Something pretty big is on the way and we think that you should be excited about it. The Free Store at the University of Ottawa is undergoing a change, or maybe a better way to say it is an evolution. But this evolution comes at a cost and before the end of this blog post, I am going to try to give you such a compelling argument that you will want to help us pay this cost. Because what comes afterwards might be the most fundamental shift in the way you deal with waste in a generation. Now that I have the hype out of the way, let's talk a little about history. uOttawa's Free Store was born from the dream of a place that could never really exist. It was a concept or an idea that people whispered about; more of an urban myth than an actual place. Think about it... a store where everything is free. What does that even mean? How could it sustain itself without an income? When I was a student back in the early 2000's, I had heard that there was a Free Store over at Carlet...

Wow, these past couple of days have been crazy busy. On Tuesday September 4th we launched our special International Students edition of the Free Store. We do this every year to help give international students a leg up on getting the things they need to start out their lives here in Ottawa. Also, we like to make freegans happy. Saying that it was successful would be an understatement. I think I counted about 200 people on the first day before I stopped keeping track. We easy gave away 2 to 3 tonnes of stuff over the course of the two days and I have to tell you that the experience was exhausting. Needless to say I am very proud of the volunteers who came out to lend a hand. And I also want to give a special shout out to our partners (the International Office and Community Life Services) for their continued support. The Free Store is important for a couple of reasons. First, it diverts tonnes of waste from landfill every year. Second, it demonstrates...

Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo This year is shaping up to be another incredible year for the Free Store. This initiative, originally started by the student members of Green Campus, has grown into a campus phenomenon. The premise of the program is simple; donations are collected and offered freely to the campus community. In 2006, the Free Store was just a small event where students would bring items they wanted to swap with one another. The whole thing was basically done on two tables and lasted like 2 hours. People liked the event but not too many people participated. The following year the Free Store got a boost from the Dump & Run . Items collected from the residences after students moved out were added to the tables of the Free Store. The event also started to give away more items than just clothing; morphing the format into a full day event. Three years ago, the International Office partnered with the Office of Campus Sustainability to create a special Free Store event exclu...