A Greener Future

Say hello to Lindsey and The Refill Bar! This woman-owned business in Downtown Guelph is one to add to your list if you're looking to explore a unique approach refill. This shop offers all the comforts and friendliness of your neighbourhood bar, with so much space to learn and explore zero waste options with guided support from Lindsey and her staff. Have you been worried about making the transition to low or zero waste? We get it, it can be really intimidating. There's often a very specific aesthetic associated with the zero waste lifestyle that can feel exclusive. But if we've accomplished anything this #PlasticFreeJuly, it's showing you that this isn't the case. The Refill Bar offers a full hands-off service approach, where they fill your containers while you relax while perusing the rest of store, of even sit at the bar and enjoy a glass of live kombucha! You can find The Refill Bar at 34 Quebec St, Guelph, ON N1H 2T4. __ #lowwaste #zerowaste #smallbusiness #guelph #ontario #canada #summer #refill #community #womanowned

We’re thrilled to announce that A Greener Future has received a generous Capital Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to support our Nurdle Hunt program, and our innovative new project – The Nurdle Net! There’s much more to come in discussing this project and how you can get involved during the Nurdle Hunt season, so keep an eye out! 👀 We wanted to thank the Ontario Trillium Foundation for this fantastic opportunity and investment in our organisation and this project. We also want to thank MPP Christine Hogarth for her tremendous enthusiasm for this project and cause, and for taking the time to meet with us to learn about the Nurdle Net, the Nurdle Hunt program, and our organisation. This video was filmed at Marie Curtis Park in Etobicoke Lakeshore. Marie Curtis Park beach has one of the highest concentrations of nurdle in the GTA, so much so that just walking along the beach, you can find nurdle sitting on the surface of the sand. Nurdles are incredibly harmful to the environment, to wildlife, and to our drinking water. MPP Hogarth shared our concern upon learning about the extent of the problem, and was encouraged by our awareness about and commitment to resolving the problem through our organisational efforts. The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Ontario government with a mission to build healthy and vibrant communities across the province. Last year, OTF invested more than $110M into 1,044 community projects and multi-sector partnerships. Projects aim to enhance economic well-being, foster more active lifestyles, support child and youth development, provide spaces for people to come together and connect, and create a more sustainable environment. Visit otf.ca to learn more. Check the link in our bio to learn more about the grant and OTF’s efforts to support community sustainability efforts across the province –– https://lnkd.in/e2ttCYsP 🔗 ____ #sustainability #climatechange #ontario #canada #nurdlehunt #nurdles #plasticpollution #protectourlakes #greatlakes

18 Waits is a Toronto-based lifestyle brand that was established by Daniel Torjman in 2008. You can find this incredible business at 990 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H1. This brand offers honest, clean, rugged clothing that aims to be timeless, well-fitting, and made to last. Their motto, Wear Well, Enjoy, Love, Destroy, is a testament to their attitude about clothing, style, and the fast fashion industry. 18 Waits is a brand that prides itself on producing clothing that is locally manufactured and accessories that are hand-made. This commitment to an authentic connection to what they offer stands out against brands who generally seek to follow trends. 🌱 They encourage their customers to buy less and buy better, and to commit to conscious consumption. 👖 They are committed to small batch production, avoiding overproduction and excessive waste. "What’s upsetting is the fact that we’re not only seeing these trends with final consumers/end users, but the actual brands and manufacturers are regularly, and knowingly, overproducing products and disposing the leftovers themselves at the end of every season." – Daniel Torjman 🌾 They place a high value on using majority natural materials, sourcing organic fabrics as much as possible. This differentiates them from the trend towards plastic textiles across the fashion world. 🌎️ They're overarching business practices, material and design choices, and commitments to local, encourage a deeper connection to the community around them and with the variety of customers that come into their store. When you shop 18 Waits, you're shopping with a brand that offer more than high quality classic pieces. You're supporting an independent brands that seeking to make a difference and is deeply connected to what they do and offer. If you haven't had a chance to check them out, we really encourage you to! ___ #sustainablefashion #community #local #toronto #organicmaterials #naturalmaterials #microplastics

💚360 Eco Market💚 is a women-owned small business in Oshawa that strives to provide earth-conscious low and zero-waste options for Durham residents. They "aim to make it easy for Durham residents to reduce their household waste and reliance on single use plastics by providing refillable and zero waste products for their homes." Zero waste can feel exclusive or unattainable in certain contexts, dictated by certain aesthetics. But at 360 Eco Market, Brianne and Irania, really try to encourage moving away from that mindset. As long as your containers are clean, you can reuse anything to hold the refill products available at their store. They're also passionate about community-based impact🫶🏼 Supporting small businesses like theirs encourages less overall climatic impact. By supporting a small business in your community over shopping from a big corporation, you're reinvesting in your community, and supporting a meaningful intervention in the climate crisis. Shopping local means less waste overall, from the shipping of your products to the store, to the packing it comes in, to the means of transportation you take to get to the store. From personal care to household cleaning products to zero waste wares, they offer a variety products that will support your transition to a zero-waste lifestyle. Check out their store at 81 Bond St W in Oshawa, ON, to learn more about their business and the approach they're taking to address the crisis of consumption and waste in their region! 🌳🏘️ Stay curious, be open to learning, and invite innovative change into your life this #PlasticFreeJuly! __ #zerowaste #lowwaste #earth #consciousconsumption #communityimpact #climatechange #smallbusiness #oshawa #durham #canada #ontario

