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Beyond Plastics with Brodie Longo

• Guest: Brodie Longo • Episode 77

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Brodie Longo is a young organizer and director of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics. This grassroots organization works to combat plastic pollution and the use of single-use plastics through education and activism. In this episode, Brodie speaks about what it's been like starting a local Beyond Plastics chapter and how, at just 23 years old, he found himself leading in ways he did not expect. Together with his steering committee and volunteers, Brodie is building momentum against single-use plastic, from hosting nurdle patrols and beach cleanups to venue recycling and advocating for policy and legislative change. Hear Brodie's tips for reducing your exposure to microplastic pollution and how to join meetings, find resources, and get involved with this newly formed organization. 

Our Guest:

Brodie Longo - Director, NEO Chapter of Beyond Plastics brodielongo@yahoo.com

Resources:  

Beyond Plastics National Organization

The Problem with Plastic by Judith Enck 

Follow Beyond Plastics on Facebook

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Diane Bickett, Host:

You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for the Eco Curious in Northeast Ohio. My name is Diane Bickett, and my producer is Greg Rotuno. Together we speak with local sustainability leaders and invite you to connect, learn, and live with our community and planet in mind. Hello, friends. It's so good to be back after a September break, which I was able to do some traveling. My highlight was a week in Bend, Oregon, which is home to great hikes and over 30 craft breweries. I hear the main reason for that great beer is the great water they have there, which comes from deep aquifers after filtering through the forests and the volcanic rock. So you wonder what this has to do with today's episode? Well, I will tell you. As we know, clean water is essential for sustaining all life as well as making great beer, which brings me to our guest today, Brody Longo, who is the director of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Beyond Plastics, a newly formed grassroots organization that focuses on making our water cleaner by reducing plastic pollution and the use of single-use plastic through education and activism. Stay with us to hear things about nurtle patrols, what it's like starting a Northeast Ohio Beyond Plastics chapter, and how Brody, at just 23 years old, found himself leading in ways he did not expect and doing things he did not expect, like coming on a podcast. So welcome, Brody.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Hello, thank you for having me.

Diane Bickett, Host:

It was so nice to meet you back in July when we um were doing our EcoMeet CLE picnic at the Cleveland Metro Parks. And you and Grace, your girlfriend, showed up with your blue Beyond Plastics t-shirts. And I'm like, hmm, who are they? And what are they doing? So that led to a conversation about this organization that you're involved with. And I started following you on Facebook, your uh Beyond Plastics Facebook page, and notice that you're just out every weekend, like either talking to groups or doing cleanups and things of that nature. So we want to hear all about uh what you're doing. And but first of all, let's let me ask you when we talk about getting beyond plastics, are you talking about individual decisions or trying to make like legislative changes? Tell us about the organization that you're involved with and the um the larger organization, the nationwide Beyond Plastics.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So Beyond Plastics is a national organization. It is located at Bennington College in Vermont, and it is led by Judith Enk, who was a part of the EPA from 2008 to 2016 underneath Obama. So they offer a multitude of training programs. The first one is to help people start their own um grassroots organization. And that is a two-day, two-hour-long Zoom class. You have to complete both Zoom classes in order to get a certification. With that certification, you get a lot of other resources that you can use to start your own grassroots organization. As long as you have as long as you have a couple of other people, you know, that you can work with to start the organization. So there are about 150 either chapters or affiliates of Beyond Plastic nationwide.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Oh, that many.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Wow. Yeah, and we are lucky to work with two of them on a pretty regular basis, one of which is actually a part of our steering committee.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay. Where where are they located?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um Catalina from the Cleveland Heights Green Team. And then the second would be Kathy Smacklow.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Oh, okay. And so they're both local. Are are they part of the then the Northeast Ohio chapter? Um then they've been through the training.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yes, they would have had to have gone through the training to at least become an affiliate. Um the Cleveland Heights Green Team, they operate as their own entity, but them being a part of Beyond Plastics as an affiliate allows them to utilize a lot more resources that Beyond Plastics can can offer people.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay. So this organization in Northeast Ohio, you started like back in January or February, right? So it is very new.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yes.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Um and you were then new as well to the organization, right? Because it was started by someone else. You want to talk about who the founders were and how you got roped in or drawn in, I should say.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So the inaugural meeting was this past January, and it was another one of our members, part of the steering committee, who started it. That would be Kevin Peterka. Due to some personal things happening in his life, though, he wasn't able to offer as much time. So he asked if I would be able to take over the reins of director. So that happened in June, and I was very ecstatic to be able to get the privilege to be able to lead the organization.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Good for you. Good for you. Were you involved at the beginning, or how did you hear about it? How did you get involved?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So I had initially heard about it through a email that was sent out by the Cleveland Heights Green Team, their newsletter. It was listed, the inaugural meeting was listed within the newsletter. So I figured I should probably go because up until that point I had um really wanted to get myself into the community to be a part of something bigger than myself.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Oh, that's awesome. And your day job, you work at a metal fabricating company, is that right?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yes. Um, my day job is by trade a CNC machinist.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay, cool. Well, what is the mission of Beyond Plastics, sort of the national organization and then your local group?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Aaron Powell So local groups and national organizations kind of work under the same premise where the goal is to inevitably ban the manufacturing and sale of single-use plastics. And the way that we plan on achieving that goal is by educating the public and policymakers alongside working with policymakers to enact legislation that helps to back that up.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Wow. That that's a big lift for sure.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Absolutely.

