Hide the garbage cans - the rest will follow aka 100% ZERO-WASTE Events

YEAR 1 (for me) - 2013

The Neighbour Savour IV Potluck was set to occur October 8, 2013 from 6-9pm. This year, I noticed that in the event write-up, the words Zero Waste appeared, that of course caught my eye! I was delighted to attend, especially because I saw the words "Zero-Waste" appear in the title.

I was excited to see how the evening would unfold, and how zero-waste would be approached - as the concept can have varied meanings for many people.

There were re-usable cutlery, ceramic plates, glasses, and mugs - a sure sign we were off to a good start. But then it came time for clearing the plates. I realized quickly that there was no spot for compost and my heart broke. I quickly decided I'd convert the glass container I brought my potluck item in (as it was now empty), into a compost holder, surely we wouldn't have that much assuming none of us were wasting food on our plates!

Unfortunately, someone thought that was a dirty bowl that needed washing, depite the sign next to it which read "Compost", dumped it in the garbage, and proceeded to take it to the kitchen. I had walked away and was cleaning up other stuff so I was not there to witness this or of course I would have explained the situation. But as I walked up to check on the scene, this is when I noticed my bowl was gone, and there was a lot headed into the garbage!

Asking people if they knew where it went, or what was going on, I was matched with looks of confusion and chaos as if I was speaking a different language. This confused me utterly because generally folks at a Village Vancouver event, especially one with Zero-Waste in its title would be more aware than most....

Long story short - I ended up taking the garbage  bag home with me (and to be fair, 1 big black garbage bag for 200+ people isn't so bad but....of course we can do better!)....and sorted it at home.

My roommate certainly wondered what the heck I was doing but she knew me well enough by now to not be too shocked to see me walk in the door with garbage - most people leave their front door with garbage.... I like to do things a little different. Actually I don't like it.....because it is the result of humanity being on auto-pilot, and of course it's entirely unsustainable for me to take garbage home, sort it, and clean the recyclables (waste water, no less)  that have been soiled with food waste.

Here are some pictures, diversion rate after I was done with it? 100%....

For comparison sake, what's Metro Vancouver's diversion rate, you ask?

The stats I have, as at the most recent Sustainability Breakfast in Dec 2014, showed a current diversion rate of 60%, which they would like to be at 70% by 2015 (I guess that's this year...felt a lot further away in December 2014), and 80% by 2020.

While it sounds admirable, I say...we can do better Metro Vancouver! Why not aim for 100%? Even if we don't reach it, isn't it better to have a goal of 100%? I think so! And 100% IS possible, I live it every day (so do the other members of the collective house I'm living in), and we did it at these events, too.  Photo evidence, below...it IS possible!

This was the bag that came back home with me. We rode the bus together, along with my friend Peter. A great zero-waste ally. 

Boo was my little helper. She is a zero-waste kitty warrior. :)

This is showing the contents now diverted, bag emptied (was washed to be re-used, as you can see foodbits in the bottom), and the food waste to the right, which was taken to the compost. 

Had this all been sorted before it hit the "garbage", it would not have required as much washing - which is of course why proper set-up is key!

 Here's what we ended up with when all was said and done.

Here is everything that was generated at the event - so all in all a very small load which is great! In large thanks to the re-usable dishware/cutlery. But ALL of it can be diverted from landfill, 100% diversion rate. The plastics/foil-lined/unnumbered hard plastics, and numbers that city doesn't take went to Pacific Mobile Depot through Village Vancouver monthly plastic drop-spot, The remainder composted and that's about it!  

YEAR 2 - 2014 - Better Equip, Lessons Learned

The following year, Neighbour Savour V, and I was ready. I contacted the crew and let them know I'd take the reigns to create and manage a zero waste station. I know what we went through last year, and I didn't want the same thing to occur.

Having these re-usable plates and cutlery is incredibly key! (We did have these last year, too!)

Got there early, and set-up shop, having the help of my good friend was incredibly useful too, her and I sat there a good portion of the night and helped people sort their materials into the proper bins. I also went back and forth into the kitchen to explain that soft plastics with food had to be first rinsed/washed before we could recycle them.

The ultimate step 1? Hide all garbages.  I can't stress this enough. When people cannot find the garbage then they start to think "what can I do with this?" They usually find a better solution to the auto-pilot garbage bag toss. We have become so accustomed to tossing stuff that when a garbage is present, even if it's next to a recycling bin and a compost bin, it will, more often than not, end up in the garbage....we get on auto-pilot, too many other things running through our minds. I get it. So just hide the garbage cans and it will save you a tonne of frustrations and grief.

Our zero-waste station. My friend and I sat on either side, and helped people when they came with materials to renew. 

I made signs for the station, but I made signs in other places too - the bathroom, for paper towel (ideally we'd have a re-usable towel roll, or mini hand towels but we worked with what we had).

This was in the upstairs bathroom (the only one I thought existed until mid-way)

Where the garbage used to be, I put this sign as I figured folks may have remembered from last year a garbage here. 

Shhh, don't tell: Garbages were sill around, (in the below photo they are at the very back and to the left), but no-one will search that hard for a garbage....however, just in case.... I put a little sign on it. Gotta play it safe. 

