'Circular Economy': Bethesda Teens Collect Donated Items, Promote Sustainability

BETHESDA, MD — Two high school juniors from Bethesda held a successful community donation drive last weekend, as part of their campaign to promote a "circular economy" and supply Washington, D.C., area charities with much-needed supplies.

Alicja and Manuela, who have focused on creating a more sustainable society since starting high school, set up tables in Elm Street Park in Bethesda on Saturday, where residents donated items like backpacks, books, art, games, toys, clothing, accessories, kitchen items, sporting goods and home goods.

“This was our biggest event yet, both in terms of the overall volume of articles donated, and the level of participation and engagement from our wonderful neighbors,” Alicja said in an email to Patch.

Most people took a moment to chat with the two teens to learn about the principles of a circular economy. “Being almost in the center of Bethesda meant that lots of people were strolling by asking about what we were up to, and many of them later came by with donations,” Alicja said.

Alicja and Manuela have held several community donation drives in their quest to do their part in creating a new economy that promotes sharing and discourages waste. The teens are also offering a helping hand to neighbors in need by delivering the donated items to local charities.

In the current dominant economic system, industries take materials from the Earth and make products from them. In this linear process, both companies and individual consumers then eventually throw away those products as waste. A circular economy, on the other hand, seeks to prevent waste by keeping materials and products in circulation for as long possible.

Alicja, a junior at Holton-Arms School, is the president of EcoExchange and co-director of the Maryland chapter of the group. She was inspired to start EcoExchange as a 9th grader in 2021 after learning about the circular economy, its benefits and implementation.

As an intern at Bethesda Green, Alicja also hosted a six-part podcast where she interviewed experts and thought leaders in sustainability and clean technology, who offered ideas on ways to adopt a circular economy.

Manuela, Alicja’s best friend who attends Walt Whitman High School, serves as vice president of EcoExchange and co-director of the Maryland chapter.

The two teenagers learned about the circular economy on their own after they grew concerned about the rise of trends like fast-fashion hauls and seeing usable items piled up in trash bins in their neighborhoods.

“This, as well as our volunteering at community trash pick-ups, prompted our ninth-grade selves to look into what could be causing all of this waste, and what could be a solution to this problem, which eventually led us to explore the circular economy,” Alicja explained.

Sustainable living is gaining some traction in the United States but remains behind countries in Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries as well as Belgium and the Netherlands.

Alicja noted that there’s a larger cultural emphasis in these countries on sustainable living, whether by riding a bike to school or work, recycling, or having an energy efficient home. Also, the basic idea of sharing, from items to spaces, is more widespread and accepted in these countries.

“Since such attitudes are already popular in Europe, the circular economy is just an extension of this mindset,” she said. “Government action plays a huge role in this, with many European governments adopting ambitious green goals and policies.”

Alicja contends that the U.S. remains too focused on economic growth, which has historically been driven by consumerism and the burning of fossil fuels, “leaving us closed-minded towards ideas that would not slow growth, but could make our economy more sustainable.”

At Saturday's donation drive in Elm Street Park, community members who stopped by their table said they had visited the EcoExchange website, where Manuela and Alicja provide a deeper dive into the principles of a circular economy.

"I think that people are happy to engage in this sustainable practice of donating their items rather than throwing them away, especially since we try to make it super convenient, and are especially excited in seeing how it connects with the circular economy," Alicja said. "I also think that people realize that their positive impact is here, locally, as all items they bring in, rather than ending up at local landfills, we donate to organizations here in the DMV, keeping them in use!"

Alicja and Manuela are hoping to grow the movement and are looking for other high school students interested in sustainability to serve as EcoExchange chapter directors in areas of the U.S. where the group is not currently active. Teens can visit the EcoExchange website to learn more about joining the organization.