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...

In lieu of Jon’s recent blog on turning  wooden pallets into furniture , I decided to write my own blog on sustainable student living. Mostly because I have found myself since I started university to be very anti-Ikea. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am sure the Swedes have a lot of unique, mass produced, and cheap furniture to adorn your apartment with (you may sense some sarcasm and contradictions, I apologize Ikea lovers) but maybe I am just too crafty or cheap to commit to buying things. Thus, I have upcycled many a thing since I’ve moved to Ottawa. My tips : Find friends that are moving, or strangers, around the end of the month and pester them for shit they don’t feel like carrying to a new place, or scour the streets on the night before garbage day .This is how I have acquired the majority of my stuff; whether coming across it randomly when walking home or through friends that had no interest in packing it away and transporting it. Once you have found some stuff, customi...

I love the month of May. Apple trees are blooming, lilac trees smell like rainbows and I can party like a rockstar. Why? Because it’s my birthday and what better way to celebrate than with free stuff? Basically, it’s been my birthday all month thanks to Dump N’ Run : shampoo, lip balm, a cute dress, rockin’ heels and some summer reads. Least to say the Dump N’ Run has taken away any prejudice I might have had about receiving free things, hence my impatience to set up the permanent Free Store and my frequent visits to the FreeCycle website. But back to the birthday part. I remembered reading about a girl having spent a day roaming Ottawa for birthday freebies. Not only do I get to wear my favourite dress and receive funny phone calls from relatives, but I can also get free stuff?? AWESOME! Thanks to Google and Yahoo Answers, I managed to track down a few stores I really wanted to visit, besides the obvious restaurants that offer a slice of cake or a drink. Here are a few fun on...

Recycling is the Lululemon of sustainability. It’s hip. I always get a little thrill when I toss some paper into the blue bin. But there is more to recycling than those bins. We have something called Free Stores on campus where people donate clothes, binders, books, kitchenware and much more, and then we give them away.... For FREE. Yes, that’s right, FREE! This week, I went by the Free Store to help out, and consequently walked away with a pair of rad boots, that only need a little mending on the sole, but that are sooooo comfortable. They’re like foot cocoons. If this sounds appealing, then you may be interested in participating during RecycleMania (an inter university competition in which recycling and waste production is monitored and compared to other universities in North America).  And if that's not enough, we are also hosting a Lunch and Learn on February 2nd, during which Brigitte will speak about the Live Waste Free pledge. You can sign up for a week if you w...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo Despite being almost 50 years old in origin, 'Freeganism' is not a very well known philosophy. It's a way of life in which people attempt to eliminate their negative environmental and economic impact on the world by living only off of, well, garbage. If Jimmy dislikes his sandwich and decides to throw it in the trash, Bill can take that opportunity to indulge on Jimmy's half eaten 'waste-food' and eat that sandwich himself. By eating what would have been garbage anyway, Bill ate a meal that didn't require production AND he saved something from the landfill. A Sandwich saved is a sandwich earned. "They eat garbage?! That's disgusting!!!" If that food was a half-eaten Jimmy-slobber sandwich, I would agree with you. If that food was infested with mold and disease and decay, I would agree with you. If that food was actually inedible, I would agree with you. Freeganism would just be the nice way of saying 'rat mimi...