Sustainable Renton
- Alecia
- Jan 9
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 16
Year in Review
2025 was a year of growth for Sustainable Renton. We hired paid staff for the first time in our history, rebuilt our Food Justice Program, and began redevelopment on our Food Forest. This Spring, we hosted a booth at the Renton Farmers Market, where we educated hundreds of our neighbors on our sustainability efforts in the Renton community and created some amazing recycled art projects sponsored by the Renton Arts Commission. Our partner network has expanded to include local businesses, nonprofits, churches, food banks, residential facilities, senior centers, and more!
Food Justice
Our Food Justice Program has seen an enormous amount of growth with the hiring of our Food Justice Manager, Aaron Cloudwood. Aaron has spent time developing relationships within our community to develop partnerships, and we now deliver gleaned food to 17 different organizations on a regular basis.
In 2025 alone, we rescued 151,430 pounds of food from being wasted in the Cedar Hill Regional Landfill. According to the Refed Impact Calculator, that is the equivalent of saving:
Over 172.9 metric tons of CO2
Over 4.35 million gallons of water!
126,000 meals!
Our free meal collaboration with Luther's Table and Reach Renton, lovingly called "The Table", has consistently provided 40-60 people a weekly hot meal since March of 2025. By December 2025, we served over 3000 free meals to our local community. Sustainable Renton provides gleaned food to volunteers at Reach Renton, who cook up a nutritious hot meal every Saturday. Luther's table provides an inviting dining location for neighbors to eat, converse, and find community, all while providing support and dignity to everyone who passes through the doors.
Sustainable Renton also stocks a free pantry at Luther's Table for anyone in need. The pantry consists of shelf-stable items along with pet food and toys. This small pantry is operated on an extremely low-barrier model, allowing anyone to drop in and select items that they need. As of December, this pantry has provided an additional 5000 pounds of food.
SNAP benefits were paused in November, and Sustainable Renton knew that we had to take action. We hosted 2 large pop-up pantries at the Renton Library as an effort to mitigate some food stress on our neighbors. During these pop-ups, we provided over 450 individuals with canned protein, fresh produce, bread, pastas, and drinks. We were fortunate to have amazing volunteers and community support while we shuffled our schedule to make these pop-ups happen. We are so grateful to our volunteers, staff, and guests who attended these events.
This year, volunteers donated over 1400 hours of their time to Sustainable Renton during various events this past year! This includes food sorting, pop-up pantries, free meals, garden work parties, fence work parties, farmers' market events, board meetings, and so much more!
Community Garden and Food Forest
With the support of a grant from the King County Conservation District, we were able to build over 350 feet of new fence surrounding the Community Garden and Food Forest! This beautiful project brought together hundreds of local volunteers working together to help us create a secure space that will last for decades! Thank you to all the amazing volunteers who came out to help us with this massive project. We also installed two bat houses and two screech owl houses on the corners of the garden. With any luck, we will have some new residents joining us next year! These natural predators will help control the population of voles, mice, and mosquitoes in the garden. If you see them around, give them a warm welcome!
When this amazing fence was finished, we invited the community to celebrate by hosting a community bonfire. This was an excellent way to connect with our neighbors and share an evening together around a roaring fire. Marshmallows were roasted, people brought hot dogs to cook on the fire, children played into the evening hours, and merriment was had by all!
Here are some more fun items the Community Garden and Food Forest did this year!
The Community Garden and Food Forest hosted a whopping 15 work parties over the course of the year!
A Food Forest subcommittee was created, and they got straight to work creating a comprehensive site plan, cost analysis, and vision for the future of the Food Forest.
Education and Outreach
Our Education and Outreach program hopped into Spring with an amazing partnership with the Renton Municipal Arts Commission for our Upcycled Art Project. This partnership allowed Sustainable Renton to highlight sustainable education throughout the spring and summer months. We kicked off this initiative at the Dragon's Landing Celebration, where we created egg carton mushrooms with our visitors. We hosted 10 different upcycled art projects throughout 2025 at the Renton Farmer's Market, Fairwood Night Market, and other festivals. Our booth helped educate community members about sustainable practices, gardening, recycling, and, of course, recycled art projects, including veggie art printing, toilet paper tulips, toilet paper flying fish, recycled magazine pinwheels, and so much more!
Festival Activities - Click the button below to access a detailed list of activities!
Egg Carton Mushroom Craft (Dragon’s Landing Festival)
Recycled Toilet Paper Tube Tulips (Highlands Neighborhood BBQ)
Toilet Paper Tube Koinobori Fish Lanterns (June Farmer’s Market)
Food Scrap Printmaking Art (July Farmer’s Market)
Upcycled Book Page Paper Flowers (Renton River Days)
Recycled Paper Pinwheels (August Farmer’s Market)
Native Wildflower Seed Bombs (September Farmer’s Market)
Cardboard Animal Art Cutouts (Fairwood Night Market)
Zero-Waste Sorting Obstacle Course (Cedar River Salmon Festival)
Corn Husk Sunflower Craft (Gobble Wobble)
Field to Flavor Blog
This year, we launched our Field to Flavor Blog, which is lovingly curated by our volunteers Joni and Max. 5 blogs have been released, including Lavender, Garlic, Genovese Basil, Thyme, and Culinary Sage.
Meatless Monday Blog
We also launched our Meatless Monday Blog, which is a collection of curated plant-based recipes created by Chef Pakki Reath.
A message from the Programs and Partnerships Director - Alecia Burke
I'd like to start by thanking our dedicated staff, volunteers, and community members. This has been a year of great transition for Sustainable Renton, and a common theme that I have observed is intense dedication. We operate at the pleasure of the people who join with us to raise Sustainable Renton up, the people who see our small organization as an integral part of the Renton community, and the people who give of their time and resources to make us better.
I joined Sustainable Renton in July, and I'm immensely proud of what this organization has accomplished in 6 short months. We have grown our Food Justice Program by evaluating it and seeking avenues that will better serve the needs of gleaning partners and our neighbors in need. I'm excited to look into the future of this program as we prepare to expand our gleaning to the Food Lifeline network.
Our education and outreach program has made a large impact in the community through various festivals and in-person events. We are currently planning to expand this program's reach by offering new and exciting online materials and in-person workshops. We are also striving to create avenues to partner with community businesses and organizations to further our mission together.
Our Food Forest and Community Garden continue to amaze me. Our volunteers are so passionate and dedicated to maintaining, growing, and developing this beautiful piece of land. I can't wait to see the Food Forest become the community and educational hub that it is meant to be!
I'd like to thank everyone who has donated to Sustainable Renton this past year. Your generosity was truly inspiring. When SNAP paused, the influx of donations, volunteers, and words of support was humbling. I felt the love and compassion from every angle. You all helped hundreds of our neighbors get the food they so desperately needed. My truest hope is that we can continue to respond to our community's needs when unexpected challenges arise with the same vigor that you all helped us achieve this winter.
With Gratitude,
Alecia Burke
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