Life Without Plastic Blog

How clean is your bin?

First, an embarassing confession:  I meant to write this blogpost, er, um, about a year ago. Life happens. Here it is finally. Thankfully, it is still relevant. Correction: More relevant than ever.

Just over a year ago we had the pleasure and honour of co-sponsoring - with our friends at La Forêt and The Black Sheep Inn - a Wakefield, Quebec screening of the funky, powerful, funny, award-winning, *important* indie documentary The Clean Bin Project. I'll get to why it is so important a little later.

The dynamic, waste-busting, film-making duo of Vancouverites Jen and Grant embarked on a year-long project they dubbed their  "zero waste, consumer-free year".

Their mantra:  "The goal is zero landfill waste. For one year we will not buy any material goods and will attempt to live without producing household garbage." 

For the duration of the Project between July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009, they had three cardinal rules:

1. No buying stuff. (They could not buy any material goods.)
2. No producing garbage.  This means “avoid packaging”. (They could not buy anything that comes in non-recyclable packaging and they had to avoid excess packaging)
3. Take responsibility for your waste. (They had to take all waste produced personally by them home with them to recycle, compost, etc.)

Jen works as an environmental planner and grows a fine garden, and Grant is a self-employed music producer who likes to wear white pants (more on that in the film). Together they show just how challenging it can be in every day life to go zero waste in our consumerist, overpackaged society. As they say, it was "a competition where less is more".

We loved the film for many reasons, but obviously because it beautifully displays the problem of plastics as a key source of waste, especially in the environment. There are superb interviews with a couple of our heros, anti-plastic crusadors Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and photographic artist par excellence, Chris Jordan.  

This is such an important film because it shows just how much one can have an impact at the individual level when you become aware of the waste you produce on a daily basis. And it provides ways that you can take action. Take a look at the top ten tips Jen and Grant suggest for taking action to reduce waste.

We had the opportunity to meet the smiling Jen and Grant in person at the screening in our hometown last year. Wakefield was one stop on their 7600 km bike ride across Canada screening the film in 30 different communities and inspiring folks like us along the way to work toward clean bins. These are two down-to-earth folks who are helping make this world a better place.

The film is currently screening all over the place (and picking up film fest awards as it goes). We highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance, and if not, DVDs will soon be available for purchase off their site.  Even better, you could organize a screening in your community.  Jen and Grant might even show up to do a fun Q&A after the film. And Grant might even wear his white pants.

Jay Sinha, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

Waste Land of Wonder -- the elevated art of recycling

We live in an eclectic village of community activists. The spirit of postive change is in the fresh air and in the Gatineau River water that flow through town. One example of that magic is the Wakefield International Film Festival (WIFF), the 'little festival that thought big', as local media have come to call it in lauding the world class quality of its programming and execution. WIFF is led by two passionate champions of documentaries and independent filmmaking, Brenda and Robert Rooney, who run the Festival with help of the dynamic and hilarious local troupe, Theatre Wakefield. It is a festival that inspires change.

We are deeply honoured to be sponsoring the showing at WIFF on Sunday, February 13, 2011 of 'Waste Land' - an utterly mesmerizing film about the depths and heights of life and humanity on this Earth in the presence of something we all know, though perhaps not well enough: garbage. Renowned Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Vik Muniz takes us on a journey to the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and the world's largest landfill, Jardim Gramacho. He finds there a thriving community of charismatic 'catadores' or pickers of recyclable materials - not garbage, recyclable materials. Remember that, it's important. 

Muniz works with the pickers to create a form of art that literally oozes emotion, meaning and transformative energy. He photographs certain pickers in symbolic poses, and they then work together to recreate these images as large-scale collages out of materials from the landfill. As the garbage is transformed into art, so are the pickers and their often painful lives. As Tiao Santos, the President of the pickers community association reflects upon seeing his own completed installation, "I never imagined I would become a work of art."

This is a film of striking moments, but one that really hit me was the profound environmental activism the catadores practice and promote as they lobby hard to be recognized by the reluctant local government as a viable part of the recycling industry. They are picking through garbage to make a living - and doing so with great dignity despite being among the poorest people in the world - and they have also created a well-organized, compassionate movement committed to reducing landfill waste and giving garbage new life. Not garbage, recyclable materials.

The pickers have an intimate, practical knowledge of plastic we could only dream of. Santos describes the difference between polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene by the sound each makes when crushed. And it's certainly the first time I've heard PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - one of the most hazardous consumer product plastic chemicals ever created - referred to as 'filet mignon'.

'Waste Land' has already won lots of awards - Sundance, Berlin, Amsterdam, Dallas, Vancouver... and it is shortlisted for the Academy Awards. If you have the chance to see it, jump at that chance. It will change the way you look at your own garbage. And you will have the privilege of meeting and learning from a group of beautiful, noble, WONDERful human beings who are creating meaningful change with waste.

