March 19, 2025 • 36 mins
When people think about ‘contaminants of emerging concern’ in our waters, it sounds like a scary, complicated thing. But in truth, it’s not. There are a number of things in our everyday lives that can pollute our water – even medicine, clothing, and what we use to keep our homes safe and beautiful can become contaminants. In this podcast episode, we’ll discuss how to keep these everyday materials from becoming something that pollutes our water. Check out the blog post on this topic for more information.
Resources:
Unwantedmeds.org
Questions? We'd love to hear from you!
Abigail Garofalo aeg9@illinois.edu, Erin Garrett emedvecz@illinois.edu, Amy Lefringhouse heberlei@illinois.edu
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Abigail Garofalo (00:07):
Welcome to another episode of the Everyday
Environment podcast, where weexplore the environment we see
every day. I'm your host,Abigail Garofalo.
Erin Garrett (00:15):
And I'm your cohost, Erin Garrett.
Abigail Garofalo (00:18):
And today, we are here with Sarah Zack, the
pollution prevention specialistfor Illinois Indiana Sea Grant,
and she is here to chat with usabout emerging contaminants in
water. Welcome, Sarah.
Sarah Zack (00:29):
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Abigail Garofalo (00:31):
We're excited to have you as our listeners
know, we are talking about allthings water this week, and
Sarah is a longtime friend ofthe pod, having been on our
podcast before it was EverydayEnvironment and when it's been
Everyday Environment. And she'salso actually been our
consultant on our video seriesthis year. And so it's been
really great to work with her.We love working with Sarah, and
(00:53):
we're just excited to learn alittle bit more about, you know,
what kind of contaminants weshould worry about in water.
And so I'm gonna get startedwith asking you, Sarah, just to
kinda tell us about what is SeaGrant, what do you do with Sea
Grant, and just a little bitabout you in this field. Sure.
Sarah Zack (01:09):
So Illinois Indiana Sea Grant is one of 32, 30 three
Sea Grant programs across thecountry, and they're all based
at land grant universities. Theywere established in the sixties,
so well after land grantextension services were
established. But they're sort ofco-located for the most part
with land grant universities.And because Illinois and Indiana
(01:33):
have such a small bit ofcoastline, we're a bistate
program, one of only two bistateprograms. And so all these Sea
Grant programs are focused oncoastal issues.
So for us, it's Lake Michiganand the Great Lakes. There's
also programs on Guam and Hawaiiand California and New Hampshire
and every coastline has aprogram. And so we're often
(01:54):
seated with extension servicesbecause a lot of what we do is
outreach and education just likeextension services do. So we fit
in, I think, really nicely withthe extension model and, yeah,
can kind of serve as reallyspecialized specialists because
we're mostly focused on waterand Great Lakes issues.
Abigail Garofalo (02:14):
And what about your role as the pollution
prevention specialist?
Sarah Zack (02:17):
Yeah. So my position is all about contamination of
water. There is another personthat also works with us, Eliana
Brown. She deals primarily with,like, stormwater runoff and
nutrient pollution, and I amfocused more on emerging
contaminants, not to bury thelead or spoil anything. So I
focus on things likepharmaceuticals and
(02:39):
microplastics and PFAS and othersort of, let's say, people
centric contaminants. Right?Things that may be within our
control and that we may becontributing to. Not really
like, you know, industrialpollution and things like that,
but more, you know, communitybased.
Erin Garrett (02:57):
That's really great to get an overview. I
guess I didn't realize there'sthat many Sea Grants across the
country so. That's really cool.
Sarah Zack (03:03):
It's a lot of fun to be a part of both Extension,
like, here. So we're a part of,obviously, Extension on the
Illinois side. We're at Purdueon the Indiana side, and then
they're part of the Departmentof Forestry and Natural
Resources. But then we also havethe whole Sea Grant network
across the country, which is alot of fun.
Erin Garrett (03:21):
Yeah. For sure. Well, we're gonna dive into our
topic, and you already startedchatting about it because this
is what you do. So we're reallyexcited to have you to chat and
share all your expertise. Solet's just start with the
basics. If we're talkingemerging contaminants, what are
we talking about?
Sarah Zack (03:36):
Yeah. So so these are substances that obviously
are some form of pollution inwater. And the United States
Environmental Protection Agencyhas sort of a standard
definition that they use to kindof classify whether or not a
pollutant is emerging or not.And so it has to not have a
regulatory standard. So there'sno level that the federal
(04:01):
government has determined or thestate government, I guess, has
determined, that we have to staybelow for safety. It has to be
something that was recentlydiscovered, and I'm doing air
quotes around discovered becausewhat discovered could mean is
that it's either new, a newchemical, or that we just
recently found it because ofimproved science or or
(04:24):
technology, better detection,things like that. There's things
that have been out there thatwe're just now starting to find
more often, and so that wouldthey both would count. And then
the third thing, the trifecta,is that it has to have negative
impacts on the environment.
Abigail Garofalo (04:39):
And that could be, like, a whole host of
things. Right? Like, negativeimpacts could mean on humans,
could mean on fish, could meanon
Sarah Zack (04:46):
Yep. Anything. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. So it could be a
drinking water contaminant. Itcould be something that causes
fish to change sexes. It couldbe something that we just don't
really know very much about, butsuspect is not healthy for us.
Microplastics, I think, fallsinto to something like that
(05:07):
where, you know, it's not achemical per se. That's why I
said they're substances becausemicroplastics are considered a a
contaminant, in this sort ofvein, but it's they're actual
pieces of plastic.
Abigail Garofalo (05:20):
So it's, like, something that we classify so we
can put resources towardunderstanding it. Like, the
burden of proof of it being aconcern is a little bit lower.
Like, we don't have to, like, wedon't have to directly be like,
this is directly causing thisissue, but we suspect it is in
order for it to be consideredemergency emerging.
Sarah Zack (05:40):
That's a that's a good point, I think. And I think
the EPA, in particular, in theGreat Lakes area has invested a
lot of money in emergingcontaminants because they're
trying to develop sort of thisbaseline for what a lot of these
pollutants are. And and in thecase of things like like PFAS,
we don't know a lot about them,and it's a suite of thousands of
(06:05):
chemicals. So you have to startsomewhere and kind of try and
figure out, you know, how do weattack this? At what level do we
start to worry? And, you know,there's a lot of unanswered
questions about a lot of thesechemicals.
Abigail Garofalo (06:18):
I've heard, like so you were talking about,
like, official language andterminology, and, those are
really valuable for us tounderstand these kind of, like,
criteria of what falls underthat because that kind of
devotes resources to certainthings or or our attention and
time. And so I've heard someterms. I've heard emerging
contaminant, and then I've alsoheard contaminant of emerging
(06:39):
concern. Are those the samething? Is there a difference?
Tell me a little bit more. Yeah.That's a great question. And,
that's, I think, something thatthere's been a lot of debate
about, but I guess now,contaminant of emergent concern
is probably the more widelyaccepted, even though it's a
little bit more of a mouthful.They tend to get used
interchangeably and and I thinkthat's fine. But there are
(07:01):
subtle differences between thetwo. So if you think about an
emerging contaminant, the ideathere kind of calls to mind
something that is just now beingfound. Whereas if you think
about a contaminant of emergingconcern, that's something that
you're just now starting to beworried about. Right? And that,
(07:22):
I think, is a bit more broad anda bit more inclusive of some of
the chemicals that we're hopingto address because there are,
like I said before, things thathave been in the environment,
they're not new chemicals.They've been there, but we're
just now starting to figure outthat, hey, these are these are
not great, and we need to beginaddressing them and and figuring
(07:42):
out, you know, how to handlethem. So I think the contaminant
of emerging concern also has thecute CEC, abbreviation, which a
lot of people like to use. Theycall them CECs. And And I think
a lot of people continue to usethem interchangeably, and I I
think that's okay. But I dothink that understanding that
the concern is what's moreemerging than the contaminant
(08:04):
itself, you know, when it comesto this big broad category.
Erin Garrett (08:08):
That makes sense. Because when you were discussing
the definition of emergingcontaminant, you know, to me, it
makes it sound like it issomething new that's just been
found. Right? So even though itis more of a mouthful, I think
the the longer at least to me tome makes more more encompassing
sense of what we're talkingabout. Like
Sarah Zack (08:26):
I agree.
Erin Garrett (08:27):
The concern about it that is is emerging. What are
some examples? You've mentioneda few. You've mentioned them in
the background, but what are wetalking about? What are the
different contaminants that arethe most concerning ones that
we're talking about?
Sarah Zack (08:41):
I don't wanna be biased, but the one for me, the
ones that I focus on in my work,in my extension work are the
most important ones. So I wouldsay, the biggest one in the news
right now is PFAS. They're perand polyfluoroalkyl substances.
So these are things that makeconsumer products heatproof and
(09:05):
grease proof. They make thingsslippery. They protect things.
