{"id":19660,"date":"2026-01-08T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?p=19660"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:04:58","slug":"new-year-less-waste-needham-implements-skip-the-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/new-year-less-waste-needham-implements-skip-the-stuff\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year, Less Waste: Needham Implements \u201cSkip the Stuff\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19031 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic-300x293.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic-300x293.png 300w, https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic-45x45.png 45w, https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic-150x147.png 150w, https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skip-the-stuff-graphic.png 393w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Every home in Needham has &#8220;that drawer&#8221; &#8211; the one heaping full of\u00a0 plastic utensils, soy sauce and ketchup packets.\u00a0 On <\/span><b>January 1, 2026<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Needham implemented\u00a0<\/span><b>Skip the Stuff<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a bylaw aimed at reducing unnecessary waste from single-use food service items. Under Skip the Stuff, food, beverage, and retail establishments may no longer <em><strong>automatically<\/strong> <\/em>include single-use accessories (such as plastic utensils, napkins, straws, or condiment packets) with takeout or delivery meals.\u00a0 Single-use items will only be provided if customers specifically ask for them.\u00a0 Skip the Stuff is viewed as a win for the environment and for businesses.\u00a0 Restaurants realize a cost savings when they reduce the number of items distributed to consumers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don&#8217;t worry &#8211; you can still obtain the accessories you need, either through the online ordering process or in person at the restaurant.\u00a0 In addition, businesses may opt to offer accessories at self-service stations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Needham joins Newton, Wellesley and a host of other towns that have implemented this program.\u00a0 Skip the Stuff is a small change that can make a big impact\u2014reducing waste, saving resources, and helping our town move toward a more sustainable future.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every home in Needham has &#8220;that drawer&#8221; &#8211; the one heaping full of\u00a0 plastic utensils, soy sauce and ketchup packets.\u00a0 On January 1, 2026, Needham implemented\u00a0Skip the Stuff, a bylaw aimed at reducing unnecessary waste from single-use food service items.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":19031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[336,291],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-19660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plastic-waste-reduction","category-toward-zero-waste","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19663,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660\/revisions\/19663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}