Diane Bickett, Host:

And there are several organizations that you work alongside kind of to promote that work. Do you want to name some? You mentioned the Cleveland Heights Green Team.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

The Cleveland Heights Green Team primarily is one of the larger ones that are organizations outside of us that we work with. But another one that I would like to mention that we worked with a lot over the summer was the Fairport Harbor Arts and Cultural Association. They have a four-part concert series that they put on every summer. And we worked with them to help build their sustainability infrastructure throughout the year at their concerts.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Oh, really?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yeah.

Diane Bickett, Host:

So were you in charge of collecting plastic for recycling or did you have a booth? What did that look like?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So at the first uh concert series that they had put on, we had a booth and then a couple of the volunteers would go around to the bins to pick recyclable plastics and aluminum out of the bins. And then at the end, we just gave it all to them so they could take the plastic for recycling and then give the cans to the fire department. The second show was their much larger show. It was the reggae show. And in that show, there were 10 stations for um trash. But since it was spread over a much larger area and no actual recycling infrastructure, it was pretty difficult to go through all 10 of the cans on the premises and pull out all the recyclable aluminum and uh plastic. But throughout the the nine-hour show or whatnot, however long it was, I had pulled quite a substantial amount of uh recyclable plastics and aluminum to show them that even without an infrastructure, albeit it being quite a lot of work, it still can be done. So what's the next step? Let's invest in some infrastructure to see what we can get done. So by the third and the fourth, we had nine recycling cans total with the 10 trash cans that they had. And we had been able to reduce the amount of work put in by about 80 to 85 percent.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Work smarter, not harder. That makes a lot of sense. So they funded the the provision of the bins and the recycling services.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

They put forth uh funds for five of their own cans, and then we provided four of ours.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Wow. So next year you'll be all set and you won't be digging through trash cans. Absolutely. Well, I admire your dedication. Um you're sitting here with your girlfriend Grace, who is not speaking. She doesn't have a speaking role on the podcast. She doesn't want, but um, I understand you've kind of been a team in in your involvement with this org.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Absolutely. Uh ever since I want to say uh late February to early March when we would hang out more. Um, that was when we first started going into some of our our cleanups. Because I want to say as soon as the weather was like 40 degrees, there were people who were like, okay, let's see what we can go out and and pull out of our parks and pull out of the lake.

Diane Bickett, Host:

You mentioned earlier that you wanted to get involved with something larger than yourself uh and make a difference. That issue seemed to settle on plastic pollution. How did that come about, do you think?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um, ever since I was young, I always spent time outside. And especially when I was able to drive, I was always outside, primarily at one of my most favorite places, the Menor Lagoons Nature Marina. And every time that I had gone there, especially over the summer, there was always a lot of plastic pollution. So the summer of 2019, I was able to get me and a couple of my other friends to go down and just clean it up. Because all of us understood that that there was a problem here, so why not do something about it while we could? We expected, you know, the the trash to return inevitably, but I digress. So we went, we we cleaned up, and little did I know is just in that action alone that one of my friends would have an opportunity where I would be able to come become the vice president of the menor green team my senior year, which would have been the fiscal school year of 2019 to 2020.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Oh wow. Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So ever ever since that point, but unfortunately with with COVID, I had to move straight into the workforce.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Yeah.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Uh essentially.