They're in firefighting foams.They are in so many things, and
they are really, really widelyfound throughout the country in
water both water and soils. Andthese are chemicals that have
known negative impacts topeople. Right? There's a lot of
(09:26):
whole host of health problemsthat can arise from PFAS
exposure at certain levels. Andso that has been in the news a
lot lately.
Another one that I would say isa really hot issue is
microplastics, particularlymicrofibers. Right? Tiny tiny
pieces of plastic. These areless than five millimeters in
size, and they come from avariety of sources. They come
(09:46):
from larger pieces of plasticbreaking down. They come from
the manufacturing process wherethere are tiny pieces of that
just sort of escape into waterthat would otherwise be used to
mold larger pieces of plastic. Ialways like to talk about if you
go to the zoo and you see theMoldorama machines, that's
(10:08):
exactly it. Those are tinypieces of plastic that get
melted down and molded into, youknow, a giraffe or a a an
elephant. I think I have avulture downstairs on, in the
basement on my desk from thelast time I went to the zoo. But
those tiny little pieces ofplastic can escape and end up in
the water.
And then microfibers are sort ofthe biggest issue in terms of
(10:31):
microplastics, and they arefibers that are shed from non
natural textiles. So if you'renot wearing wool or hemp or
cotton, chances are you'rewearing nylon or polyester or,
you know, some sort of reallyplastic based fabric. Right?
Like, all those are plasticbased. And so the little fibers
(10:53):
from those get into the air.They get into the soils. They
get into the water, particularlyfrom our washing machines and
end up in natural waters.
And then the other one I'llmention is pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals is it's such ahuge group of chemicals, such a
huge group of things that have areally, really wide variety of
(11:15):
impacts. And and these arethings that range from caffeine
to estrogen and hormonetherapies to Tylenol and Advil
to antidepressants. I mean, allof these medications, they all
end up in the water whether weexcrete them or they wash off
our bodies or bad bad, we dumpthem down the drain or flush
(11:39):
them down the toilet. And as isthe case with pretty much all of
these, wastewater treatmentplants were not designed to
remove them. So they may do adecent job at removing them all,
but they can't remove everylittle bit. And so there's
always gonna be a little bitthat kind of escapes into
natural waters. That was amouthful. Sorry.
Abigail Garofalo (12:00):
No. And I was thinking too sometimes we talk
about, like, emerging in thetrue sense that it's it is a new
contaminant. Like, is thewastewater treatment plant have
the knowledge or even knowingthat it is in the water in order
to filter it out. Right? It'snot like a lot of these
pharmaceuticals are beingdeveloped with the intent of,
like, oh, this is a newpharmaceutical, and here
(12:20):
wastewater treatment plants allaround the world is how you
filter out of the water. Right?Like, that's not a never
Sarah Zack (12:26):
A lot of our waste structure is, you know, very old
across the country. And so, Imean, this these just aren't
things again, these are emergingissues. They just aren't things
that these plants were designedto to remove. And I will say,
for not being designed to removethem, they do a pretty good job
of getting a lot of them out.The problem is that we're just
(12:47):
inundating these waters with allof these things. And oftentimes
too, in Illinois, it is a greatexample of this. Right? We have
a lot of agriculture. And so thebiosolids that are recovered
from the wastewater treatmentprocess often can end up as
fertilizers. And in thosebiosolids is often the compounds
(13:08):
and the substances that wereremoved from the water. So we
take them out of the water. Theyend up in the biosolids, and
then we go ahead and we put themon land where they end up in the
soils, and they wash off intothe water anyway. And that's not
for all of them, butmicroplastics is a big one.
Pharmaceuticals too, you know,those things kind of end up
getting spread on agriculturallands. So there's some movement
(13:32):
on banning biosolids, until wecan kind of get a handle on
that.
Abigail Garofalo (13:37):
Well, I'm I'm thinking about too, like, a lot
of our listeners we're hearingthis and we're like, oh, no.
Like, what can I do? What am Idoing? Am I contaminating the
water? What are some things thatwe commonly do that we are
accidentally kind of putting inour water?
Sarah Zack (13:53):
Yeah. There's a lot of things that we probably don't
realize that we're doing thatcontribute to this problem that
are super easy fixes. Right? Andit's really easy, like, oh,
don't do this and the problem'ssolved because, I mean, that's
not true. Right? We all knowthat that's not true, but every
little bit helps. Right? Like,if every person can do some of
these things, then we couldreally make a dent in reducing
(14:15):
the amount that we're continuingto put out. Maybe there's still
a lot of stuff out there in ourwater that we have to deal with,
and that's fine. But if we canreduce the load that we continue
to add, that's a really, reallygood thing.
So, I mean, first and foremost,I would say never ever flush
medications. Always find a takeback program. And you can even
go to your pharmacy. You can goto your local law enforcement.
(14:36):
And oftentimes, one or the otherwill have a drop box where you
can put these things. Noquestions asked. You just walk
in, put them in, walk away.That's it. And if not, you can
get envelopes from yourpharmacies sometimes, and you
can mail them in to be properlydisposed of, which is really,
really great. Yeah. We just say,please, please, please don't
(14:56):
flush or dump any unwantedmedication. And we have a
website. It's unwantedmeds.org.And if you go to the website, we
have a map, and you can put inyour ZIP code, and you can find
your local take back. The DEAalso holds take backs in
conjunction with law enforcementtwice a year, usually in April
and October. So if you can kindahang on to things safely until
then, you know, you'll likelyfind a event that you can drop
(15:20):
stuff off to.
Erin Garrett (15:21):
Do you know how do they handle the medications?
Like, what is the process thatthey dispose of them?
Sarah Zack (15:27):
Yeah. So a lot of times, it's incinerated. So
there are certain facilities.I've worked with a lot of
programs across the Great LakesStates, and we have them sign up
for, like, a waste to energyprogram where they're
incinerated in EPA regulatedfacilities, and that
incineration process gets turnedinto energy. It's used to
generate power, essentially,which is pretty cool. Because
(15:50):
the facility is EPA regulated,you know, it's it's a hazardous
waste facility disposalfacility, basically. So we're
disposing of these things ashazardous waste. So we're not
putting toxic smoke out into
Erin Garrett (16:03):
Yep.
Sarah Zack (16:03):
You know, out into the environment. So that that's
a really good thing. And I thinktoo that when you drop stuff off
at the take back events inOctober and April, the DEA comes
around and collects thosemedicines from the law
enforcement and then deals withthem, you know, themselves. So
the federal government just kindof, like, takes over and and
takes care of it. And none ofthem end up in landfills or in
(16:27):
the water.
Erin Garrett (16:27):
So that was my other follow-up question is why
not, like, throwing away in alandfill? Like, what are the
potential drawbacks to that?
Sarah Zack (16:36):
Yeah. That's a great question. And and actually,
there are situations that wewould recommend that you put
them in a landfill. There's sortof a specific set of steps to
follow to make sure that you aresafely throwing them away
because when you put them in thegarbage, there are some public
health risks. Right? You know,these things could get diverted.
They could get, you know, foundby animals, children. Like, you
(16:58):
wanna make sure that they areproperly taken care of, not just
so that they don't become anenvironmental hazard, but so
that they don't become a publichealth issue as well. The reason
that we ask people not to putthings in a landfill if they can
avoid it is because eventually,those things in landfills break
down, and they end up in youknow, there's water, rainwater
(17:20):
that hits them. There's waterthat's produced as these things
break down, and that water endsup going to a treatment plant.
So all of that runoff thatthat's called leachate that
comes from a landfill facility,it all ends up at a wastewater
treatment plant, where it'streated and then returned to the
environment. So, again, we knowthat those pharmaceuticals
aren't all getting pulled out ofthe water. So if we take them
(17:43):
out of the landfills, keep themout of the landfills as much as
we can, you know, we preventthat from happening.
Abigail Garofalo (17:48):
And I would say to, like, to our listeners,
it is, you know, spring. It'sgetting to be the end of our
cold winter season. Maybe youhad I, like, usually, like,
maybe once or twice a year, ifI'm feeling really fancy once a
quarter, I'll, like, go throughmy medicine cabinet and, like,
be like, alright. Here's my,like, expired medications.
Here's my things, and I put themall together, and then that's
(18:09):
just kind of an easy way to be,like, in this baggie to the the
proper, you know, medicinedisposal.
Sarah Zack (18:15):
Absolutely. Right? April and October, those are the
DEA take backs. You'll startseeing them advertised. It's a
nice reminder, you know, that'stwice a year that you're kind of
purging those things that youdon't need anymore. And one
thing too that we ask people todo is to make sure that they're
storing their medications in acentral safe location because a
lot of times, this waste isgenerated because you don't know
(18:38):
what you have. You got stuff inthe kitchen. You got stuff in
the bathroom. You got stuff, youknow, in your purse, or in your
backpack. And and so if you cankinda consolidate that and
really know what you've got inthe house, then you won't
overbuy, and you'll use uphopefully, use up what you have.
Abigail Garofalo (18:55):
Yeah. Get rid of that six year old Tylenol
it's expired. Throw it in theproper disposal place. Put it in
a central location.
