~ This is a piece about plastic that I really could live without and how to navigate normative grocery stores in a more eco-friendly way. Yes more than anything really, this will be a rage piece about unnecessary everyday plastic that really does not need to exist and what we can do to live without it. ~ I began thinking critically about the everyday items I buy each week at the grocery store around September when I started to transition more and more towards being plastic-free. Like most students, my life is a balance between trying to eat healthy and work hard and then eating my stresses away with sweets. We are all trying our best. Its exam time now. Nothing a few bulk chocolate chips can’t fix. It’s going to be all good. You know what isn’t all good? Foods packaged unnecessarily! Foods for sale that have unnecessary plastic packaging when you can get the same food in a plastic-free manner! So I am going to tell you how I really feel and we’re going to go through the grocer...

In the spirit of Barney Stinson and in an attempt to really walk the sustainable walk, this past week I accepted a challenge from a fellow environmentalist to truly trashless. What challenge you ask? Sure to be the latest mannequin or ice bucket challenge to have all the youths blowing up their social feeds, the waste bucket challenge raises awareness to the amounts of waste we produce every single day. So this is how the challenge works. Any trash you produce is kept in a bucket or receptacle or whatever of choice allowing you to see how much of what you consume regularly is non-compostable or non-recyclable. So to reiterate, if it cannot be composted or recycled, it goes and stays in the bucket. I used a 32 oz. glass container rather than any sort of garbage cans as I moved about my normal life for a week. I also equipped myself with my trusty travel mug, Nalgene, mason jars, canvas bags, a fork/spoon and reusable containers. So now five days later, with a glass container...

Up until a few months ago, waste was not frequently on my mind. Every second week I would make my sacrifice to the Garbage Truck gods and that was the end of that. However dealing with waste on a campus scale opened my eyes to the impacts of our collective action. At first, I felt rather distressed, I knew a problem existed but I felt as though the problem was bigger than me and I did not know how to solve it. In honour of Waste Reduction Week, I looked to my colleagues for inspiration on concrete actions which can help me reduce personal waste. Reduce packaging Nothing angers me more than having to tear through 5 different layers of packaging to get to my food. WHY WON’T YOU LET ME EAT YOU?! It appears as though everything nowadays is packaged, even packaging is packaged! Buying in bulk is one of the ways I have found to reduce waste and those dreaded plastic bags. Some bulk retailers like Market Organics will even let you bring your own Tupperware. As an added bonus buying i...

When you take a look at a park bench, I bet the last thing you think is that it looks like a waste by-product. Well you might be surprised to know that many benches are hiding something from you; in fact, they are often hiding millions of pieces of what we used to consider traditional trash. The company that is behind this transformation from garbage to park benches, picnic tables, and even coolers is a Canadian company called Terracycle. The founder of this company is Tom Szaky, who was inspired by the mighty earth worm. When Tom discovered worms digest dirt into compost, at the formative age of 19, he was flabbergasted. He created a business case at Princeton University to transform table scraps into fertilizer. You can now buy "Worm Poop" in major department stores. You can even get specialized Worm Poop for certain plants. Today, Terracycle handles a lot more than just compost. The company is an aggregator of major companies, each one investing in their own particu...

click here to see the full image Polythene bags are very popular with both retailers and consumers. They are strong, lightweight, functional and hygienic means of carrying items. Though they are a modern convenience that we cannot do without, they are a menace. Around the world, this menace is showing its impact now. Not totally excluding the impact of other reasons like green house gases, pollution and deforestation, polythene has a much greater impact. As for me being an international student at University of Ottawa, I’ve come realise a lot of things. When I was a kid, we had this old age tradition to take our own shopping bags even for little stuff may be just fruits or vegetables. We would have exclusive bags, could be handmade or recycled or cloth that were beautifully painted or embroidered. I never understood why my grandma was always against getting any polythene bag home. As I grew older, finding out why a polybag was not good, I came across a lot of strange facts that ...

A summary of my first month living waste free: To sum up, I have pledged to live waste-free for nine weeks (from January 29th to March 31st) in the spirit of RecycleMania – and just to show that it is possible! What I mean by waste-free is that I will not be sending anything to landfill; I will be recycling, composting, and using my reusable containers! I have been waste-free for about a month now, and am finding it even easier that last year – now that the University recycles all forms of plastics! I am planning all my meals ahead of time, making all my own foods from scratch, and buying ingredients by bulk in jars and reusable containers. The first interesting experience I had was during my visit to the dentist. I hadn’t been in a few years, and forgot just how much waste they produce for a simple check-up: a disposable plastic ‘bib’ to protect my clothes, disposable plastic floss, a disposable cloth to wipe my face (wrapped in plastic), and a disposable plastic cup to rinse m...

For the second year in a row, I have decided to live waste free during RecycleMania. From January 29th to March 31st, I am pledging to not produce a single item that will end up in a landfill. Now that does not mean that I cannot use anything recyclable! Nonetheless I will try to keep this at a minimum by purchasing food in bulk with my reusable containers and jars whenever possible. Last year, I pledged for eight weeks, and my box of shame contained a Band-aid, a few pieces of plastic dental floss, and a piece or two of gum (I am seriously addicted to the stuff!). It was much easier than I had thought; waste-free versions of all the same products I use on a daily basis are out there, you just have to find them…and learn to cook a new thing or two!. My favourite finds were vanilla or almond extract in bulk, and compostable dental floss, which can be purchased at most organic food stores in Ottawa (Silk Floss). If you are unsure about giving it a try, I give a ‘how to live waste-...