Diane Bickett, Host:

So menor high school green team, and then fast forward to director of Beyond Plastics, Northeast Ohio. That's pretty amazing.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

There's a a pretty big loneliness epidemic going around that everybody to some degree or another is afflicted by. And I knew that uh if I could just be a part of something bigger than myself, then that could save me from a whole other world of of potential outcomes.

Diane Bickett, Host:

I see. Are you working to recruit other young people in your beach cleanups? And what other act what other type of programs are you offering or you involved with here?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um to what what seems to engage young people the most is typically the cleanups. Uh, it's not so much in the the tabling or the education side of things. So primarily if we want to we want to try and pull younger people, it's usually at documentary viewings and and cleanups where they can get introduced, acclimated, see what it's all about, and then see how that fits into their time.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Have you um seen Ripples of Plastic?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

I was there at the very first screening.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Well, Chris Slanger was a guest on our show a while back, and I've noticed that his film is getting out there more and more. So that that's very exciting. Um you do a lot with educating about nurdles. Let's talk about nurtles, those little plastic pellets. You're in manufacturing, but you're on the the metal side, but there's a whole other side that's that's built around making stuff, whether it's useful or not, out of these plastic pellets. Let's talk a little bit. What do you want to tell us about nurdles, what they are, where they come from, and the problems they're causing?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So nurdles are pre-industrial plastic pellets. They are considered a manufactured microplastic as they are five millimeters and smaller. So you could think about the size of a pencil eraser and smaller. When we first started doing our beach cleanups, we would separate the colorful plastics from the normal, kind of more trashy, degraded, uglier looking plastics, because I like to use the colorful plastics for art. And what we noticed was we were finding nurdles in the plastic material as I was learning about the entirety of the plastic pollution crisis, one of them being nurdles. So earlier this year, I had a thought. I'm like, if we were able to find them so easily looking just for generalized plastics, how what would we find and how easy would it be for us to find them if we sought them out specifically? So we scoured every every beach that we could all across the northeast Ohio region. There were a couple of times where we went on little vacation excursions. First was July 4th to Presque Isle State Park, where we stopped at Ashtabula, we stopped at Connaot, we stopped at Raccoon Park, which is a few miles east of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, and then finally at Presque Isle to track the nurta pollution up the coast.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Wow.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So we're going well without our, or well outside of our domain of, you know, the Northeast Ohio region, but I truthfully believe that, you know, with these being such a s systemic problem and it being in such an open waterway, we don't know what could be coming from other states, specifically Lake Michigan and whatnot, because there's a lot of manufacturing that happens around there too. Um, and where it ends up further up Lake Erie. So we've been going we've been tracking that data to try and see if we can find correlations with what we know is happening right here in the Northeast Ohio region.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Aaron Powell Is there a way to track uh the origin of the nurdle? I mean, is there some kind of marking or specific colors or anything identifiable that you could take back to that company and say, hey, uh clean up your I mean, how are they getting out there? I I understand it's with transportation. So they're either on a rail car that's not covered, or how else are they just getting blown into the environment?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Aaron Powell So the rail cart is a great example. That is a pretty common way that they do enter our environment. The way that they enter our environment is there's very little EPA regulation on how they are to be transported, which oftentimes leads to the abuse of how they're transported. And then there are also pretty poor standards put in place on how they're to be cleaned up in contamination spills. So say that you have a spill either at the manufacturer or the train. And by manufacturer, I mean the the company that makes the nurdles or the company that uses the nurdles as a raw material to make something else or at the train if it overturns and whatnot. Uh, that is a pretty common way for them to enter the environment. And with those those lax rules, they're essentially as good as brushed off or hosed off into our local water supply.

Diane Bickett, Host:

I see. So just a spillage on the property or en route, and it seemed like it would be a pretty easy fix, you know, for the EPA to put some regulations in place. It would just simply require them to contain them in better ways.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Them being so small, do you know how many nurdles are in 55 pounds of nurdles?

Diane Bickett, Host:

Uh 55 million. I don't know. I just guessed three million. Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So a lot a lot less than 55 million, but that that's still um just a large amount to try and clean up. Because at any given time, if we spend two hours at our hottest spot, we'll find no more than three thousand.

