8/5/2024
If you are not familiar with the ongoing series of coffee houses hosted by Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES), you are missing out on some great environmental resources. Once a month, CAFES hosts an event in the Glebe Community Center. While enjoying free coffee and cookies, the coffeehouse-style encourages conversations between community members, “knowledgeable neighbours”, and impactful environmental businesses and organizations.
The theme of last week’s session was zero waste living. Valerie Leloup, co-founder and CEO of Nu Grocery started the morning off discussing how to start shopping with less waste. Nu Grocery has been a corner stone of zero waste living in Ottawa since 2017. Valerie was inspired to start this local grocer after realizing that the lack of a “One-stop-shop” was a big barrier to her low-waste lifestyle.
If you cannot visit Nu grocery at 143 Main street, Valerie gave some useful tips for living a low-waste lifestyle at home, including ditching the "three Rs" for five instead:
Finally, Valerie left off with this: Low waste living is a spectrum, you have to find where you can comfortably exist. It is not about being perfect, but with doing what you can.
Next up Caroline Wilcox from Foodsharing Ottawa showcased the work that this initiative does to decrease food waste in Ottawa. Did you know that up to 60% of food produced is wasted each year in Canada, despite being perfectly edible.
Foodsharing Ottawa wants to stop this. Their fleet of 80 volunteers collects food that has gone past is best before date and redistributes it to foodbanks and community members. They are also spearheading the great potato rescue. They received 40, 000lbs of potatoes from local farms that would otherwise be thrown out and are distributing it to people who can use it.
Other than directly saving food waste, Caroline emphasized that education can have a significant impact on saving food waste. If people know how to properly store food, it can prevent a lot of waste. Like keeping mushrooms in a paper bag, of lettuce in a humid environment.
If you are looking to volunteer, you can check out their website of visit share it don’t toss it Facebook page, where you can post if you have any food to share that you will not be able to use.
After the presentation, attendees were invited to chat with the knowledgeable neighbours and local environmental organizations. There were some great initiatives in attendance, to name a few:
If you are looking for more environmental volunteer opportunities in Ottawa, be sure to check out our directory of environmental organizations. You can also take our volunteer matching quiz to easily find where your passions meet your purpose.
Are you looking to engage with your community and attend events focused on the environment and sustainability? Check out this post for some great tips!
Read MoreA guide to finding environmental, sustainable, and green volunteer opportunities in Ottawa. Explore websites, resources, and tips to start your journey now!
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