Plastic pollution in ocean motivates leader
Elyse Hochstadt's journey to founding Spokane Zero Waste (SZW) began when she learned about the Pacific Garbage Patch, the island of plastic pollution floating in the Pacific Ocean.
"Now, 11 years later, my focus and that of SZW is on textiles, because most textiles today are made of plastics, and that's something we can have direct agency over," Elyse said.
SZW offers Mend-It Café, a free textile repair event; ReCraft LAB, a social enterprise that trains immigrant and refugee women in sewing trades and upcycles flexible material waste from local businesses, and Upcycle Fashion Lab, which offers mending and sewing classes for youth and adults.
They also work with local fiber producers to develop a regional fiber industry based on the Fibershed model that supports a textile system based on regenerative agriculture.
Five contract staff run the programs.
In these efforts, SZW has diverted more than 2,000 pounds of textiles from the waste stream, served more than 500 people and made more than 543 mends to clothing and household textiles at Mend-it Cafés.
The cafés are held monthly from February through November at locations such as Spokane Falls Community College, Bellwether Brewing, Spokane Public Library and Art Salvage. Groups can request to schedule a Mend-It Café.
"We repair jeans, coats, curtains, zippers, textile toys, backpacks, hats—any type of textile," said Elyse. "We provide the service for free and invite donations. Stipends for 42 menders and supplies are provided through grants."
ReCraft LAB now trains refugees at Thrive International in Spokane one day a week for eight weeks and contracts with graduates to turn textile and flexible waste—like vinyl banners from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture—into tote bags, meditation cushions, clothing, aprons and napkins.
Spokane Zero Waste then helps sell the items. For example, they invite restaurants to buy upcycled aprons and napkins from repurposed materials, rather than order cheap ones online from China made with low-paid labor.
"We use local workers paid a living wage, source local materials and prevent textiles from entering the waste stream," said Elyse. "Working with our sewists helps businesses meet their sustainability goals."
An initiative with local fiber producers promotes the use of wool as fertilizer in the form of pellets, as weed barrier mats, as home insulation, as bedding and as sound dampening.
"Wool nourishes the soil, retains water and deters weeds. Fresh fleece can be a weed barrier," said Elyse.
Spokane Zero Waste also educates people to advocate for producer responsibility related to plastic waste.
To reduce plastics in the environment, the organization is advocating for legislation and grassroots advocacy, such as promoting Washington State's 2025 Recycling Reform Act (SB 5284), calling for producer responsibility to include the whole life of plastic products and packaging," said Elyse.
In 2024, it was called the ReWrap Act; in 2023, the WRAP Act. With different names, this is the fourth year of seeking to make it state law.
"Producers do not want to pay to recycle materials," she said. "Waste haulers also oppose it, believing it will reduce their workload.
"In reality, it shifts recycling costs from cities and counties to producers," Elyse said. "It also reduces confusion about what can and cannot be recycled."
Elyse shared her journey into this work. At the age of eight, she moved with her family from New York, where her family had been involved in the garment industry, to live through her school years south of Denver. For college, she studied at San Jose State College, graduating in art and communication in 1989. She later earned a master's degree in art in 2006 at San Francisco Art Institute.
For 15 years, Elyse was a graphic artist in the Bay area. She and her partner also formed a Kitchen and Bath Studio and Design Shop in 2008.
"Having become aware of the garbage patch around 2006, I began the Stamp Out Plastic campaign. For that, I set up booths at farmers markets, grocery stores, yoga studios and other locations, offering cloth bags and lino block stamps I created that said, 'No More Plastic.' I invited people to stamp bags and take them free to use for produce, instead of plastic bags," she said. "This was my way as an artist to raise awareness and show an alternative.
"Plastic bags were the focus because their use time is so short, but their environmental impacts last decades. I gave away nearly 500 bags," she said.
She explained that cloth bags help retain moisture with most produce, particularly greens, carrots and broccoli, so the food lasts longer, and the bags can be tossed in a washing machine when they are dirty.
Elyse became involved in public engagement as she learned about "the world of waste" while running a retail store until 2017. She led educational workshops, set up a website and posted on social media about waste rehabilitation and reduction strategies to guide people how to personally reduce their footprint.
Her focus was on personal change, until she realized that personal responsibility is only part of the solution.
After Elyse and her partner moved to Spokane in 2017, she became interested in effecting systemic change and partnered with Elizabeth Merriam, who started the Spokane Zero Waste Facebook group.
"We did some events together and then Elizabeth generously gifted the group to me to run, because she saw I had something more in mind," Elyse said.
During COVID, she formed the nonprofit with a grant from NextCycle, a program of the Washington Department of Commerce.
After COVID, Elyse connected with several women to do resource tables at events in Spokane. That helped her develop the organization, ramping up opportunities to reduce textile waste by teaching classes on mending, repairs and upcycling.
SZW educates people on what today's textiles are made of.
"They are mostly plastics," Elyse said. "Nylon, polyester, acrylic and elastin are all plastic and loaded with chemicals, like fire retardants or stain resistors, not to mention the chemicals involved in making plastics. We absorb those chemicals through our skin when we wear these garments."
She spelled out other environmental concerns.
• Textiles are packaged in plastics and transported around the globe.
• When laundered—both in washing and drying cycles—garments shed microplastics into the water and air.
• There are so many steps in making a fast-fashion garment—petroleum extraction, production, use and waste—that it can be confusing for people to understand the many steps and their impacts.
"We need to curb fast fashion production, or we add more plastic to the waste stream," she said. "We also see more and more how recycling is a hoax. The materials pile up, destroying environments around the globe."
Elyse hopes Spokane Zero Waste will be a trusted partner to work with others for human health, environmental sustainability and the wellbeing of all living creatures.
Spokane Zero Waste supports the Right to Repair Bill to address tech waste by requiring manufacturers to make repair information, parts and tools available, so people can fix, rather than replace, a broken phone.
"The root of overproduction is the culture of consumption. We are taught to buy more and look for bargains, but we live on a finite planet," Elyse explained. "We should focus on quality over quantity to promote the health of the planet. Everything is connected. Water and air pollution will affect us."
SZW also partners with Growing Neighbors to reduce food waste and increase community composting. They teach youth to work in nature, be connected with natural systems, grow and eat healthful fresh foods, and understand how the food cycle impacts their health. In a pilot project GRO-SPO—Gardening, Reducing Waste, Outdoor Education–Spokane—high school students will teach elementary students to grow gardens and understand cycles of nature.
Spokane Zero Waste seeks to change systems that make waste—with a focus on textiles, food and plastics.
For information, call 510-717-3731, email elyse@spokanezerowaste.org or visit spokanezerowaste.org.
