's focus will be on our own homes: each attendee will receive a survey of the many things we could each do to reduce our own carbon footprint. We’ll have time to fill out our own survey (privately— no judgment!) and then talk about where we’ve made progress in the past few years. There is a lot that can be done, and instead of feeling overwhelmed by the whole climate crisis (easy to do) —we want to see how far we’ve come in our own lives. We also want to think about what our goals might be for the coming year, individually and as a Town.

As Sia (pictured from last month's Climate Cafe) and Tom from Third Act (and also Voltaire) said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” We can’t do it all, and we won’t get it perfect, but we can each make a difference. And as Margaret Meade once told us, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Green Hudson's next meeting will be at 6:00 p.m.

on Sunday, June 15th at the

Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson

80 Main Street in Hudson

or via Zoom.

Agenda and Zoom invites are sent out

one week before meetings.

Recycling Volunteers Needed!

Have fun! Meet your neighbors and make new friends while helping the planet. Recycling volunteers needed Saturdays.

For more information:

contact [email protected]

The Assabet River flows through the town of Hudson providing a powerful reminder of why we want to protect the beauty the earth provides. Scientists are alarmed as we witness climate change happening. We need to do more to put a stop to the threat.

Join Green Hudson now to learn more.

You are invited

Do you have suggestions for articles, resources of note, inspirations, relevant books to recommend, etc.? Send to [email protected] with the subject line "Green Hudson".

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