Sarah Zack (19:03):
Yes. And vet medicines too. Right? Like,
animal medications. If your dogor cat or parakeet is taking
medication and there's someleftover, dispose of that with
it too. Some vets' offices cantake them back, but proper
disposal is is the way to go. Sojust, you know, put the dog
Xanax with the with the expiredTylenol.
Abigail Garofalo (19:23):
With your Xanax. Awesome. Well, other ones
that we're accidentallycontaminating, the water of in
our house?
Sarah Zack (19:30):
Yeah. The other one I would I would mention is
microplastics. There's reallytwo groups. Right? You got the
tiny plastics that are breakingdown from other plastics, and
then you've got the fibers thatyour washing machine's
generating. And they kind ofrequire separate actions. So for
the microplastics, I think thebiggest thing that you can do is
to avoid single use plastic.Avoiding plastic water bottles
(19:52):
is huge, but just, you know, notusing plastic silverware, not
taking not using baggies,plastic baggies, right, using
reusable things, putting thingsin Tupperware. You know, glass
containers are even better, froma health standpoint. And it
sounds kinda like granolacrunchy, I know, but the more
(20:13):
single use plastics that we cutdown on, the fewer single use
plastics end up in landfills andend up breaking down and, you
know, blowing away and ending upin in the water. And and just
putting your trash awayproperly, especially when you're
outside. Right? Making sure thatyou are not throwing things on
the ground. Cigarette butts haveplastic in them. I don't know
(20:34):
why everybody thinks thatcigarette butts are not trash.
Cigarette butts are garbage. Iused to be a smoker. I'm sure
I'm guilty of this where youfinish a cigarette, you just
kinda flick it out the window oryou flick it. And I see it all
the time now, and it now I'mlike, I can't believe I ever did
that because they have plasticin them, and that plastic ends
up in our water when they washinto the storm sewers. So
(20:56):
properly disposing of thosethings.
And then for the fibers, youknow, trying to cut down on the
amount that your your washingmachine water is is gonna carry
to the wastewater treatmentplant. And you can do that by,
spot treating things likefleeces in particular. I mean,
this is the Midwest. We all wearfleece. Fleece sheds microfibers
(21:17):
like crazy, but we're nevergonna convince people not to
wear fleece. You know, one,because it works great and it's,
you know, comfortable andattractive, but also because
wool is probably the bestalternative. Wool is so
expensive. It's just notfeasible for a lot of people. So
making sure that you're spotcleaning them rather than
throwing them in the washingmachine, and then making sure
(21:38):
that you wash full loads on thegentle cycle is really helpful
because the less friction thatthose clothes go through in the
washing machine, the fewerfibers are gonna get shed off of
that.
Erin Garrett (21:50):
What I'm hearing is this is another incentive for
me to knit more wool sweatersfor myself
Abigail Garofalo (21:55):
and for your friends, Erin, and for your
friends.
Sarah Zack (22:00):
Absolutely. I mean, the the amount of clothing
that's out there that is madefrom synthetic fabrics is I
mean, it's almost unavoidable,particularly if you have any
sort of budget because thenatural fibers are really
expensive. So, you know, justmaking kind of a conscious
choice to pay attention to howyou care for it can really make
(22:21):
a difference and cut down on onthe amount of microfibers that
are generated.
Erin Garrett (22:26):
Alright. Are there any other simple actions that
our listeners can take toprevent or reduce the amount of
contaminants that are gettinginto our waterways?
Sarah Zack (22:38):
The other thing I would mention is PFAS tends to
be more of an industrial issue.Right? Oftentimes, it's added to
consumer products without ourknowledge or request. But there
are a couple things that you cando at home to reduce your
exposure to them, which I thinkare are really important. And
the first thing that I wouldmention is to throw away any old
(23:02):
pans you have that are coatedwith Teflon, because Teflon was
made with PFAS chemicals. And asit ages, it releases those
chemicals a lot more readily.And so replacing any of those
pans, if you can, is is reallygreat. And if you buy your pans,
like, at Goodwill, you know,oftentimes you can find some
really great things at Goodwill.Just be careful and be
(23:24):
discerning, you know, when youbuy things. And if there's
scratches, make sure to avoidit.
And then things like road salt.Road salt is also something that
contaminates water. So beingsmart about how you salt your
driveway, the proper amount ofsalt is one twelve ounce coffee
mug for 10 sidewalk squares. Soif you can imagine or picture
that in your head, then you canalso imagine that de-icer does
(23:46):
not need to be this thin,consistent layer across. It just
needs to be spread out so thatit can break up the ice and
things like that, especially ifyou make sure that it's cleared
and shoveled before you put iton.
And then with a lot of thesethings too, it's just use things
according to the directions andstore them properly according to
the directions. You know? Makesure that you don't have leaks
(24:09):
of, let's say, motor oil orantifreeze or fertilizer or
pesticides, in your garage thatyou then have to wash away and
dump down the drain. So storingthese things carefully and
properly is really easy and canreally be a big help too.
Erin Garrett (24:29):
Yeah. And I know after we had you on I think it
was a podcast before on to talkabout PFAS, and I learned a lot
during that. So I know that oneof the things that I learned was
the, like, the spray you use onyour shoes to make them, like,
water repellent.
Sarah Zack (24:46):
Yes.
Erin Garrett (24:47):
Yeah. It has that in there. And so we I just
bought some shoes, and we wereat the store. And my husband
held up a can of the repellentstuff, and it says no. Not made
with, PFAS in it. And he's like,what is that? And I'm like, oh,
I know that. That's good thatthey're doing that. That's like,
I would choose that product overanother. So also, like, keeping
that in mind, I know I recentlybought some new pans. And, like,
(25:10):
it was really hard to find astatement on the pans. I will
say that they're not made withthose. But, like, doing your
research too, like, a lot of thetimes that information is out
there. Like, it's on a label. Itmight not you might not have all
the options, but at least thenyou're aware. Right?
Sarah Zack (25:25):
Being a conscious consumer. Right? And what's the
phrase? Voting with your wallet.You vote with your wallet.
Right? If if you only buy theScotchgard fabric protector or
shoe protector that is PFASfree, then the demand for that
increases, and then companiesare incentivized to, you know,
(25:45):
make more safer products.
Erin Garrett (25:48):
I thought you'd like to know. I thought of you,
Sarah when I was at the store.
Sarah Zack (25:51):
That's fantastic. That makes me so happy.
Abigail Garofalo (25:54):
We get so many things from Sarah. She has a she
was on another podcast that waslike, tell me about the Great
Lakes. Is that the the Sea Grantone?
Sarah Zack (26:02):
Sea Grant.
Abigail Garofalo (26:02):
Teach me about the Great Lakes?
Sarah Zack (26:03):
Teach me about the Great Lakes. Yeah.
Abigail Garofalo (26:05):
Yeah. And she talked about, like like, ways
to, like, reuse things in yourhome and, like, reducing just
the amount of waste in yourhome. And so now we make our own
hand soap. We do, like, theCastile soap and water and then
a little bit of almond oil andand essential oils to to, like,
the smell, and it's, like, it'sgreat. It's foaming hand soap,
(26:25):
and it's so easy.
Sarah Zack (26:26):
Yeah. It's cheap. It works great, and, like, you feel
good about it.
Abigail Garofalo (26:30):
Yeah.
Sarah Zack (26:31):
One of those things that gets deal soap lasts for
forever. It lasts forever.
Abigail Garofalo (26:36):
I think I started it, like, last month.
Yeah. I listened to it, like, Idon't know, like, three, four
years ago, and I've only bought,like, two things of
Castile soap.
Sarah Zack (26:43):
That's awesome. That was a fun subject too because we
all just, like, tried out newthings and then kind of reviewed
them, and I got to trytoothpaste tablets for the first
time. So that was pretty cool. Ididn't like them.
Abigail Garofalo (26:54):
Yeah.
Sarah Zack (26:55):
I did not like
Abigail Garofalo (26:56):
Yeah. See? And that's that's why when I think
about these solutions that youshare, right, and I always tell
people about this is, like, youtry things out and then you do
what works for you and yourfamily and the lifestyle you you
have. Right? A good example Ishare is, like, you know, the
alternative to plastic wrap fora lot of people is beeswax wrap.
I cannot stand washing beeswaxwrap. I dislike it so much to,
(27:20):
like, the point of just, like,don't I don't recommend it for
people. And I'm like but and Ihave to remember and put my
educator hat on and be like, itworks for some people who like
to hand wash and don't mind. Youknow? Like, that's fine for
them, but, like, it's not agreat solution for me. So I've,
like, found other ways of, like,what's an alternative. Like, I
put, like, a wet cloth overthings, or, like, I've bought,
(27:42):
like, these reusable, like,Velcro bags that I can put,
like, snacks in and stuff. Andso you find different solutions
that work for you. Right? Somepeople have really specialized
hair products. I really likeshampoo bars. You know? Like, I
think they work out really wellfor my hair type, but I have a
lot of friends and family with,like, really curly hair and,
(28:02):
like, that needs a lot ofspecialized products, and maybe
that wouldn't work for them. Idon't know. I just think you try
different things, and it's okay.There's, like, no shaming among
it. Right? Like, you're like, Ihaven't found a better solution
for it yet. I'm still looking.