Garbages hidden? Check

It wasn't until mid-way through, as people started showing up, I learned there was another bathroom, downstairs, this time, genders were seperated. So, I made some signs, ensured the men's was clear and replaced the garbage with the compost collector. :) Phew, close call!

 So - what did we end up with?

City recycling (blue bin, and yellow bag), compost (green and white buckets), and one bucket of soft plastics/foil-lined recycling to go to Pacific Mobile Depot. I was able to take the recycling, and compost as I was living super close to the hall at the time, and Ross was able to take the soft plastics. Thanks Ross! 

A BIG thank-you to everyone who attended the event, used the system in place, and participated in a zero-waste potluck. We couldn't have done it without you! 

200+ people served. 

ZERO-WASTE. 

That's how it's done, yo, that's how it's done. 

Here are some other photos from the Green Party Gala - 2014 Fundraiser; also a zero-waste event. Warms my heart! :) Especially nice to meet and work with the event coordinator who was equally as passionate and dedicated to zero waste as I am - what a treat! 

Garbages? Hidden

Diversion Rate? 100%

...And, of course, Elizabeth May - doing her thing. :)

Strata Composting for the Win, ...in addition to my worm bin, of course.

Walking home from work on day, stumbled upon this sign

Naturally, I love the feeling of knowing that you were apart something which allowed for items to not have to go to the the landfill. I say naturally but I wonder...is this a natural feeling for everyone? Is it there it's just under a few layers? 

I would argue it's there in everyone.  I think we can all agree that it's a darn good feeling to know that you are helping someone you love, and what I love, is mother nature.

I wanted to post an update on the composting that's been going on in my building - DIVERSION STATS STYLES - so others could see how incredibly easy it is to do the same in their building. Here is the handy info graphic that Growing City sent us:

Growing City will send us our diversion stats, so we can easily keep track
and see how much we are diverting from the landfill! Hoorah!

As a bit of backstory: composting in my building, it's something I've been wanting to do since I moved here in 2010. 

I brought it up before  to council (before I was actually a council member), and among getting weird remarks back, and somewhat confusion as to why I'd even want such a thing, it was declined due to strata not wanting to be first adopters, and not wanting to spend the extra - I guess there's a lot of risk in being rad?  (also it's funny since, it's really not pricey at all, but I guess Growing City didn't exist the way it does today!) 

So I stopped actively trying, but it was still on my mind, of course, and back then, unfortunately the companies that were picking it up from my office, had not yet expanded to condo buildings, so I was at a bit of a loss (I mean, aside from my own worm bin in my unit, as blogged about here).

Then, this summer, meandering around at a summer festival in the West End, I stumbled upon Growing City's booth. I'm always down to talk compost, so I went over, which is odd but composting in my building was not immediately on my mind so it was perhaps serendipitous that I stumped upon this booth. And, sure enough, they told me they have a 1 month FREE trial period, they do strata pick-ups, and even had another building who had done it, that I decided I would use as my case study within my proposal. Surely council would have to say yes to this amazing initiative!  That, of course, got me super pumped. 

I proceeded to write a proposal to Strata, complete with a myths debunked section, and other FAQs to write. (if you want to do the same for your Strata or building or anything of that nature, let me know and I'm more than happy to share the information!) 

The process moved slower than I wanted it to, but I suppose one must exercise patience. Finally, after all that hard work, council approved that we go ahead with the trial! We had Growing City come to our building and a woman from Growing city and I hung out at the front chatting to residents as they came home from work, and we posted info-sheets around, and I did up a flyer to put under everyone's doors.

The tote had been dropped off that day, mere hours later,
our first few users of the bin, deposited their organics! SUCCESS!

The first week, we were told that our building had actually had one of the best first-pick ups yet, measuring out at 67kgs. Epic! Week two, and three saw just as good of results, with no contamination (plastics, etc). All around, it's been a glorious time. As you can see above, the remainder of the weeks, to date, have been great.

Pre-Compost Tote

Post-Compost Tote (and a very used cardboard bin!)

And, it just goes to show you that 1) if you want to do something, DO IT! 2) Bring the infrastructure, and/or create the space and people shall partake. 

The cost is peanuts once divided across all units - I worked it out to about $0.88/month per unit. Which, as my friend pointed out, is actually cheaper than paying to take it to a drop-spot. (Not that I discount those drop-spots, they got me through some great times) Of course this will depend upon how many units are in your building, but to me, it's a very small price to pay to know that your organics are being turned into nutrient rich soil which will come back full-circle to you, in the form of the healthy, nutrient rich, locally sourced, organic produce you consume. 

I mean - of course, the IDEAL situation is - composting right in your space - keeping those nutrients there, on-site, so that you do not waste energy trucking them around the city. But...for right now, when our alternatives are either landfill, or a compost truck....I still would argue the compost is best - especially as more people sign-up, and the truck can access more buildings within a closer proximity...bam! That and, the more people start composting, the more buy-in we shall have when we decide it's time to have a compost set-up right here, on site...in our open, underutilized, courtyard of a space ....that's another project that I'm slowly working on the best approach ;)

Nature is remarkable  and knowing and feeling that we are getting closer to functioning more like her, and sharing in her natural cycles and rhythms, soothes my soul. 

Note that City of Vancouver is going to be implementing a bylaw as of 2015 that bans organics from the landfill - so best to start sorting out your composting situation sooner, than later :)

Here's the notice I made that went up in the elevators/mail rooms