Happy Earth Day

A happy Earth would mean a happy mankind. So clearly, this is one day I would sign up to celebrate every day of the year!
At Metro regional Centre, I got the chance to really meaningfully celebrate Earth Day with a brownbag discussion by Betty Shelley on "How to bring down your garbage offload to as low as one can per year!!!"
This was really something to attend. It was extremely fun and insightful, and I also won a super cool green cleaning kit!
So what were Betty's golden words of wisdom? Reduce, Reuse and only then Recycle. Basically, Betty focused on how to make sure that the garbage reaching the recycling can is in fact the minimal you could send off. She was kind enough to share many educational materials such as the

1. Green Cleaners: Simple cleaning recipes for a safer home, and
2. A guide to the 3Rs

But most importantly, she shared her years of experience in reducing waste from one can a month to a can per year and the tips that came out of it were amazingly sensible and practical. Another sensible advice she had for us was to take it step-by-step - figure out what goes in your garbage, then devise a long-term plan with short-term targets, and step-by-step, you can reduce your garbage. So what are some of the tips she had for us? Well, here goes.....

Reduce

1. Don't buy stuff that comes with too much packaging. No styrofoam. If there is a favourite product of yours that comes in such packaging, find a substitute, or try writing to the manufacturer to change the packaging.
2. Use durables instead of disposables. For dinner, let each family member have his/her own identifiable napkin-cum-washcloth and let them use it till the next laundry. Absolutely avoid paper napkins and towels.
3. For meat products, buy them without the bones, but if you do have bone waste, freeze it and throw it out altogether over a long time.
4. Think about what you want to buy and what kind of packaging it would involve. Create shopping lists with a column for packaging that indicates the kind of packing it would require (shopping bag or plastic container) and bring your containers accordingly to the grocery store.
5. You don't need to own everything. Just share stuff like power tools with with your neighbours. You might also set up a sharing economy (cookies against drill use?)
6. Besides this, to reduce the size of your garbage, don't crumple stuff but throw them in flat.

Reuse

1. Donate to shops and companies like goodwill
2. Set up clothing exchange parties parties or pass on clothes to little ones
3. Take all your packaging to United Postal Services. They need it!
4. Take containers to farmers' markets
5. Wash ziplock bags and plastic bags and dry them on a bag stand instead of throwing them away.
6. Give pens and stationary to schools

Recycle

1. Locate artists who can convert old stuff into cool art
2. Compost yourself, or find a friend who does and give your compostable waste to them. Some commercial grade plastics are also composted by Burgerville and other establishments. Find them.
3. Take stretchable plastics (not meant for curbside) to North West for converting to microfibres.
4. Confirm when you dispose soemthing off what the recycled end-product would be.

Doesn't all of that make so much sense and sound simple?

In addition to the brownbag, we also got a tour of various sustainable features at the Metro Regional Centre. The building itself was salvaged out of recycled materials. It has various cool features meant to conserve water and energy, while reducing waste and managing it efficiently. Refer to Metro's Sustainable Features for details!