Sarah Zack (28:15):
That's a great point. And I think too that it
it's not just your preferences,but, like, it's also your
abilities too. Right? Like,plastic straws are a great
example. There are people thatneed plastic straws to drink,
and that is okay. There is noshame in needing a plastic
straw. So maybe there'ssomething different you can do.
Right? If you need to useplastic straws, find some other
(28:36):
way to help. Right? Maybe youdon't need to use plastic forks.
So, yeah, I think finding whatworks for you and your family.
And I'll kind of agree with youon the I like beeswax wraps. I
don't mind beeswax wraps. What Ihate are reusable sandwich bags
because the ones that I have areterrible. When you try and scrub
peanut butter and jelly out ofone of those things from a
(28:57):
peanut butter and jelly sandwichand oh my god. I hate them so
much. I hate them so much. So Idon't use them. I use
Tupperware. But, you know,that's what works for my sanity,
my family.
Erin Garrett (29:09):
I'm gonna put a plug out there for reusable jute
grocery bags. Just saying,they're amazing. They're the
best. They last for years, andeveryone always compliments me
when I have them. So I haven'tstarted a revolution yet. I
don't see everyone at thegrocery store with them, but
they're the best reusablegrocery bags ever.
Sarah Zack (29:31):
So Are they for produce or for, like, bagging
your groceries?
Erin Garrett (29:35):
For, like, bagging all my groceries up.
Sarah Zack (29:37):
Yes. Very cool. And then you can
Erin Garrett (29:39):
Well
Sarah Zack (29:40):
If it rips, you can throw it in the garbage and not
or you can throw it in yourcould you compost that? Can you
compost jute?
Abigail Garofalo (29:47):
That's something to learn. I don't know
the answer to that question.
Erin Garrett (29:51):
I'll have to wait and find out, but they you can
pack them full too, and theydon't rip. Like, it's
Sarah Zack (29:55):
Awesome.
Erin Garrett (29:56):
Amazing. So that's my pro tip.
Sarah Zack (29:59):
Good tip.
Abigail Garofalo (29:59):
You know what? Come April, everyone's gonna be
using them now. Everyonelistened to this podcast and
thought, I need a jute grocerybag.
Yeah. So well, Sarah, thank youso much, for sharing your
knowledge on contaminants ofemerging concern. We are going
to finish today's episode witheveryday observations where we
(30:20):
highlight the mundane and normalof our environment that is
actually really interesting. So,Erin, I'm gonna call on you to
go first. What is your everydayobservation this week?
Erin Garrett (30:31):
Alright. So a few months ago, I went out to Pere
Marquette State Park, on avacation, which is one of my
favorite spots. And we were outhiking, and, of course, I'm
always looking for plants andinsects and wildlife. And we had
just started our hike, and rightaway, I saw a mourning cloak
butterfly, which I have neverseen in person before. I've
(30:53):
seen, like, tons of pictures ofthem.
But that was the first time I'dseen one, and I love them
because they have the goldedging on the wings, and they're
just so striking and beautiful.And I thought it was really
cool, and I recently justlearned that they actually
hibernate as adults, which Ithink is really interesting for
a butterfly. So you can findthem
Abigail Garofalo (31:12):
Pretty rare, I feel.
Erin Garrett (31:14):
Yeah. You can find them, like, late in the season
because, obviously, they'restill adults and they're gonna
go into hibernation. And then,like, really early in the season
too, they'll emerge. So Ithought that was really cool to
see one, and then I justresearched it because I just
never looked up a mourning cloakbutterfly, and I learned some
cool things about them.
Sarah Zack (31:32):
Very cool.
Abigail Garofalo (31:33):
That is fun. I love when you find a new insect
because you you you love so manymoths and butterflies that for
you to see a new one.
Erin Garrett (31:40):
I know. I was so excited. I knew what it was
right away. I'm like, it's amourning cloak.
Abigail Garofalo (31:44):
So fun. Alright, Sarah. What's your
everyday observation?
Sarah Zack (31:48):
So mine involves our neighborhood fox. So I live in
suburbia, northwest suburbs OfChicago, and we don't often get
a ton of wildlife. We'll, like,occasionally get, like, a white
tailed deer running down thestreet, and everybody's like,
where did that come from? Like,why is that here? But we do have
(32:08):
fox or foxes that seem to havemade our neighborhood home. And
it's really fun because you goout walking the dog, like, early
in the morning, and you'll seehim just trotting across the
street or late at night too. Yousee him trotting across the
street. But the other week, myhusband and my daughter were out
just, like, messing around inour yard, kind of cleaning up,
hitting, like, a wiffle ballaround. My daughter's 10. And
(32:31):
she hit the wiffle ball overinto this side sort of grassland
that we have and went to go getthe ball and boom, the fox was
bedded down in our yard. And shescared it. She startled it, and
it jumped up over our eight footfence and into our backyard and
(32:51):
scampered off. And it was I wasso upset that I missed it, but
she was just like, oh my god.She couldn't believe that it was
even possible. Usually, they gounder our fence because we have
found them in our totally fencedin backyard before, but this one
just jumped right over it, whichI had no idea was even a thing
(33:11):
that they could do. I guess youput enough fear in an animal and
can do pretty much anything.
Abigail Garofalo (33:16):
That is so cool. There's a lot of really
interesting research around,like, coyotes and foxes, in the
urban environment that, likebecause they just, like, find
such an interesting niche, andthey also have, like, a really
interesting relationship withhumans that is just, yeah,
fascinating and cool and sad.I'm sorry for you that you
missed it.
Sarah Zack (33:34):
I would so sad, but I'm the only one that saw it
when it was bedded down in ourbackyard one day. It was, like,
bedded down among, like, some ofour bushes, but, like, right in
this patch of sunshine. So itwas, like, a picture perfect.
Like, it was just there, likeand the sun was just
illuminating it, and it was sobeautiful. So I've I've seen the
fox, so I felt pretty good thatmy daughter was the one who got
(33:55):
to see him. But I don't know ifit's one fox or, like, a family
or what, but, I mean, it's beenongoing for years that we've had
foxes in our neighborhood, which
Abigail Garofalo (34:04):
You probably don't have coyotes. Right?
Sarah Zack (34:06):
I don't think we do. Every once in a while in, like,
a neighborhood group, we'llhear, like, coyotes spotted.
But, usually, it's not in myarea of of the town, my, like,
little subdivision.
Abigail Garofalo (34:19):
Yeah. They usually they inhabit such
similar niches that, like,that's what they say is, like,
in communities, in certainneighborhoods, you'll see either
foxes or coyotes.
Sarah Zack (34:29):
Well, I'm glad we have foxes then because I have a
pug who likes to run around inthe backyard, and I don't think
the fox is any threat. But acoyote might be, although I
maintain that they're morescared of us than we are of
them.
Abigail Garofalo (34:43):
Probably. Well, I will share mine. So I
grew up in Central Illinois inwhich we're not part of a large,
like, migration flyway that I amnow being in the the northwest
suburbs as well. And so I didnot know anything about sandhill
cranes when I first moved here.And then I moved here, and I was
like, oh my gosh. These are likea thing. And I'd never even,
(35:05):
like, seen them, and I was like,oh my gosh. These are really big
birds. Like, these are hugebirds. Like, like, four or five
feet tall birds. And I saw oneat, like, a wildlife center that
was under rehab and stuff likethat. Well, a couple of weeks
ago and we're in we're recordingin December, so this was around
November. But they should beflying back through in the
spring here pretty soon whenthis episode gets released, was
(35:28):
I heard them. I heard the, like,like and, like, a giant flock of
them just, like, flyingoverhead, and I'm outside of my
house, like, talking to myhusband. He's, like, showing me
the Christmas lights he put upor whatever. And I'm like, stop.
We need to do like, we just youcan't talk anymore? Like, we
need to look up and, like,observe this crazy and they just
(35:48):
kept coming. Like, it was, like,all everywhere. And I was just,
it still blows my mind. It stillblows me away, and I just think
sandhill cranes are really cool.So.
Sarah Zack (35:59):
That's very cool. It's very fun to, like, be a
part of this and, like, hear youguys getting so excited about
this stuff because I get excitedabout this stuff, but I don't
often get to talk to people whoget excited about this stuff.
So, like, your enthusiasm is,like, infectious, which is
really good.
Abigail Garofalo (36:14):
You got a fellow nature nerd out. You
know?
Sarah Zack (36:17):
Yep.
Abigail Garofalo (36:17):
That's what this is for. So, Sarah, thank
you so much for sharingeverything that you had today
and all the wonderfulinformation and just kinda
chatting with us on the pod andnerding out with us and
answering all of our questions.It's been really wonderful. I
always love working with you, soI really appreciate it.
Sarah Zack (36:32):
Same. Same. Thank you for having me.
