Brummet's Conscious Blog

Save Green By Living Green (part 1 of 2) ...Look for part 2 of this article to be published September 5th Zero Waste Initiatives aim to create a more sustainable society by viewing “waste” as a resource that creates jobs and stimulates the economy. It is also one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective strategies for combating climate change. Did you know that as much as 82% of the materials in landfills are recyclable, reusable or compostable? Imagine if we found a way to help everyone in every community reduce that number to next to nothing! It would save cities millions of dollars in landfill related costs and create thousands of new jobs. The most common R’s in Zero Waste, in the order they should be implemented are: Rent, Repair, Repurpose, Refuse, Reconsider, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot .  So in this 2-part article, let’s take a brief look at each of these and discover just how much impact it has on our own budget and the costs involved in waste manage...

Positive News ShorelineCleanup.ca – did you know that volunteers working with the Shoreline Cleanup organization picked up over 191,000 plastic items on Canadian shorelines in 2016?  Kudos to the amazing efforts by these individuals! Anyone can lend a hand on this, at any time simply by cleaning up litter where ever they happen to find it.  Up to 80% of the litter on land finds its way to streams and creeks, then travels on to rivers and oceans. Much of what we see along our streets and parking lots is blown great distances by the natural and traffic-caused winds. Start where you are – so start where you are living; changing the interior habits of dealing with waste (recycling, returnables, donations, resale etc.) then working out in small circles from there. The first 'circle' might be scouring your own yard, the second 'circle' might include the alley and streets connected to your yard, then your neighbourhood and so on....

Recommended Resources Today, I'd like to delve into the realm of waste reduction with 2 helpful resources below: - The earth is a big place to keep clean, however Jeff Kirschner has created a community that's crowdsource-cleaning the planet. After tracking trash in more than 100 countries, Jeff hopes to use the data he's collected to work with brands and organizations to stop litter before it reaches the ground. https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_kirschner_this_app_makes_it_fun_to_pick_up_litter#t-358786 - The following was sent to us by Gary Towne about his friend Mike… “ I have a possible candidate for your blog ...an old friend of mine, Michael Burke ( in Kelowna, BC - Canada) ...quite a few years ago, I guess 20-25 years ago, long before curb-side recycling was commonplace, Mike, the son of a self-made entrepreneur and thus raised accordingly, had set up his own privately run curb-side recycling program until the city eventuall...