EcoSafe Zero Waste

Our IC&I Food Waste Diversion Program has achieved incredible results over the past three years: 🌱 502 tonnes of organic waste diverted 🍽️ 92,480 meals recovered 🪴 251 tonnes of healthy soil created from compost 🌍 3,488 tonnes of CO₂e emissions avoided Thank you to our amazing partners, participants, and supporters who made this impact possible. Together, we're creating a more sustainable and waste-free future for Canada's IC&I sector! ♻️✨ Check out the program at (https://lnkd.in/dtxV_UJh) to learn more! #Sustainability #FoodWasteDiversion #3YearsOfImpact #CircularEconomy

Waste industry folks never hear the end of the *contamination* issue. What is considered “contamination” to plastic recycling is food for compost! It’s our rotting, scrappy, wet, heavy, and sometimes horribly stinky food! My role at EcoSafe Zero Waste is to educate sales teams about: ~ contamination issues for composters and collectors ~ cities with proper, closed loop compost systems who ban food to landfill ~ tools that reduce contamination in organic waste collection ~ how to get people to participate Why wouldn’t we use a compostable bag if it helps people sort, collect, carry, transport the rotting juices of a nutritious compost feedstock? (Who, I’m sorry, are already too slow to change). The key is that you have to choose the right compostable bag. There are MANY bags in the retail market that make claims of being compostable - but go uncertified. Especially in dollar stores! It’s not that compostable bags *don’t compost* but actually, that fake compostable bags are allowed to be supplied in our markets. Both Canada and some US states are working on that. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gkXVsQZG This video is what the screener spits out after sorting through a city’s food scraps collection. It is a reminder that: ~ how sorting the things you no longer need matters ~ food in landfill emits an incredibly toxic gas called methane, so it needs a place to undergo the composting process ~ industrial composters, like this one, spend so much time and $$ digging through your scraps to pick contamination (mostly plastic) I’m interested to know what your ideal situation would look like to fix this problem? Context is everything! #makecompostmainstream #30c #compostchallenge #compost #organicsdiversion #composter #screener #wasteindustry

It only took almost 5 years to do a tradeshow for EcoSafe Zero Waste all by myself! Just kidding - sort of. When I do attend a tradeshow, I am usually with my sidekicks Gary Bilbro or Cara Anderson. Since the Bunzl Canada Innovation Show on Vancouver Island was 8 minutes from my house, it didn’t make sense to fly my colleague out for it. Thank you for hosting Bunzl Canada BCH Innovation Show! Making the smarter choice for the planet matters. I can’t say I love the lighting of tradeshows but I do love meeting people within the industry who need help with anything related to composting. I was able to help attendees understand the difference between compostable certifications, labelling guidelines (or lack thereof), where they can recycle cooking oil, how to connect with the government for organic facility funding within indigenous-owned lands, and so much more. The last (almost) 5 years I have expanded way beyond what my job title or description laid out for me. It’s because I truly care and want to see composting initiatives grow locally and beyond. Please reach out if you ever have compost questions. I’m not an expert but I am a generalist and a connector. I’d love to help 💚✨🪱 📸: Chloe Morgan-Van Hemmen (she/her) thanks for the photo and being a great booth neighbour! #compost #compostables #makeconpostingsecondnature #VictoriaBC #vancouverisland

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in the Improving the Circularity of Compostables and Compost Future Search Event, in Denver CO. It was incredible to witness everyone from different sectors of the industry come together, find common ground and create action plans for the future of sustainability. I’ve spent the weekend reflecting on the work we did, and want to highlight some of my personal key takeaways: 🌿Connections: “There is more that unites us than divides us” Everyone has a deep and meaningful connection to our soils. I had the privilege of witnessing these connections during one of our activities. Whether it be through attending summer camp, helping your relative in the garden, or simply just playing outside as a kid, our roots (no pun intended) all tie back to the land and the soil. Let’s use our shared experiences to unite and drive our path towards a sustainable future forward. 🐛Responsibility: “We are responsible for our waste” There has been a fracture in our collective mindset, and as humans, we have forgotten that we are responsible for our waste. More often than not, we view our waste as someone else’s problem to take care of. Once it goes in the bin, we no longer view it as our own. As a collective, we need to alter this perception and place a higher responsibility on ourselves as individuals when it comes to what we put into the waste stream. 🌈Education: “Education is key” With proper education, from young to old, we can clean up our waste streams. Making education more accessible through resource toolkits, legislative mandates in public schools and education funding is at the foundation of how we solve most of our challenges. Especially when it comes to contamination. 🪴Opportunities: “We are all capable of change” With many challenges comes many opportunities for growth. Through proper legislation, education, funding, standardization, accessibility, harmony and collaboration, we can reduce contamination, improve compost infrastructure and heal our soils. I’ll be honest, at times the task of creating a more sustainable future can feel daunting or overwhelming, even for an optimist such as myself. But the Improving the Circularity of Compostables and Compost Future Search event left me feeling hopeful, inspired and in awe of how powerful we are when we join forces. Thank you to Susan Thoman and Janet Thoman for making this event possible. Thank you to Candy Castellanos, GPCC, MSOD, Arielle T. Sullivan, MSOD and the logistics team for developing an intentional agenda that allowed us to create plans of action. And of course, thank you to Gary Bilbro and the EcoSafe Zero Waste team for providing me with opportunities to participate in events like this!