Jay Sinha, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

THE GREEN KEYS TOUR - Visionary Eco-Pianist FRANK HORVAT Live

Life Without Plastic is thrilled to be a sponsor for virtuoso eco-musician Frank Horvat's Green Keys Tour of solo piano performances across Canada. And what makes an 'eco-musician', you ask? According to Frank it means the musician is carrying on their professional activities in a sustainable way and minimizing their carbon footprint. Take a look at all the ways Frank is doing this on The Green(ing) Musician page of his website. The tour will raise funds for the Earth and promote Frank's latest CD - A Little Dark Music - of original piano compositions, which explore "real world themes like the environment, poverty and Sept 11. Despite the somewhat sombre and serious subject matter, A Little Dark Music attempts to bring peace, joy and contentment to its listeners." Here is a man with vision, making music with vision, and saving the Earth along the way. We hope you will get a chance to hear Frank play. We are sponsoring his Montreal concert on April 11, 2010, but tour dates are happening all across the country through 2010 and into 2011.

Jay Sinha, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

Green Festival Fun and Connections

I'm now back in Wakefield and very much into the swing of daily life after an invigorating few days in San Francisco for the Green America Green Business Conference and Green Festival. I love the laid back and friendly energy of San Fran. Heck, I think I even left some of my heart there.

In my previous blog posts about this trip I've talked a bit about my travels to the city, the city itself, a few of the neat folks and companies I met, and some tidbits from conference presentations. In this final trip missive, I need to tell you about the fun fun time I had on my final day while taking in the Green Festival.

Since we discovered the amazing Beth Terry and her now legendary Fake Plastic Fish blog a couple of years ago, Chantal and I have been great fans of Beth and her mission. She is one of our heros. She is living with as little plastic as possible in the most tangible and vivid way. She tracks her monthly plastic consumption down to the last plastic envelope window - all weighed and recorded in a chart - and explains it in depth with superbly researched recommendations on how to decrease one's plastic use in everyday life and beyond. So it was a great honour for me to actually meet Beth in person at the Green Festival.

We met at the main entrance to the Festival where Cirque du Soleil performers were enticing folks to be filmed doing the 'bug dance' (neither of us knew what it was either - kind of like the macarena, but with a buggy twist here and there) and possibly win free Festival tickets. Beth and I both decided to pass on that one, but many others went for it.

While browsing through the Festival we came across the ChicoBag booth, and Beth was immediately drawn to a huge pile of plastic bags sitting to the side of the table.  "Is that the Bag Monster costume?" she inquired. Yes, it was! Next obvious question: "Can I try it on?" You betcha. I followed suit, and luckily we both had our cameras.

Strangely enough it is very comfy cozy, and one feels suddenly compelled to move in new ways and shake that plastic booty - well, at least that's how I felt. It also felt good to take it off.

For me, another highlight of the Conference and Festival was connecting with the lovely Lunaladies. Fellow Canadians, Suzanne and Madeleine run Lunapads - the web's finest collection of natural menstrual products.

 

So what's a guy doing talking about feminine hygiene? Just that, talking about it! Enough of the taboos - what these gals are doing is awesome and so needed. They are providing high quality, healthy, environmentally-friendly - and apparently very comfy - alternatives to the synthetic disposable pads many women still rely on. Unsure about switching? Check out this page of their website, which gives the low down (no pun intended) on why to switch to reusable products. At one point, the Lunaladies and Beth were talking in detail about pads and periods, and I was just sort of there, walking along with them. One of the three, I don't remember which, said she hoped I wasn't uncomfortable talking about this stuff. I assured her that no, I see it as part of life. And then I was thrilled when she said that I must be in touch with my feminine side. I certainly try to be - wow, what a compliment. I sometimes wonder what the world would look like if everyone was in touch with their feminine side. I do believe that day will come.

I left the Conference and Festival enthused and full of ideas. Here in Wakefield, we live in a community that is close and special. People help each other out. We party together. We share in each others good times and bad. We work toward social goals with local passion and global vision. It's good to know that there are similar communities out there in the business world working along the same lines.

Jay Sinha, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

Cheering for Fair Trade and Plastic Bag Free Town with a Hot Guy!

I already mentioned in an earlier post that Jay and I are involved in making our town -- which is already officially designated as Fair Trade -- a single use plastic bag free one. The Plastic Bag Free Town initiative will be launched on Saturday May 9th at the Fair Trade Fair in Wakefield, Quebec, and for the occasion a "fair trade" fashion show will be presented. Jay was recruited as one of the models. He is featured this week on our local newspaper The Low Down. You can see him this week only by clicking here. We are hoping to raise awareness about the dangers to health and the environment of plastic bags, but also the importance of buying under the fair trade logo.

We will tell you more about the event soon!

- Chantal