Dive in Saturday July 20 for a unique opportunity to participate in trash trapping! Learn how our researchers divert litter from Lake Ontario and learn their methods to characterize both large and small items collected by trash traps. Be sure to stick around for the sister event, Lakeside Litter, and meet other organizations making a difference on our waterfront! RSVP now at https://lnkd.in/gkqzPmnT This event supports the Floatable Waste Collaborative Action in Lake Ontario and Toronto’s Inner Harbour project collaboratively delivered by ourselves along with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) Swim Drink Fish Canada and A Greener Future This important work also contributes to the Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy, a collaborative strategy to reduce plastic pollution and other floating litter in the harbour. It is led in partnership with ourselves along with PortsToronto Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) Swim Drink Fish Canada City of Toronto The Waterfront BIA Harbourfront Centre Waterfront Toronto. #PlasticPollution #Toronto #TorontoWaterfront #LakeOntario #FightingFloatablesTO

#PlasticFreeJuly is all about learning, discussing, and exploring new alternatives to cut the excess plastic out of our lives. So, let's talk about refill shops and why they're so important to community and the planet. Tag your favourite low waste/zero-waste shops in the comments! __ #zerowaste #plasticfree #nomoreplastic #plasticpollution #community #shoplocal #supportsmallbusinesses

In “Convenience Culture is Actually Really Inconvenient,” we talked about the way that overconsumption of fashion has encouraged brands to invest less in the materials they use to make their garments. Generally, this means more fabric blends and synthetic fabrics overall. Maybe that’s good news for your wallet, but it’s bad bad news for the planet. Did you know that 60% of the garments available on the market today are made with plastic textiles? We’re talking about polyester, acrylic, nylon, and spandex (to name a few). Of course, cost and manufacturing isn’t the only reason brands opt for synthetic materials. They can also serve a purpose relative to garment construction (ex. athletic clothing being soft, flexible, and form fitting). You can’t achieve everything with natural fibres. However, the problem is that these synthetic fibres, regardless of their purpose in the garment, will shed millions of tiny #microplastic fibres into our water just through laundering. These plastic fibres are so small, that our municipal level filtration systems are ill-equipped to filter them out, so these #microplastics end up in our environment, our drinking water, and beyond. The other component is that general #overconsumption of #fastfashion. The reality is that on average, in the Western world, we buy WAY TOO MUCH. According to Statistics #Canada, in 2023 the average Canadian spent approximately $300 a month on clothing. Can you believe that? When you look at your closet, can you honestly say that you wear everything you own? Have you ever impulse purchased clothing? Have you ever bought clothing for a single occasion and never worn it again? The truth is that fast fashion is often more affordable and offers the opportunity for the average consumer to get more for less, but do we need more? Keeping up with trends at this rate is costing us money and the planet. Fashion is only fast when we cycle through things at a faster rate than they can be enjoyed. We’re not saying don’t shop fast fashion. We’re saying slow down, appreciate the clothing you have, and consider the impact of overconsumption and the waste we don’t see. __ #sustainablefashion #consumerculture

Join us for a Plastic-Free July Talk & Cleanup on Burlington Beach! Date: July 9th Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Here's what to expect: 🗣️ 1:00 PM - 1:25 PM: Educational Talk by Asha Bajaj from A Greener Future on Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes 🌊 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM: Burlington Beach Litter Clean Up! 📸 3:00 PM: Group photo, final remarks, and sorting of collected litter #PlasticFreeJuly #CleanUp #BurlingtonBeach #AGreenerFuture #BurlingtonGreen

#PlasticFreeJuly is such an important time of year for organisations like ours. Year after year, we've committed our efforts to removing (primarily) plastic litter from our environment all over the Great Lakes Region. We've had countless conversations with our volunteers about the consequences of plastic pollution on the great lakes, wildlife, and humans. We've celebrated huge milestones, like collecting and recycling 1 Million cigarette butts. But the reality, is that there's always more to do and learn. This month we're covering a few important topics under the plastic pollution umbrella: 👚 Microplastics in fashion 🫙 Refill-based, plastic-free shopping 🧠 The plastic-free mindset Curious to learn more? Keep an eye out for our content over this month. We're collaborating with a variety of amazing brands and businesses to raise awareness about these topics, and to provide opportunities for learning and discussion. We're so excited! What does plastic free july mean to you? What kinds of commitments are you making this month around learning and taking action? As always, check out our Volunteer Events pages to see what events are happening throughout the month of July! Link in bio🔗 __ #plasticfreejuly #plasticpollution #education #activism #littercleanups #refill #plasticfree #sustainablefashion #microplastics #socialchange #mindset

Happy Plastic Free July! We’re so excited for this month of exciting partnerships, content, and events. But before we get too into it, let’s go over everything we accomplished in June 2024. ⁠ ⁠ We’re still behind our midpoint totals, but we’re quickly picking up steam! ⁠ ⁠ Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far:⁠ ⁠ 🌸 115,309/400,00 Pieces of Litter ⁠ ⁠ 📍64/100 Unique Locations ⁠ ⁠ 🌳 532/2000 Volunteers ⁠ ⁠ 🏔️ 12/30 Corporate Cleanups ⁠ ⁠ 🌈 86/150 Total Cleanups⁠ ⁠ We’ve loved meeting new faces and cleaning new places, so we’re really looking forward to building our impact even more through the month of July. ⁠ ⁠ Haven’t had a chance to participate in our Love Your Lakes cleanups yet? No worries! We’ve got over 35 events planning for July already. Check out our Volunteer Events page to learn more and register – link in our bio! 🔗⁠ _⁠ #june #ontario #canada #summer #plasticpollution #nomoreplastic #earth #loveyourlakes #greatlakes #volunteer #sustainability #plasticeducation ⁠