Abigail Garofalo (36:34):
Well, this has been another episode of the
Everyday Environment podcast.Check out next week where we
will talk with Eliana Brownabout stormwater management
solutions at home. This podcastis a University of Illinois
production, hosted and edited byAbigail Garofalo, Erin Garrett,
and Amy Lefringhouse.
Matt Wiley (36:56):
University of Illinois Extension.
Welcome to another episode of the Everyday
Environment podcast, where weexplore the environment we see
every day. I'm your host,Abigail Garofalo.
Erin Garrett (00:15):
And I'm your cohost, Erin Garrett.
Abigail Garofalo (00:18):
And today, we are here with Sarah Zack, the
pollution prevention specialistfor Illinois Indiana Sea Grant,
and she is here to chat with usabout emerging contaminants in
water. Welcome, Sarah.
Sarah Zack (00:29):
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Abigail Garofalo (00:31):
We're excited to have you as our listeners
know, we are talking about allthings water this week, and
Sarah is a longtime friend ofthe pod, having been on our
podcast before it was EverydayEnvironment and when it's been
Everyday Environment. And she'salso actually been our
consultant on our video seriesthis year. And so it's been
really great to work with her.We love working with Sarah, and
(00:53):
we're just excited to learn alittle bit more about, you know,
what kind of contaminants weshould worry about in water.
And so I'm gonna get startedwith asking you, Sarah, just to
kinda tell us about what is SeaGrant, what do you do with Sea
Grant, and just a little bitabout you in this field. Sure.
Sarah Zack (01:09):
So Illinois Indiana Sea Grant is one of 32, 30 three
Sea Grant programs across thecountry, and they're all based
at land grant universities. Theywere established in the sixties,
so well after land grantextension services were
established. But they're sort ofco-located for the most part
with land grant universities.And because Illinois and Indiana
(01:33):
have such a small bit ofcoastline, we're a bistate
program, one of only two bistateprograms. And so all these Sea
Grant programs are focused oncoastal issues.
So for us, it's Lake Michiganand the Great Lakes. There's
also programs on Guam and Hawaiiand California and New Hampshire
and every coastline has aprogram. And so we're often
(01:54):
seated with extension servicesbecause a lot of what we do is
outreach and education just likeextension services do. So we fit
in, I think, really nicely withthe extension model and, yeah,
can kind of serve as reallyspecialized specialists because
we're mostly focused on waterand Great Lakes issues.
Abigail Garofalo (02:14):
And what about your role as the pollution
prevention specialist?
Sarah Zack (02:17):
Yeah. So my position is all about contamination of
water. There is another personthat also works with us, Eliana
Brown. She deals primarily with,like, stormwater runoff and
nutrient pollution, and I amfocused more on emerging
contaminants, not to bury thelead or spoil anything. So I
focus on things likepharmaceuticals and
(02:39):
microplastics and PFAS and othersort of, let's say, people
centric contaminants. Right?Things that may be within our
control and that we may becontributing to. Not really
like, you know, industrialpollution and things like that,
but more, you know, communitybased.
Erin Garrett (02:57):
That's really great to get an overview. I
guess I didn't realize there'sthat many Sea Grants across the
country so. That's really cool.
Sarah Zack (03:03):
It's a lot of fun to be a part of both Extension,
like, here. So we're a part of,obviously, Extension on the
Illinois side. We're at Purdueon the Indiana side, and then
they're part of the Departmentof Forestry and Natural
Resources. But then we also havethe whole Sea Grant network
across the country, which is alot of fun.
Erin Garrett (03:21):
Yeah. For sure. Well, we're gonna dive into our
topic, and you already startedchatting about it because this
is what you do. So we're reallyexcited to have you to chat and
share all your expertise. Solet's just start with the
basics. If we're talkingemerging contaminants, what are
we talking about?
Sarah Zack (03:36):
Yeah. So so these are substances that obviously
are some form of pollution inwater. And the United States
Environmental Protection Agencyhas sort of a standard
definition that they use to kindof classify whether or not a
pollutant is emerging or not.And so it has to not have a
regulatory standard. So there'sno level that the federal
(04:01):
government has determined or thestate government, I guess, has
determined, that we have to staybelow for safety. It has to be
something that was recentlydiscovered, and I'm doing air
quotes around discovered becausewhat discovered could mean is
that it's either new, a newchemical, or that we just
recently found it because ofimproved science or or
(04:24):
technology, better detection,things like that. There's things
that have been out there thatwe're just now starting to find
more often, and so that wouldthey both would count. And then
the third thing, the trifecta,is that it has to have negative
impacts on the environment.
Abigail Garofalo (04:39):
And that could be, like, a whole host of
things. Right? Like, negativeimpacts could mean on humans,
could mean on fish, could meanon
Sarah Zack (04:46):
Yep. Anything. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. So it could be a
drinking water contaminant. Itcould be something that causes
fish to change sexes. It couldbe something that we just don't
really know very much about, butsuspect is not healthy for us.
Microplastics, I think, fallsinto to something like that
(05:07):
where, you know, it's not achemical per se. That's why I
said they're substances becausemicroplastics are considered a a
contaminant, in this sort ofvein, but it's they're actual
pieces of plastic.
Abigail Garofalo (05:20):
So it's, like, something that we classify so we
can put resources towardunderstanding it. Like, the
burden of proof of it being aconcern is a little bit lower.
Like, we don't have to, like, wedon't have to directly be like,
this is directly causing thisissue, but we suspect it is in
order for it to be consideredemergency emerging.
Sarah Zack (05:40):
That's a that's a good point, I think. And I think
the EPA, in particular, in theGreat Lakes area has invested a
lot of money in emergingcontaminants because they're
trying to develop sort of thisbaseline for what a lot of these
pollutants are. And and in thecase of things like like PFAS,
we don't know a lot about them,and it's a suite of thousands of
(06:05):
chemicals. So you have to startsomewhere and kind of try and
figure out, you know, how do weattack this? At what level do we
start to worry? And, you know,there's a lot of unanswered
questions about a lot of thesechemicals.
Abigail Garofalo (06:18):
I've heard, like so you were talking about,
like, official language andterminology, and, those are
really valuable for us tounderstand these kind of, like,
criteria of what falls underthat because that kind of
devotes resources to certainthings or or our attention and
time. And so I've heard someterms. I've heard emerging
contaminant, and then I've alsoheard contaminant of emerging
(06:39):
concern. Are those the samething? Is there a difference?
Tell me a little bit more. Yeah.That's a great question. And,
that's, I think, something thatthere's been a lot of debate
about, but I guess now,contaminant of emergent concern
is probably the more widelyaccepted, even though it's a
little bit more of a mouthful.They tend to get used
interchangeably and and I thinkthat's fine. But there are
(07:01):
subtle differences between thetwo. So if you think about an
emerging contaminant, the ideathere kind of calls to mind
something that is just now beingfound. Whereas if you think
about a contaminant of emergingconcern, that's something that
you're just now starting to beworried about. Right? And that,
(07:22):
I think, is a bit more broad anda bit more inclusive of some of
the chemicals that we're hopingto address because there are,
like I said before, things thathave been in the environment,
they're not new chemicals.They've been there, but we're
just now starting to figure outthat, hey, these are these are
not great, and we need to beginaddressing them and and figuring
(07:42):
out, you know, how to handlethem. So I think the contaminant
of emerging concern also has thecute CEC, abbreviation, which a
lot of people like to use. Theycall them CECs. And And I think
a lot of people continue to usethem interchangeably, and I I
think that's okay. But I dothink that understanding that
the concern is what's moreemerging than the contaminant
(08:04):
itself, you know, when it comesto this big broad category.
Erin Garrett (08:08):
That makes sense. Because when you were discussing
the definition of emergingcontaminant, you know, to me, it
makes it sound like it issomething new that's just been
found. Right? So even though itis more of a mouthful, I think
the the longer at least to me tome makes more more encompassing
sense of what we're talkingabout. Like
Sarah Zack (08:26):
I agree.
Erin Garrett (08:27):
The concern about it that is is emerging. What are
some examples? You've mentioneda few. You've mentioned them in
the background, but what are wetalking about? What are the
different contaminants that arethe most concerning ones that
we're talking about?
Sarah Zack (08:41):
I don't wanna be biased, but the one for me, the
ones that I focus on in my work,in my extension work are the
most important ones. So I wouldsay, the biggest one in the news
right now is PFAS. They're perand polyfluoroalkyl substances.
So these are things that makeconsumer products heatproof and
(09:05):
grease proof. They make thingsslippery. They protect things.
They're in firefighting foams.They are in so many things, and
they are really, really widelyfound throughout the country in
water both water and soils. Andthese are chemicals that have
known negative impacts topeople. Right? There's a lot of
(09:26):
whole host of health problemsthat can arise from PFAS
exposure at certain levels. Andso that has been in the news a
lot lately.