Jon has proposed a one-week waste free challenge for my next post. I secretly want to refuse, but my childhood shrieks to my parents of “What about the whales!” echo in my head. Instead I ask for a guide and am provided with this: http://www.sustainable.uottawa.ca/recycling.html . Realize quickly that this guide still allows for waste and ask for clarification on ‘contaminated papers’ and dental floss. Turns out floss is a plastic (good to know) and ‘contaminated papers’, which I assume also include used tissue (cleverly polite guide!), are compost. Realize the location of my city-issued compost bin is unknown to me. Decide that starting a waste free challenge at 11pm on a Sunday is not ideal as it would mean riffling through my garage in -20 to find my green bin. Also, procrastination is fun. And the week always starts on a Monday, right? Commit to waste free week. Starting tomorrow. Day 1 : Have decided to approach my waste free week by going on the offensive. If I don’t cre...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s a massive floating plastic island of sustainability! It has been a while since I have graced this blog with my presence- my apologies, hopefully I can make it up to you (or at least to my boss). A while ago I wrote about my Enviro class that did a mock Conference of Parties on Climate Change and mentioned that my group represented the Maldives, a small island nation that is well… doomed, in short. The inhabitants are already experiencing frequent flooding in most areas, the reserves of fresh water are dwindling and severe climatic events, etc. The result will be a population of climate refugees that will seek somewhere to go in the near future (the island is expected to be the first nation made uninhabitable by climate change because on average the elevation is only 1.5m above sea level). Our group came up with multiple solutions but my personal favourite was built off the idea that they could buy new real estate in another country and mo...

Photo credit: unknown Dear Coca Cola, You are such a source of childhood nostalgia for me. Every time I crack open a can of coke I think of being just a wee child, spending time with my grandma. That woman used to give us coke when we stayed home from school and explained to my frustrated mother that it helps with stomach aches. Upon researching your company, I have become disheartened. After world water day and numerous water documentaries that were playing around earth day (my dad surprisingly pulled me away from studying to watch one) I’ve been patrolling water use aggressively. Coca Cola is failing in this sense… not just like a fluke “one time I was out late partying and got a 47% on a bio quiz” but a “seemed like a good idea to play vidja games for a week straight and skip all my midterms” fail. Boasting that they use 2.43L per 1L of water, meaning 1.43L is waste water or used for manufacturing processes- not even reaching a bottle to be distributed for insane prices after being...

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin Okay, I recognize that this pushes me dangerously close to the dreaded “dirty hippy” line but I can’t seem to help myself. Okay… here it goes…. I collect every scrap of plastic that comes my way. Now before you judge, you should hear why I am doing this. First of all, garbage sucks. Over the past couple of years I have been slowly phasing out as much waste as possible from my life. Thankfully recycling and composting programs are in place for Ottawa and Gatineau. This is sweet because it means that I am down to 1 half size garbage bag per month. So why would I stop there. Old clothes and household items I donate away to the Free Store or give to friends. I have been shifting from purchasing physical gifts to giving experiential gifts (theater tickets, day at the spa, etc…). And I am getting better at asking to not have any disposable straws at restaurants. But of course there is the ever elusive plastic wrapper. Somehow it has always been able to penetrate...

Photo credit: Brigitte Morin It isn’t always obvious when we are making our weekly shopping list that the products we buy regularly are sold in containers which are fully recyclable. If you live in Gatineau, the plastics numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 are recyclable in your big blue bin; however, if you live in Ottawa, the plastics numbered 1, 2, and 5 are recyclable in your blue bin. Always check the number under each plastic container in the recycling logo to make sure that you item will be recyclable at home. A great example is yogurt containers; not only is it difficult to choose between the 10,000 brands and flavours, but which one is fully recyclable? Opt for the larger containers with the metal seal rather than the plastic seal. Another challenge is crackers; who doesn’t eat crackers with dip or in their lunch? Well, unfortunately, most crackers are sold in a plastic bag within their cardboard box. My solution is two brands of crackers that I have found who sell their product in a f...

Photo Credit: Jonathan Rausseo New students arrived on this campus well before the start of classes to participate in 101 Week, and this was the best possible opportunity to inform them of everything that happens on this campus. As both a guide and employee of this office, I felt it necessary to make sure that the new students were aware of our bottle-free state, and that they know how to recycle on campus. The logistics of planning 101 Week and all its events are extremely complex, as there are so many elements to consider, and often, adding on a ‘green’ element will take a back seat. The main reason is that there are a lot of students generating a lot of waste, and managing this aspect is a tremendous effort. Since the University is now officially bottled water free, water bottles have been replaced by providing large water jugs that the students can use to fill up their own reusable bottles. This cuts down on a lot of plastic being left as waste, but this isn’t the only problem. Ju...