Update on Zero Waste Dental Care
April 4, 2021Your average commercial toothpaste has a few issues. One, it is filled if a plastic tube made with multiple layers of different plastics, making it impossible to recycle it. Second, even though toothpaste is rinse only, commercial toothpastes often contain a range of chemicals such as fluoride, triclosan, carrageenan, sodium lauryl sulphate that are not…
My Slow Journey to Minimalism
November 22, 2020While I have embraced zero waste living, my journey to minimalism has been a little bit more of a challenge. Just like for my clothes, my greatest fear is that I won’t have enough. I think that owning extra of things is like a security blanket for me. Having more brings me comfort. Also,…
Reducing Waste in a COVID 19 World
June 30, 2020COVID 19 is part of our daily reality and it will be for a while. It has certainly changed the way we live and work. We have to physically distance and wash our hands all the time. We have to wear masks when we know that we will be within 2 m of other people.…
Zero Waste in the Time of COVID-19
March 23, 2020I couldn’t help but make a not so veiled reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. With COVID-19 upon us, life has changed in many ways, especially for someone buying things in bulk. On March 5th, Bulk Barn stopped accepting containers. I went to Bulk Barn on the 6th and was given the announcement. The woman behind…
How does your garden grow?
August 24, 2019I started another garden this year. Last year was a learning experience for me and I was determined to improve and (pardon the pun) grow. Since cauliflower and broccoli were a disappointment, I decided to try two new vegetables: tomatoes and cucumbers. To my surprise, my strawberry plants came back and I just let them…
Trying to Make Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
July 2, 2019Once you get into zero waste/reducing your waste, you realize that everything that you buy, you can probably make yourself. Sometimes it can be something easy to accomplish, and sometimes not. After taking my food waste class, I have become extremely aware of what I put into compost. While composting is a “good” thing, not…
4 Steps to Reducing your waste
June 13, 2019Spring is here and with the arrival of a new season, our thoughts also turn to personal changes. My colleague Fany is a busy, working mother of two young girls. The other day, she asked me to coach her on zero waste/reduce our waste living. It can be overwhelming. I used to be one of…
Reduce our Waste Travel to St Lucia
March 31, 2019Let’s face it. Air travel is not zero waste. However, since my goal is to reduce my waste while still having fun, going on vacation isn’t something that I am willing to give up. To minimize my footprint, I always travel with reusable utensils, a few containers and water bottles and try to share best…
My Favorite Containers
March 4, 2019One of the most frequent questions I get on reduce our waste living is, how do you buy or store your meat and bread? This is definitely one area where I had to do some research and experimentation. For my bread, I go to the bakery with fabric bags. I purchased this one from Vert…
Thoughts on One Year of Reduce our Waste Living
January 6, 2019Happy New Year! My family and I have survived our 52 week challenge of reduce our waste living, and no one was (really) hurt in the process. The following outlines some of my key observations and learnings this past year: I was actually able to resist shopping for a year. Despite the skeptics (including myself),…