What+we've+done+in+2012...so+far

What we’ve done in 2012…so far! Who knew that Mr. Fernandes going through a garbage can in our room would be the start of a fantastic environmental project? All we could think about on that February afternoon was ....ewwww, and why was Mrs. Rego o.k. with her classroom turning into a dump. Alright, so maybe no garbage was being thrown on the floor but it was being examined piece by piece. That's when the first question was asked. "Whose garbage is this?" Oh yeah, it was ours. And with that the race to zero waste began.

 We investigated different packaged products and wondered why some companies used so much excess packaging. In order to find out, we wrote letters, letters and more letters. Mr. Fernandes told us to persevere if we didn't hear back and to make sure we questioned the replies we were given. Both Mrs. Rego and Mr. Fernandes are keeping track of the replies we get and helping us edit our letters in true zero waste fashion (by email!) Tea companies and popcorn makers told us they needed plastic to keep their products fresh. So we tested it out, and found that yes it WAS important to keep the popcorn fresh. Tea, we're still not as convinced about.

 We've heard from many experts. Mr. Fernandes has talked to environmental experts from Recyling Council of Ontario, The Toronto Environmental Alliance and the City of Toronto. We've also had presentations given to us by Andrew Telfer from Walmart on March 8, 2012 and Walter Kraus from Weston Bakeries on March 19, we learned many new things and heard about some great initiatives. We understand that in the end businesses need to make a profit to survive (it's a line in our play) but it's clear that there are many concerned environmentalists in the business world like Andrew and Walter. We heard about Walmart's scorecards system where they rank a package and if they don't like the packaging they try and get the company to change. Walter told us about Loblaws getting their vegetables shipped in reusable plastic crates instead of boxes which end up being a one time use. This sounds like a great idea. Our next guest speaker was Robert from Harmony Organics. They sell milk in refillable glass bottles. Cool!

 So what's next? Oh a whole lot more. We've been practising our Zero Waste play What a lot of Garbage. Our display boards for our big environmental extravaganza event on Friday, April 27 are in process. Invitations have been sent to various important people. We've contacted MPPs, MPs, city councillors and even the Minister of the Environment and Minister of Education. We also have contacted environmental groups and school board personnel. Our event is going to be massive. Loads of media releases have gone out. We know the way to get people to learn about our topic is by having the media publicize it.

 Finally there's our website. We've made some great pics and done some shared writing with VOICE. As soon as the current version of our website is up and running, we'll tweet the address out there to you all!

 Oh yeah, there's one more small thing to tell you about. We're going to be dumping a days worth of garbage and recycling all over the gym floor. Don't worry, we have permission. Then we'll see what waste we're making to try and help us get to ZERO waste! Wednesdays in April, we're going to help everyone move to zero waste by doing one simple thing - playing hide and seek with the school garbage cans. We'll hide them and you can seek them (or find them) again on Thursday morning!

 We're in the race to zero waste and we hope you'll join our mission. Be a Zero. Be a Hero. Join the Race...to Zero Waste!