empty concrete alleyway
Photo by Simon Blyberg on Pexels.com

Sustainable day-to-day living encompasses a wide range of things, including, but not limited to:

  • Living simply – if a smaller house/apartment will do, why go bigger? Less space means fewer rooms to fill with stuff that maybe isn’t needed
  • Travel and transportation – How do we get from place to place every day? Are we travelling more than needed for meetings when phoning in would do? Are we going on expensive (and high emission) holidays when something simpler could be done instead? How many flights are you taking each year? 
  • Food: See other page… 🙂

Waste-Free living is an area of life that I would like to see receiving greater promince in the local and global sustainability discussion. While food, for example, is becoming quite a common discussion point, at least in my circles, it seems that waste-free living isn’t quite there yet. Hopefully, this will help to nudge the discussion forward.

Rethink    Reduce      Reuse     Recycle

So, let’s rethink how we live and how much waste we create. While we do that, here are some great ways to help create and promote change.

Resources:

Terracycle: One of my favourite waste-free living resources – for the recycling piece. Naturally, recycling is the last step, but once you are at that point, Terracycle does a great job of keeping things out of the landfill and upcycling. Their recycling options are extensive and they are gret to work with! Get bins set up and start collecting at home, school, work or anywhere else. The more people you recruit to join you, the better!

 

The Story of Stuff ProjectStory of Stuff: (One highlight here is the excellent short videos, perfect for school, work presentations etc).

Here is just one example. More here.

“This City Banned Coffee Pods. Canadians Are Turning On Them Too.” here 

NPR: This Plastic-Eating Bacterium Might Help Deal With Waste One Day. 

Dealing with another plastic problem: Bob McDonald (CBC)

kitchenerpost.ca: Region of Waterloo investigating ban of single-use plastics.

Further Reading

More info here

More Resources:

  • Second homes are a gross injustice, yet the UK government encourages them: Guardian
  • HuffPost Canada: Demand For Tiny Homes Jumps As Canadians Reconsider Lifestyles Amid Pandemic.
  • Ikea tiny homes can help fight climate change by giving small footprints a big toehold: NBC
  • The Ikea Tiny Home Project is designed with sustainable products: LP