Diane Bickett, Host:

You really have to nip it in the butt at the source, right? Is that what you're saying?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Absolutely.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay. Is the national organization working in that regard?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um there I there was a bill that was proposed, the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act, but I honestly can't speak with too much assurance if Beyond Plastics uh played a big role in that or not.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay. Was it introduced and not passed, or has it been?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

It was yeah, it was introduced but not passed.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So one of one of our goals is to see what we can do with trying to reintroduce that, but that's a pretty big feat. Yeah, that's that's that's larger than just our own chapter.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Understandable. Understandable. So beach cleanups and tabling events. Um you also found yourself in front of um, I think it was the Fairport Harbor Church.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Uh yes.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Making presentations. These are all things that were probably new to you like from a year ago. Absolutely.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Absolutely.

Diane Bickett, Host:

What has this involvement in this organization, you know, provided for you personally and professionally?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

It's given me a uh a large sense of of pride, right? It's great to do all of these things, but in the check of my ego, um you realize just how much larger and how much more systemic all of these issues are than we are just people at any given level. Like these issues span generations. I mean, plastic was uh, might I say, feticized in the mid-1950s when Life magazine would put, you know, families throwing all of this plastic stuff into the air, saying, look, it you don't have to wash your dishes anymore. You can just throw it away. Um so it's definitely helped a lot with just perspective in general. And it's it's great to just be a part of the community and engage with people who really see it and understand it too. But for I as I feel a lot of us, we don't really know how to get out there and do something with that.

Diane Bickett, Host:

So what would be your advice for people to uh reduce their use of single-use plastic and reduce their exposure to microplastic pollution?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So whenever I'm like tabling events or just talking about this to anybody, I always tell them to focus on what your food and beverages come in. If it is any beverage that is in plastic, energy drink, sports drink, bottled water, don't go for it. There is a there is about 60,000 known microplastics that could exist in any 16.9 liter or ounce fluid, whatever, of water bottle, right? So I could imagine that that also extends to any sports drink that exists, to which I used to be a consumer of. Um, and then look at what your your food is wrapped in. I implore anybody listening to this to go to their local grocery store and just look for meat that isn't wrapped in plastic. And I would say to you, good luck. Good luck. Um, and then I also advise using like a cotton bag if you have one or reusable for like the the pick your own produce that some grocery stores have. Because it's way better than you know, buying a potato that is wrapped in plastic, wrap buying a banana that is wrapped in plastic. You can put it in your own, you know, bag to take.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Yeah. So we have to be concerned about what we're consuming in terms of um our exposure to plastics because it's been known to get in our bloodstreams, it's it's found in our brains now, and it's pretty alarming. We've talked about this in other interviews. Um, there are some tech solutions like our friends over at Cleaner that are uh that created um invented a uh filter that attaches to your washing machine that will filter out all the microplastics coming off your fleece clothing before it enters the lake. Um but there's some other like public awareness campaigns. I think the Cleveland Heights screen team is working on something with its local businesses. Can you speak to that?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

It's uh Yeah, I can I can speak a little bit. So what they're currently working on right now is the first month of the trial period, the upon request initiative.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Upon request.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

That's so so what the upon request initiative is, it's it's not like a full-scale, you know, reducing all single-use plastics that uh a fast food chain restaurant might sell, but just getting the the restaurant owner and then the employees and then the individuals walking into the the area for them to think about if they need these utensils or not. So by upon request, it is put on the consumer to identify if they need plastic utensils or not. Because if they feel they don't need plastic utensils and they don't make that known, well then you're not giving away a plastic straw wrapped in a plastic wrapper along with some polystyrene utensils wrapped in another layer of plastic.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Yeah. And how many folks do you have on your steering committee? Or do you have board members? How what is the structure of how plastics look like?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

I would say that as of now it's a it's a relatively loose structure, but we do have eight members that are pretty solid in the steering committee. We meet the first Monday of every month, um, and we meet usually at seven o'clock for about an hour to an hour and a half long through Zoom. Uh, I usually send the Zoom link out a couple of times to remind people, but it's mainly the steering committee that joins, but it's it's welcome to anybody who wants to know what we're doing and how they can get involved. I also recommend people check out the the Facebook group Beyond Plastics, the Northeast Ohio chapter, or if you want to talk more privately, my email, brody longo at yahoo.com, b R O D I E L-O-N-G-O at Yahoo.com.

