pick one thing, and start there

Here are a few ideas to get started, in no particular order - the key is to get the log rolling! The more conversations you have and little experiments you do, the more you’ll be learning about the environment bit by bit, and be working toward reducing your own impact.

for pleasure

  • take a rainy evening to figure out your city’s recycling & compost systems. Read the booklets they sent that you stuffed down the back of a drawer, put stick-men-diagrams and reminder post-its up. Make sure you’re diverting as much as you can away from landfill, and doing it in such a way that your local facilities can really use your contributions! This can be a nice opportunity for you to consider all the types of items you dispose of on a regular basis, and start thinking about ways to look for alternatives… For instance, I recently figured out that my recycling system can’t take those plastic stand-up pouches, but it can take soft plastic bags. So I’ve started buying frozen fruit in soft bags rather than pouches.

  • take a cold, hard look at what you bring home every day; plastic grocery bags, those little thin bags you put lemons in, plastic boxes for lettuces, paper handle bags from the bookstore, blister packaging on a new toothbrush. Now imagine you had to pay $1 for each of those items - you could probably think of lots of ways to reduce the quantity you use! Get your fruit & veg at a local greengrocer, they tend to use far less packaging than major grocery stores. Try out your local bulk or zero waste shop for nuts, pasta, flour, spices. Think of old yogurt containers, glass mustard jars, ziploc bags and aluminum foil as reusable, rather than disposable. Keep a cloth bag on hand (in your mud room / bicycle basket / backpack) for any impromptu shopping. Lump those lemons in with the lettuce rather than separating everything with bags - they don’t mind!

  • use the library; buying new items (which inevitably arrive packaged) is always far more impactful than goods that already exist. Hustle down to your local library for a browse, and grab some novels or a cookbook for the weekend.

  • consider your relationship with paper products; mature, soaring forests are being cut down faster than you can shake a stick at them. Some of that handsome old lumber goes to produce inglorious items like toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels. Oddly, the majority of these domestic disposables are not made of recycled paper: 200 year old trees are actually cut down to make muffin papers. In Canadian grocery stores, there’s often one brand of recycled toilet paper, which I make a point of getting (beware of the those that merely package themselves in green). Reusable washcloths and tea towels can reduce paper towels usage; buy recycled paper towels if you still need some on hand. I grew up using handkerchiefs: smirk all you like, they maintain their structural integrity no matter how damp they get, and won’t rub your face raw during a cold. For the dirty or damp paper you do throw out, be sure to put it in your green bin, if your city composts — most programs will take all this stuff!

  • cloth napkins are back; hit up an aunt or your local Goodwill store for a set of practical cotton napkins. I have a stack of 20 or so that I rotate all the time; if you’ve had guests over, throw them in the wash. If you’re cooking for yourself, reuse them a few times before a launder. When my dad was a kid, they each had their own napkin ring and you would squirrel yours away like a jelly roll and that’s how they kept track of who’s who’s! Clever ducks. For the keeners: I’ve been tempted to carry my own cloth napkin, since bakeries and cafes rarely offer them. Let me know if you attempt this.

for business

  • get on the horn to your city’s waste department. It’s important that you get through to somebody knowledgeable for this call, so make sure they weren’t simply cruising by the phone when you rang. Ask what the status is with waste collection - what are the best businesses in town doing? The worst? What can you do to be a good ‘business’ citizen? If your city doesn’t collect recycling or compost from businesses, who would they recommend you hire to do so? What packaging can you offer that’s most likely to be recycled or composted?

  • be frank with your customers. As a business owner, you want to do everything splendidly. It’s really hard to ace it all, though. Be transparent about the packaging you use, and how customers should dispose of it. Maybe your coffee cups aren’t recyclable in your city, or your donut boxes can’t be recycled after they’ve become greasy; don’t hide this. Let them know what you are doing to reduce your impact, and how you’re working on the rest. Your customers will appreciate your honesty, and that it’s in pursuit of a greater goal.

  • make composting a thing. On average, 900lbs of food is wasted per person, per year in Canada & the US - one of the highest rates worldwide. From an environmental perspective, that makes critical tactic #1 to reduce your food waste. #2 is composting whatever scraps you do end up with - this includes food and beverages disposed of by customers as well as staff! The alternative is that these go straight to landfill, and then all of it goes straight to landfill. Most cities don’t pick up compost from businesses, and you’ll likely have to hire a firm to pick up. I can promise you lasting admiration from your clients, staff, and an easy conscience.

  • mark your bins cleanly. OTPeople the world over are confused about what goes in what bin. Are your cups recyclable? Is greasy wax paper? Does a cup half full of coffee go in the recycling, or the garbage? The majority of your customers have no idea. But they want to do the right thing. Make it easy for them by putting super explicit signage.

  • idea from left field. when I was little, if I finished my dinner, I was a member of the Clean Plate Club. This originated during WWI; the idea was that an army mess would have to measure any food that was not consumed at end of day, and that much less was issued the following day. (My grandpa served in the US army in WWII, hence the tradition in our family.) As a business, you could experiment with methods of reducing food waste such as asking patrons how large a portion they’d like - I often wish there were small, medium and large options, depending how hungry I am. I would love to hear if you’ve experimented with anything like this. In the meantime, here’s a Wikipedia article about the original Clean Plate Club.