Another one that I would say isa really hot issue is
microplastics, particularlymicrofibers. Right? Tiny tiny
pieces of plastic. These areless than five millimeters in
size, and they come from avariety of sources. They come
(09:46):
from larger pieces of plasticbreaking down. They come from
the manufacturing process wherethere are tiny pieces of that
just sort of escape into waterthat would otherwise be used to
mold larger pieces of plastic. Ialways like to talk about if you
go to the zoo and you see theMoldorama machines, that's
(10:08):
exactly it. Those are tinypieces of plastic that get
melted down and molded into, youknow, a giraffe or a a an
elephant. I think I have avulture downstairs on, in the
basement on my desk from thelast time I went to the zoo. But
those tiny little pieces ofplastic can escape and end up in
the water.
And then microfibers are sort ofthe biggest issue in terms of
(10:31):
microplastics, and they arefibers that are shed from non
natural textiles. So if you'renot wearing wool or hemp or
cotton, chances are you'rewearing nylon or polyester or,
you know, some sort of reallyplastic based fabric. Right?
Like, all those are plasticbased. And so the little fibers
(10:53):
from those get into the air.They get into the soils. They
get into the water, particularlyfrom our washing machines and
end up in natural waters.
And then the other one I'llmention is pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals is it's such ahuge group of chemicals, such a
huge group of things that have areally, really wide variety of
(11:15):
impacts. And and these arethings that range from caffeine
to estrogen and hormonetherapies to Tylenol and Advil
to antidepressants. I mean, allof these medications, they all
end up in the water whether weexcrete them or they wash off
our bodies or bad bad, we dumpthem down the drain or flush
(11:39):
them down the toilet. And as isthe case with pretty much all of
these, wastewater treatmentplants were not designed to
remove them. So they may do adecent job at removing them all,
but they can't remove everylittle bit. And so there's
always gonna be a little bitthat kind of escapes into
natural waters. That was amouthful. Sorry.
Abigail Garofalo (12:00):
No. And I was thinking too sometimes we talk
about, like, emerging in thetrue sense that it's it is a new
contaminant. Like, is thewastewater treatment plant have
the knowledge or even knowingthat it is in the water in order
to filter it out. Right? It'snot like a lot of these
pharmaceuticals are beingdeveloped with the intent of,
like, oh, this is a newpharmaceutical, and here
(12:20):
wastewater treatment plants allaround the world is how you
filter out of the water. Right?Like, that's not a never
Sarah Zack (12:26):
A lot of our waste structure is, you know, very old
across the country. And so, Imean, this these just aren't
things again, these are emergingissues. They just aren't things
that these plants were designedto to remove. And I will say,
for not being designed to removethem, they do a pretty good job
of getting a lot of them out.The problem is that we're just
(12:47):
inundating these waters with allof these things. And oftentimes
too, in Illinois, it is a greatexample of this. Right? We have
a lot of agriculture. And so thebiosolids that are recovered
from the wastewater treatmentprocess often can end up as
fertilizers. And in thosebiosolids is often the compounds
(13:08):
and the substances that wereremoved from the water. So we
take them out of the water. Theyend up in the biosolids, and
then we go ahead and we put themon land where they end up in the
soils, and they wash off intothe water anyway. And that's not
for all of them, butmicroplastics is a big one.
Pharmaceuticals too, you know,those things kind of end up
getting spread on agriculturallands. So there's some movement
(13:32):
on banning biosolids, until wecan kind of get a handle on
that.
Abigail Garofalo (13:37):
Well, I'm I'm thinking about too, like, a lot
of our listeners we're hearingthis and we're like, oh, no.
Like, what can I do? What am Idoing? Am I contaminating the
water? What are some things thatwe commonly do that we are
accidentally kind of putting inour water?
Sarah Zack (13:53):
Yeah. There's a lot of things that we probably don't
realize that we're doing thatcontribute to this problem that
are super easy fixes. Right? Andit's really easy, like, oh,
don't do this and the problem'ssolved because, I mean, that's
not true. Right? We all knowthat that's not true, but every
little bit helps. Right? Like,if every person can do some of
these things, then we couldreally make a dent in reducing
(14:15):
the amount that we're continuingto put out. Maybe there's still
a lot of stuff out there in ourwater that we have to deal with,
and that's fine. But if we canreduce the load that we continue
to add, that's a really, reallygood thing.
So, I mean, first and foremost,I would say never ever flush
medications. Always find a takeback program. And you can even
go to your pharmacy. You can goto your local law enforcement.
(14:36):
And oftentimes, one or the otherwill have a drop box where you
can put these things. Noquestions asked. You just walk
in, put them in, walk away.That's it. And if not, you can
get envelopes from yourpharmacies sometimes, and you
can mail them in to be properlydisposed of, which is really,
really great. Yeah. We just say,please, please, please don't
(14:56):
flush or dump any unwantedmedication. And we have a
website. It's unwantedmeds.org.And if you go to the website, we
have a map, and you can put inyour ZIP code, and you can find
your local take back. The DEAalso holds take backs in
conjunction with law enforcementtwice a year, usually in April
and October. So if you can kindahang on to things safely until
then, you know, you'll likelyfind a event that you can drop
(15:20):
stuff off to.
Erin Garrett (15:21):
Do you know how do they handle the medications?
Like, what is the process thatthey dispose of them?
Sarah Zack (15:27):
Yeah. So a lot of times, it's incinerated. So
there are certain facilities.I've worked with a lot of
programs across the Great LakesStates, and we have them sign up
for, like, a waste to energyprogram where they're
incinerated in EPA regulatedfacilities, and that
incineration process gets turnedinto energy. It's used to
generate power, essentially,which is pretty cool. Because
(15:50):
the facility is EPA regulated,you know, it's it's a hazardous
waste facility disposalfacility, basically. So we're
disposing of these things ashazardous waste. So we're not
putting toxic smoke out into
Erin Garrett (16:03):
Yep.
Sarah Zack (16:03):
You know, out into the environment. So that that's
a really good thing. And I thinktoo that when you drop stuff off
at the take back events inOctober and April, the DEA comes
around and collects thosemedicines from the law
enforcement and then deals withthem, you know, themselves. So
the federal government just kindof, like, takes over and and
takes care of it. And none ofthem end up in landfills or in
(16:27):
the water.
Erin Garrett (16:27):
So that was my other follow-up question is why
not, like, throwing away in alandfill? Like, what are the
potential drawbacks to that?
Sarah Zack (16:36):
Yeah. That's a great question. And and actually,
there are situations that wewould recommend that you put
them in a landfill. There's sortof a specific set of steps to
follow to make sure that you aresafely throwing them away
because when you put them in thegarbage, there are some public
health risks. Right? You know,these things could get diverted.
They could get, you know, foundby animals, children. Like, you
(16:58):
wanna make sure that they areproperly taken care of, not just
so that they don't become anenvironmental hazard, but so
that they don't become a publichealth issue as well. The reason
that we ask people not to putthings in a landfill if they can
avoid it is because eventually,those things in landfills break
down, and they end up in youknow, there's water, rainwater
(17:20):
that hits them. There's waterthat's produced as these things
break down, and that water endsup going to a treatment plant.
So all of that runoff thatthat's called leachate that
comes from a landfill facility,it all ends up at a wastewater
treatment plant, where it'streated and then returned to the
environment. So, again, we knowthat those pharmaceuticals
aren't all getting pulled out ofthe water. So if we take them
(17:43):
out of the landfills, keep themout of the landfills as much as
we can, you know, we preventthat from happening.
Abigail Garofalo (17:48):
And I would say to, like, to our listeners,
it is, you know, spring. It'sgetting to be the end of our
cold winter season. Maybe youhad I, like, usually, like,
maybe once or twice a year, ifI'm feeling really fancy once a
quarter, I'll, like, go throughmy medicine cabinet and, like,
be like, alright. Here's my,like, expired medications.
Here's my things, and I put themall together, and then that's
(18:09):
just kind of an easy way to be,like, in this baggie to the the
proper, you know, medicinedisposal.
Sarah Zack (18:15):
Absolutely. Right? April and October, those are the
DEA take backs. You'll startseeing them advertised. It's a
nice reminder, you know, that'stwice a year that you're kind of
purging those things that youdon't need anymore. And one
thing too that we ask people todo is to make sure that they're
storing their medications in acentral safe location because a
lot of times, this waste isgenerated because you don't know
(18:38):
what you have. You got stuff inthe kitchen. You got stuff in
the bathroom. You got stuff, youknow, in your purse, or in your
backpack. And and so if you cankinda consolidate that and
really know what you've got inthe house, then you won't
overbuy, and you'll use uphopefully, use up what you have.
Abigail Garofalo (18:55):
Yeah. Get rid of that six year old Tylenol
it's expired. Throw it in theproper disposal place. Put it in
a central location.
Sarah Zack (19:03):
Yes. And vet medicines too. Right? Like,
animal medications. If your dogor cat or parakeet is taking
medication and there's someleftover, dispose of that with
it too. Some vets' offices cantake them back, but proper
disposal is is the way to go. Sojust, you know, put the dog
Xanax with the with the expiredTylenol.
