The Claim Supporters of “upcycling”— turning garbage into funky purses, photo frames, jewelry, and more—say it’s a great way to minimize what’s going into our mountainous landfills. But just how truly green is this practice? The Investigation One company that’s been making waves in the world of upcycling is TerraCycle. Partenered with such big businesses […] More »

In which the author finds his lefty credentials sorely tested by one malodorous cat It’s hard enough to be a socially progressive, left-leaning, anti-globalization, conscientious sort in this world, but to be a socially progressive, left-leaning, anti-globalization, conscientious sort and be mildly inconvenienced? It’s too much to bear. As I write this, Toronto is several […] More »

You know it’s wrong to toss your e-waste in the trash but you also know that too often e-waste ends up in a country like India or China, where labourers are exposed to toxic fumes and cancer-causing dioxins as they strip down old electronics, and discarded heavy metals end up contaminating local soil and water. […] More »

The Claim DivaCup is a reusable, silicone menstrual cup that claims to be an “environmentally responsible” product that is the “most clean and convenient method of feminine hygiene protection.” But how green can the manmade silicone product be? The Investigation DivaCup, like other brands of reusable menstrual cups, works by collecting menstrual flow in a […] More »

The buzzword around Toronto for the past two weeks has been “garbage.” The garbage that is pilling up around public canisters into miniature CN Towers. The garbage that is filling parks and arenas a quarter full arousing smells and attracting pests to local neighbors. And the garbage Torontonians left behind after the celebratory mess of […] More »

I grew up in Saskatchewan, so I’m not accustomed to being on the receiving end of the country’s resentment of Toronto. For this reason, I never thought I’d publicly acknowledge, let alone write about, problems created by the ongoing garbage workers’ strike. But the strike did get me thinking about new work applying “social proof” […] More »

As tourism grows in Ontario’s Niagara Region, with new hotels and casinos built each year, so does the amount of garbage. According to Walker Industries, which operates one of the region’s landfill sites, almost three-quarters of all garbage comes from commercial and industrial establishments. In 2002, residential waste weighed in at 110,000 tons, while industrial […] More »