BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The city’s SouthSide Ambassadors Program had a busy 2025 — cleaning more than 30,000 sidewalks and collecting an estimated 94,000 pounds of trash.
“It is usually really clean in the South Side, folks — the community uses the garbage cans,” Sandra Zajacek, the program’s operation manager, said.
“For me, I’m a frontline environmentalist. We’re out there five days a week, and we are cleaning this up so it doesn’t end up in our storm drains, in our waterways. I really believe in the program.”
“You know, I don’t think we all realize how much it means to walk down a clean street and how it got that way.”Lynn Rothman, EAC chair
Zajacek’s was among two presentations given during the city Environmental Advisory Council’s Thursday meeting.
“It was a wonderful presentation. Thank you,” EAC Chairwoman Lynn Rothman said.
“You know, I don’t think we all realize how much it means to walk down a clean street and how it got that way.”
‘Make it friendly and vibrant’
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.
“We always say with public spaces, we try to make it friendly and vibrant,” Zajacek said.
She highlighted the totals for the amount of trash collected and greetings given — 94,135 pounds and 54,587, respectively.
“I like to coincide those two a lot,” Zajacek said. “And if you look at it closer, you’ll see that when there’s a lot of people, there’s a lot of trash. Through the months, you can see the difference and it changes of course, seasonally.”
When ambassadors greet people, they “don’t bother” them, she said.
“It’s a smile; it’s a nod,” she said. “It’s kind of noting that somebody’s in their presence, and if they need any help, we’re available.
“So we kind of stop what we are doing and say hello. This makes a big difference on mental health.”
Lehigh University’s ReusePass
After Zajacek’s presentation, Marayna Dorsey, sustainability coordinator for Lehigh University’s dining services, shared information and data on ReusePass, a program that lets students borrow reusable food containers outfitted with an RFID sticker.
“Whenever I describe this to someone, I like to describe it similar to a library book,” they said.
“So 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.
"And then they take it back, and it gets scanned back in, and then ReusePass is completed. So it's a really streamlined process.”
The program is in use at both of Lehigh’s residential dining areas, as well as its main retail dining area. There are four return locations where students can drop off used containers.
“We have a 97 percent return rate, which is really high considering that we have done almost 30,000 rentals,” Dorsey said.
“That'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.”
There is a $5 fee if students don't return a container.
“That is really amazing,” Guthrie said. “Thanks for the presentation. I've never seen a program like that before. It is amazing.”
Rothman asked whether it could be a model for city restaurants.
In June, the EAC approved a single-use plastics survey, targeting restaurants. Preliminary results, released in October, showed restaurant owners are interested in ditching single-use plastics in favor of reusables, but they need help making the change.
“I'm thinking any place that has a cafeteria could use this,” EAC Member Steve Olshevski said. “So the first thing I thought of in this area is a hospital.”
EAC member Vibhor Kumar said it all depends on the likelihood of the same people returning to the same location.
“So 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,” he said.
Vice chair, secretary re-elected
Also during the meeting, Ben Felzer and Ben Guthrie were re-elected as vice chairman and secretary, respectively.
Felzer was nominated by Rothman, and seconded by EAC Member Katie Trembler. Guthrie also was nominated by Rothman, but seconded by Olshevski.
There was no discussion before either vote, and both were unanimous.
At City Council’s Jan. 20 meeting, members will appoint a new chair, replacing Rothman.
“I thank you all very much. This has been the highlight of my life."Lynn Rothman, EAC chair
“So, this is not my last meeting to attend, necessarily, but my last meeting as chair and as a member,” Rothman said.
“I thank you all very much. This has been the highlight of my life. I’ve really enjoyed working with the EAC.”
Several members thanked Rothman for her service to the council, noting her work hasn’t gone unnoticed and they’ve been lucky to have her leadership.
“You’ve made it easy for the rest of us,” Guthrie said. “The last several years, you’ve represented the committee well.”
