{"id":82468,"date":"2026-01-09T15:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/82468\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:39:07","slug":"southside-ambassadors-program-lehigh-universitys-reusepass-bethlehem-eac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/82468\/","title":{"rendered":"SouthSide Ambassadors Program, Lehigh University\u2019s ReusePass: Bethlehem EAC"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The city\u2019s SouthSide Ambassadors Program<\/a> had a busy 2025 \u2014 cleaning more than 30,000 sidewalks and collecting an estimated 94,000 pounds of trash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is usually really clean in the South Side, folks \u2014 the community uses the garbage cans,\u201d Sandra Zajacek, the program\u2019s operation manager<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m a frontline environmentalist. We\u2019re out there five days a week, and we are cleaning this up so it doesn\u2019t end up in our storm drains, in our waterways. I really believe in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I don\u2019t think we all realize how much it means to walk down a clean street and how it got that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynn Rothman, EAC chair<\/p>\n

Zajacek\u2019s was among two presentations given during the city Environmental Advisory Council\u2019s Thursday meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a wonderful presentation. Thank you,\u201d EAC Chairwoman Lynn Rothman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I don\u2019t think we all realize how much it means to walk down a clean street and how it got that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Make it friendly and vibrant\u2019<\/p>\n

In addition to cleaning sidewalks and collecting trash, the SouthSide Ambassadors remove stickers and graffiti, greet residents and visitors, collect bags of leaves, power wash, pull weeds, remove snow and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always say with public spaces, we try to make it friendly and vibrant,\u201d Zajacek said.<\/p>\n

\"SouthSide<\/p>\n

Screenshot<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

SouthSide Ambassadors<\/p>\n

Sandra Zajacek, operation manager for the SouthSide Ambassadors Program, shared 2025 data during the city Environmental Advisory Council’s Thursday meeting. <\/p>\n

She highlighted the totals for the amount of trash collected and greetings given \u2014 94,135 pounds and 54,587, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to coincide those two a lot,\u201d Zajacek said. \u201cAnd if you look at it closer, you\u2019ll see that when there\u2019s a lot of people, there\u2019s a lot of trash. Through the months, you can see the difference and it changes of course, seasonally.\u201d<\/p>\n

When ambassadors greet people, they \u201cdon\u2019t bother\u201d them, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a smile; it\u2019s a nod,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of noting that somebody\u2019s in their presence, and if they need any help, we\u2019re available.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we kind of stop what we are doing and say hello. This makes a big difference on mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehigh University\u2019s ReusePass<\/p>\n

After Zajacek\u2019s presentation, Marayna Dorsey, sustainability coordinator for Lehigh University\u2019s dining services, shared information and data on ReusePass, a program that lets students borrow reusable food containers outfitted with an RFID sticker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I describe this to someone, I like to describe it similar to a library book,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo a student gets a container to check out. It’s scanned out. They get to enjoy their food wherever they’re taking it with them.<\/p>\n

“And then they take it back, and it gets scanned back in, and then ReusePass is completed. So it’s a really streamlined process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lehigh<\/p>\n

Screenshot<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Marayna Dorsey<\/p>\n

Through ReusePass, students borrow reusable food containers, outfitted with an RFID sticker, to cut down on single-use plastic waste. <\/p>\n

The program is in use at both of Lehigh\u2019s residential dining areas, as well as its main retail dining area. There are four return locations where students can drop off used containers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a 97 percent return rate, which is really high considering that we have done almost 30,000 rentals,\u201d Dorsey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s about 17,000 pounds of single-use waste that would have been thrown away from the clam shells instead. And our most-used rental has been used and completed that loop 51 times.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a $5 fee if students don’t return a container.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is really amazing,\u201d Guthrie said. \u201cThanks for the presentation. I’ve never seen a program like that before. It is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman asked whether it could be a model for city restaurants.<\/p>\n

In June, the EAC approved a single-use plastics survey<\/a>, targeting restaurants. Preliminary results, released in October,<\/a> showed restaurant owners are interested in ditching single-use plastics in favor of reusables, but they need help making the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m thinking any place that has a cafeteria could use this,\u201d EAC Member Steve Olshevski said. \u201cSo the first thing I thought of in this area is a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

EAC member Vibhor Kumar said it all depends on the likelihood of the same people returning to the same location.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo whenever that happens, where people are most likely to return back to the similar area, where they can return the containers, I think it will work there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vice chair, secretary re-elected<\/p>\n

Also during the meeting, Ben Felzer and Ben Guthrie were re-elected as vice chairman and secretary, respectively.<\/p>\n

Felzer was nominated by Rothman, and seconded by EAC Member Katie Trembler. Guthrie also was nominated by Rothman, but seconded by Olshevski.<\/p>\n

There was no discussion before either vote, and both were unanimous.<\/p>\n

At City Council\u2019s Jan. 20 meeting, members will appoint a new chair, replacing Rothman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank you all very much. This has been the highlight of my life.”<\/p>\n

Lynn Rothman, EAC chair<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, this is not my last meeting to attend, necessarily, but my last meeting as chair and as a member,\u201d Rothman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank you all very much. This has been the highlight of my life. I\u2019ve really enjoyed working with the EAC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several members thanked Rothman for her service to the council, noting her work hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed and they\u2019ve been lucky to have her leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve made it easy for the rest of us,\u201d Guthrie said. \u201cThe last several years, you\u2019ve represented the committee well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The city\u2019s SouthSide Ambassadors Program had a busy 2025 \u2014 cleaning more than 30,000 sidewalks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,773,41549,29935,155,154,41550,41551,41553,41552,21745,41554],"class_list":{"0":"post-82468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-eac","10":"tag-bethlehem-eac-january-2026-meeting","11":"tag-bethlehem-eac-meeting","12":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","13":"tag-bethlehem-news","14":"tag-lehigh-universitys-reusepass","15":"tag-reusepass","16":"tag-reusepass-in-the-lehigh-valley","17":"tag-reusepass-lehigh-university","18":"tag-southside-ambassadors","19":"tag-southside-ambassadors-2025-data"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}