Abigail Garofalo (19:23):
With your Xanax. Awesome. Well, other ones
that we're accidentallycontaminating, the water of in
our house?
Sarah Zack (19:30):
Yeah. The other one I would I would mention is
microplastics. There's reallytwo groups. Right? You got the
tiny plastics that are breakingdown from other plastics, and
then you've got the fibers thatyour washing machine's
generating. And they kind ofrequire separate actions. So for
the microplastics, I think thebiggest thing that you can do is
to avoid single use plastic.Avoiding plastic water bottles
(19:52):
is huge, but just, you know, notusing plastic silverware, not
taking not using baggies,plastic baggies, right, using
reusable things, putting thingsin Tupperware. You know, glass
containers are even better, froma health standpoint. And it
sounds kinda like granolacrunchy, I know, but the more
(20:13):
single use plastics that we cutdown on, the fewer single use
plastics end up in landfills andend up breaking down and, you
know, blowing away and ending upin in the water. And and just
putting your trash awayproperly, especially when you're
outside. Right? Making sure thatyou are not throwing things on
the ground. Cigarette butts haveplastic in them. I don't know
(20:34):
why everybody thinks thatcigarette butts are not trash.
Cigarette butts are garbage. Iused to be a smoker. I'm sure
I'm guilty of this where youfinish a cigarette, you just
kinda flick it out the window oryou flick it. And I see it all
the time now, and it now I'mlike, I can't believe I ever did
that because they have plasticin them, and that plastic ends
up in our water when they washinto the storm sewers. So
(20:56):
properly disposing of thosethings.
And then for the fibers, youknow, trying to cut down on the
amount that your your washingmachine water is is gonna carry
to the wastewater treatmentplant. And you can do that by,
spot treating things likefleeces in particular. I mean,
this is the Midwest. We all wearfleece. Fleece sheds microfibers
(21:17):
like crazy, but we're nevergonna convince people not to
wear fleece. You know, one,because it works great and it's,
you know, comfortable andattractive, but also because
wool is probably the bestalternative. Wool is so
expensive. It's just notfeasible for a lot of people. So
making sure that you're spotcleaning them rather than
throwing them in the washingmachine, and then making sure
(21:38):
that you wash full loads on thegentle cycle is really helpful
because the less friction thatthose clothes go through in the
washing machine, the fewerfibers are gonna get shed off of
that.
Erin Garrett (21:50):
What I'm hearing is this is another incentive for
me to knit more wool sweatersfor myself
Abigail Garofalo (21:55):
and for your friends, Erin, and for your
friends.
Sarah Zack (22:00):
Absolutely. I mean, the the amount of clothing
that's out there that is madefrom synthetic fabrics is I
mean, it's almost unavoidable,particularly if you have any
sort of budget because thenatural fibers are really
expensive. So, you know, justmaking kind of a conscious
choice to pay attention to howyou care for it can really make
(22:21):
a difference and cut down on onthe amount of microfibers that
are generated.
Erin Garrett (22:26):
Alright. Are there any other simple actions that
our listeners can take toprevent or reduce the amount of
contaminants that are gettinginto our waterways?
Sarah Zack (22:38):
The other thing I would mention is PFAS tends to
be more of an industrial issue.Right? Oftentimes, it's added to
consumer products without ourknowledge or request. But there
are a couple things that you cando at home to reduce your
exposure to them, which I thinkare are really important. And
the first thing that I wouldmention is to throw away any old
(23:02):
pans you have that are coatedwith Teflon, because Teflon was
made with PFAS chemicals. And asit ages, it releases those
chemicals a lot more readily.And so replacing any of those
pans, if you can, is is reallygreat. And if you buy your pans,
like, at Goodwill, you know,oftentimes you can find some
really great things at Goodwill.Just be careful and be
(23:24):
discerning, you know, when youbuy things. And if there's
scratches, make sure to avoidit.
And then things like road salt.Road salt is also something that
contaminates water. So beingsmart about how you salt your
driveway, the proper amount ofsalt is one twelve ounce coffee
mug for 10 sidewalk squares. Soif you can imagine or picture
that in your head, then you canalso imagine that de-icer does
(23:46):
not need to be this thin,consistent layer across. It just
needs to be spread out so thatit can break up the ice and
things like that, especially ifyou make sure that it's cleared
and shoveled before you put iton.
And then with a lot of thesethings too, it's just use things
according to the directions andstore them properly according to
the directions. You know? Makesure that you don't have leaks
(24:09):
of, let's say, motor oil orantifreeze or fertilizer or
pesticides, in your garage thatyou then have to wash away and
dump down the drain. So storingthese things carefully and
properly is really easy and canreally be a big help too.
Erin Garrett (24:29):
Yeah. And I know after we had you on I think it
was a podcast before on to talkabout PFAS, and I learned a lot
during that. So I know that oneof the things that I learned was
the, like, the spray you use onyour shoes to make them, like,
water repellent.
Sarah Zack (24:46):
Yes.
Erin Garrett (24:47):
Yeah. It has that in there. And so we I just
bought some shoes, and we wereat the store. And my husband
held up a can of the repellentstuff, and it says no. Not made
with, PFAS in it. And he's like,what is that? And I'm like, oh,
I know that. That's good thatthey're doing that. That's like,
I would choose that product overanother. So also, like, keeping
that in mind, I know I recentlybought some new pans. And, like,
(25:10):
it was really hard to find astatement on the pans. I will
say that they're not made withthose. But, like, doing your
research too, like, a lot of thetimes that information is out
there. Like, it's on a label. Itmight not you might not have all
the options, but at least thenyou're aware. Right?
Sarah Zack (25:25):
Being a conscious consumer. Right? And what's the
phrase? Voting with your wallet.You vote with your wallet.
Right? If if you only buy theScotchgard fabric protector or
shoe protector that is PFASfree, then the demand for that
increases, and then companiesare incentivized to, you know,
(25:45):
make more safer products.
Erin Garrett (25:48):
I thought you'd like to know. I thought of you,
Sarah when I was at the store.
Sarah Zack (25:51):
That's fantastic. That makes me so happy.
Abigail Garofalo (25:54):
We get so many things from Sarah. She has a she
was on another podcast that waslike, tell me about the Great
Lakes. Is that the the Sea Grantone?
Sarah Zack (26:02):
Sea Grant.
Abigail Garofalo (26:02):
Teach me about the Great Lakes?
Sarah Zack (26:03):
Teach me about the Great Lakes. Yeah.
Abigail Garofalo (26:05):
Yeah. And she talked about, like like, ways
to, like, reuse things in yourhome and, like, reducing just
the amount of waste in yourhome. And so now we make our own
hand soap. We do, like, theCastile soap and water and then
a little bit of almond oil andand essential oils to to, like,
the smell, and it's, like, it'sgreat. It's foaming hand soap,
(26:25):
and it's so easy.
Sarah Zack (26:26):
Yeah. It's cheap. It works great, and, like, you feel
good about it.
Abigail Garofalo (26:30):
Yeah.
Sarah Zack (26:31):
One of those things that gets deal soap lasts for
forever. It lasts forever.
Abigail Garofalo (26:36):
I think I started it, like, last month.
Yeah. I listened to it, like, Idon't know, like, three, four
years ago, and I've only bought,like, two things of
Castile soap.
Sarah Zack (26:43):
That's awesome. That was a fun subject too because we
all just, like, tried out newthings and then kind of reviewed
them, and I got to trytoothpaste tablets for the first
time. So that was pretty cool. Ididn't like them.
Abigail Garofalo (26:54):
Yeah.
Sarah Zack (26:55):
I did not like
Abigail Garofalo (26:56):
Yeah. See? And that's that's why when I think
about these solutions that youshare, right, and I always tell
people about this is, like, youtry things out and then you do
what works for you and yourfamily and the lifestyle you you
have. Right? A good example Ishare is, like, you know, the
alternative to plastic wrap fora lot of people is beeswax wrap.
I cannot stand washing beeswaxwrap. I dislike it so much to,
(27:20):
like, the point of just, like,don't I don't recommend it for
people. And I'm like but and Ihave to remember and put my
educator hat on and be like, itworks for some people who like
to hand wash and don't mind. Youknow? Like, that's fine for
them, but, like, it's not agreat solution for me. So I've,
like, found other ways of, like,what's an alternative. Like, I
put, like, a wet cloth overthings, or, like, I've bought,
(27:42):
like, these reusable, like,Velcro bags that I can put,
like, snacks in and stuff. Andso you find different solutions
that work for you. Right? Somepeople have really specialized
hair products. I really likeshampoo bars. You know? Like, I
think they work out really wellfor my hair type, but I have a
lot of friends and family with,like, really curly hair and,
(28:02):
like, that needs a lot ofspecialized products, and maybe
that wouldn't work for them. Idon't know. I just think you try
different things, and it's okay.There's, like, no shaming among
it. Right? Like, you're like, Ihaven't found a better solution
for it yet. I'm still looking.