Diane Bickett, Host:

And if someone wanted to get that Zoom link, they could email you as well.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yes. Um if you if you email me or uh contact through the um the Facebook group, the Facebook page, uh, and send me your email, then I can add you to the email list.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay, perfect. I noticed on the Beyond Plastics uh website for the national organization, there are a lot of resources. There's a learn tab with a lot of fact sheets about effects of microplastics on the human body and the environment. Uh so anyone wanting to learn more could really go to that as a resource.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Diane Bickett, Host:

And I think there's a book coming out too.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yes.

Diane Bickett, Host:

It's called The Problem with Plastic by Judith Enk.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Yep.

Diane Bickett, Host:

So she's the woman that started it. Yes. What did the training look like? The grassroots training?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Uh, pretty simple. I mean, you can literally do it from the comfort of anywhere. You you do have to participate and you do have to attend both of the the training uh sessions to be able to get the the certification, which then helps you get your resources to either become an affiliate or to start your own organization, grassroots organization.

Diane Bickett, Host:

What events do you have coming up? Do you have anything uh that people might want to learn about for the fall or people can organize a cleanup or do a nurdle patrol with you? What do you want to say there?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So what I would what I would say is uh at least at the time of recording, we are starting to get into some colder months. Um we will still be doing nurdal patrols, but that may just be within the organization just due to the the temperature and things like that. Um but I would say I probably can't talk about it a whole lot, but I would say that keep an eye out uh at the Cuyahoga River between November 6th and November 13th.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

If you are familiar with Bessie, our local sea creature, for anyone who is interested in cryptids out there, you might see something interesting out there. I don't know. Bessie Sightings, Betty Sight, Bessie Sightings.com.

Diane Bickett, Host:

What's the down low on Bessie?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

I guess we'll just have to figure that out once we get closer.

Diane Bickett, Host:

So what are your needs for Northeast Ohio beyond plastics in terms of your organization?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

So we are always looking for um people in healthcare, and that could either come from the side of research or the side of, you know, you just work in the um facilities management? Yeah, the facil the facilities management. You work with the the food, and even if you're a janitor and you see that there's a lot of plastic waste, um, we're always interested in seeing what we can do at the individual facilities because that's just a great place to start. Um, we're also looking for anyone that works in a library or just has a lot of connections with uh um the libraries just around the Northeast Ohio region, those are great opportunities to host documentaries or just generally speak to people. Um I have learned that libraries to tend to be filled with a lot more adept people for the the uh the plastic crisis. Um and then individuals who have experience in the process of writing and proposing laws and legislation. Um anybody who just has experience with that, I don't know the first part about that.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Government affairs or yeah, and just anybody with uh with experience.

Diane Bickett, Host:

And are you looking for more um board members, steering committee members?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um I would say as of now, probably not. I would like to see how the winter goes. Okay. Um with setting up a couple of the projects and how we want to approach them.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Very good. And how about funding for like some of your recycling containers for the event stuff that you're doing?

Brodie Longo, Guest:

If there's anybody that has experience with fundraising or maybe even grant writing, we um I've been in communication with a couple of people, but again, it I wouldn't say that that's my strong suit.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay.

Brodie Longo, Guest:

Um so just anyone who has um experience there to really be able to either help us out or at least help walk me through it.

Diane Bickett, Host:

Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining us and thank you so much for all your work. I've got a couple announcements that I would like to wrap with. Uh, our next EcoMeet CLE is going to be on November 18th at Great Lakes Brewing Company from 5 to 8. And we will continue with the water focus. Uh, we are having Emily Baca speak. Uh, she's with the uh Cuyahoga County's Freshwater Institute. And we're gonna have a panel of speakers that will really talk about how our region has been positively impacted by the cleanup of our waterways. And secondly, um, if you're enjoying EcoSpeak CLE, um Greg and I would love for you to consider sponsoring or becoming a donor to the podcast in the form of a small monthly contribution like three bucks, five bucks, um, whatever help you can give. If you're enjoying listening to the show, it will help offset some of our podcast expenses. And we have a donation button on our website, uh which you can access through uh the podcast, the main link through our podcast.

Greg Rotuno, Cohost:

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak CLE. You can find our full catalog of episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes are available the first and third Tuesday of each month. Please follow EcoSpeak CLE on Facebook and Instagram and become part of the conversation. If you would like to send us feedback and suggestions, or if you'd like to become a sponsor of EcoSpeaks CLE, you can email us at hello at ecospexcle.com. Stay tuned for more important and inspiring stories to come.

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Diane Bickett

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Greg Rotuno

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