We prove the height functions for a class of non-integrable and non-stationary particle systems converge to the KPZ equation, thereby making progress on the universality of the KPZ equation. The models herein are ASEP [4] with a mesoscopic family of slow bonds, thus we partially extend [16] to non-stationary models and add to the almost empty set of non-integrable, non-stationary interacting particle systems for which universality is established. To do this, we develop further the strategy of [41, 42] introduce a method to establish a novel principle that builds upon the classical hydrodynamic limits of [30] and that we call local hydrodynamics.