Sarah Zack (28:15):
That's a great point. And I think too that it
it's not just your preferences,but, like, it's also your
abilities too. Right? Like,plastic straws are a great
example. There are people thatneed plastic straws to drink,
and that is okay. There is noshame in needing a plastic
straw. So maybe there'ssomething different you can do.
Right? If you need to useplastic straws, find some other
(28:36):
way to help. Right? Maybe youdon't need to use plastic forks.
So, yeah, I think finding whatworks for you and your family.
And I'll kind of agree with youon the I like beeswax wraps. I
don't mind beeswax wraps. What Ihate are reusable sandwich bags
because the ones that I have areterrible. When you try and scrub
peanut butter and jelly out ofone of those things from a
(28:57):
peanut butter and jelly sandwichand oh my god. I hate them so
much. I hate them so much. So Idon't use them. I use
Tupperware. But, you know,that's what works for my sanity,
my family.
Erin Garrett (29:09):
I'm gonna put a plug out there for reusable jute
grocery bags. Just saying,they're amazing. They're the
best. They last for years, andeveryone always compliments me
when I have them. So I haven'tstarted a revolution yet. I
don't see everyone at thegrocery store with them, but
they're the best reusablegrocery bags ever.
Sarah Zack (29:31):
So Are they for produce or for, like, bagging
your groceries?
Erin Garrett (29:35):
For, like, bagging all my groceries up.
Sarah Zack (29:37):
Yes. Very cool. And then you can
Erin Garrett (29:39):
Well
Sarah Zack (29:40):
If it rips, you can throw it in the garbage and not
or you can throw it in yourcould you compost that? Can you
compost jute?
Abigail Garofalo (29:47):
That's something to learn. I don't know
the answer to that question.
Erin Garrett (29:51):
I'll have to wait and find out, but they you can
pack them full too, and theydon't rip. Like, it's
Sarah Zack (29:55):
Awesome.
Erin Garrett (29:56):
Amazing. So that's my pro tip.
Sarah Zack (29:59):
Good tip.
Abigail Garofalo (29:59):
You know what? Come April, everyone's gonna be
using them now. Everyonelistened to this podcast and
thought, I need a jute grocerybag.
Yeah. So well, Sarah, thank youso much, for sharing your
knowledge on contaminants ofemerging concern. We are going
to finish today's episode witheveryday observations where we
(30:20):
highlight the mundane and normalof our environment that is
actually really interesting. So,Erin, I'm gonna call on you to
go first. What is your everydayobservation this week?
Erin Garrett (30:31):
Alright. So a few months ago, I went out to Pere
Marquette State Park, on avacation, which is one of my
favorite spots. And we were outhiking, and, of course, I'm
always looking for plants andinsects and wildlife. And we had
just started our hike, and rightaway, I saw a mourning cloak
butterfly, which I have neverseen in person before. I've
(30:53):
seen, like, tons of pictures ofthem.
But that was the first time I'dseen one, and I love them
because they have the goldedging on the wings, and they're
just so striking and beautiful.And I thought it was really
cool, and I recently justlearned that they actually
hibernate as adults, which Ithink is really interesting for
a butterfly. So you can findthem
Abigail Garofalo (31:12):
Pretty rare, I feel.
Erin Garrett (31:14):
Yeah. You can find them, like, late in the season
because, obviously, they'restill adults and they're gonna
go into hibernation. And then,like, really early in the season
too, they'll emerge. So Ithought that was really cool to
see one, and then I justresearched it because I just
never looked up a mourning cloakbutterfly, and I learned some
cool things about them.
Sarah Zack (31:32):
Very cool.
Abigail Garofalo (31:33):
That is fun. I love when you find a new insect
because you you you love so manymoths and butterflies that for
you to see a new one.
Erin Garrett (31:40):
I know. I was so excited. I knew what it was
right away. I'm like, it's amourning cloak.
Abigail Garofalo (31:44):
So fun. Alright, Sarah. What's your
everyday observation?
Sarah Zack (31:48):
So mine involves our neighborhood fox. So I live in
suburbia, northwest suburbs OfChicago, and we don't often get
a ton of wildlife. We'll, like,occasionally get, like, a white
tailed deer running down thestreet, and everybody's like,
where did that come from? Like,why is that here? But we do have
(32:08):
fox or foxes that seem to havemade our neighborhood home. And
it's really fun because you goout walking the dog, like, early
in the morning, and you'll seehim just trotting across the
street or late at night too. Yousee him trotting across the
street. But the other week, myhusband and my daughter were out
just, like, messing around inour yard, kind of cleaning up,
hitting, like, a wiffle ballaround. My daughter's 10. And
(32:31):
she hit the wiffle ball overinto this side sort of grassland
that we have and went to go getthe ball and boom, the fox was
bedded down in our yard. And shescared it. She startled it, and
it jumped up over our eight footfence and into our backyard and
(32:51):
scampered off. And it was I wasso upset that I missed it, but
she was just like, oh my god.She couldn't believe that it was
even possible. Usually, they gounder our fence because we have
found them in our totally fencedin backyard before, but this one
just jumped right over it, whichI had no idea was even a thing
(33:11):
that they could do. I guess youput enough fear in an animal and
can do pretty much anything.
Abigail Garofalo (33:16):
That is so cool. There's a lot of really
interesting research around,like, coyotes and foxes, in the
urban environment that, likebecause they just, like, find
such an interesting niche, andthey also have, like, a really
interesting relationship withhumans that is just, yeah,
fascinating and cool and sad.I'm sorry for you that you
missed it.
Sarah Zack (33:34):
I would so sad, but I'm the only one that saw it
when it was bedded down in ourbackyard one day. It was, like,
bedded down among, like, some ofour bushes, but, like, right in
this patch of sunshine. So itwas, like, a picture perfect.
Like, it was just there, likeand the sun was just
illuminating it, and it was sobeautiful. So I've I've seen the
fox, so I felt pretty good thatmy daughter was the one who got
(33:55):
to see him. But I don't know ifit's one fox or, like, a family
or what, but, I mean, it's beenongoing for years that we've had
foxes in our neighborhood, which
Abigail Garofalo (34:04):
You probably don't have coyotes. Right?
Sarah Zack (34:06):
I don't think we do. Every once in a while in, like,
a neighborhood group, we'llhear, like, coyotes spotted.
But, usually, it's not in myarea of of the town, my, like,
little subdivision.
Abigail Garofalo (34:19):
Yeah. They usually they inhabit such
similar niches that, like,that's what they say is, like,
in communities, in certainneighborhoods, you'll see either
foxes or coyotes.
Sarah Zack (34:29):
Well, I'm glad we have foxes then because I have a
pug who likes to run around inthe backyard, and I don't think
the fox is any threat. But acoyote might be, although I
maintain that they're morescared of us than we are of
them.
Abigail Garofalo (34:43):
Probably. Well, I will share mine. So I
grew up in Central Illinois inwhich we're not part of a large,
like, migration flyway that I amnow being in the the northwest
suburbs as well. And so I didnot know anything about sandhill
cranes when I first moved here.And then I moved here, and I was
like, oh my gosh. These are likea thing. And I'd never even,
(35:05):
like, seen them, and I was like,oh my gosh. These are really big
birds. Like, these are hugebirds. Like, like, four or five
feet tall birds. And I saw oneat, like, a wildlife center that
was under rehab and stuff likethat. Well, a couple of weeks
ago and we're in we're recordingin December, so this was around
November. But they should beflying back through in the
spring here pretty soon whenthis episode gets released, was
(35:28):
I heard them. I heard the, like,like and, like, a giant flock of
them just, like, flyingoverhead, and I'm outside of my
house, like, talking to myhusband. He's, like, showing me
the Christmas lights he put upor whatever. And I'm like, stop.
We need to do like, we just youcan't talk anymore? Like, we
need to look up and, like,observe this crazy and they just
(35:48):
kept coming. Like, it was, like,all everywhere. And I was just,
it still blows my mind. It stillblows me away, and I just think
sandhill cranes are really cool.So.
Sarah Zack (35:59):
That's very cool. It's very fun to, like, be a
part of this and, like, hear youguys getting so excited about
this stuff because I get excitedabout this stuff, but I don't
often get to talk to people whoget excited about this stuff.
So, like, your enthusiasm is,like, infectious, which is
really good.
Abigail Garofalo (36:14):
You got a fellow nature nerd out. You
know?
Sarah Zack (36:17):
Yep.
Abigail Garofalo (36:17):
That's what this is for. So, Sarah, thank
you so much for sharingeverything that you had today
and all the wonderfulinformation and just kinda
chatting with us on the pod andnerding out with us and
answering all of our questions.It's been really wonderful. I
always love working with you, soI really appreciate it.
Sarah Zack (36:32):
Same. Same. Thank you for having me.
Abigail Garofalo (36:34):
Well, this has been another episode of the
Everyday Environment podcast.Check out next week where we
will talk with Eliana Brownabout stormwater management
solutions at home. This podcastis a University of Illinois
production, hosted and edited byAbigail Garofalo, Erin Garrett,
and Amy Lefringhouse.
Matt Wiley (36:56):
University of Illinois Extension.
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