I don't mean to get all existential on you or anything, I just want you to understand this very simple and true fact. Everything can be recycled. There is no such thing as garbage.... it is simply a social construct created by people in order to classify things that are of no use to us. Case in point, a bag of mouldy old apples... not at the top of my list of things I want to eat. Of course if I was a pig farmer that might make some decent feed for the hogs, or if I was looking for some good compost in my garden I probably wouldn't much mind a whole bag. So they weren't really garbage, they just gross you out. Or how about this, one day your grandma comes to you and gives you some of those nice sweaters she likes to knit. Only problem is that this year she was super productive and she gives you 125 of these sweaters. WTF, you can't use all these sweaters; in fact, you don't even have enough room in your closet for all of them. In a pinch you might toss some o...

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: Jonathan Rausseo A week ago we launched our new plastics recycling program . A revolutionary program (hyperbole) that will have a major impact on the University of Ottawa's waste diversion rate (not a hyperbole). If you haven't noticed, just about every recycling counter on campus not has that memorable yellow sign that just screams... "fill me with unusual types of plastic !" In case you haven't heard about this program, Brigitte Morin (our trusted waste diversion coordinator) has found a company that will recycle the plastic locally (to make . The only catch is the we have to collect all the plastic ourselves, stuff it in a truck, and of course make sure that none of the plastic is very dirty. Well, today was the day that we filled our first truck with plastic to send off for local recycling. Now before you freak out and say, "holy crap, you filled a truck in one week!", I need to tell you that we actually unofficially launched the progra...