Not sure what to do with your old mattress, furniture, appliances, or other large items, like carpets? 

First, consider donating usable items to those in need. Many local secondhand shops, such as The Salvation Army and Value Village, accept furniture items, and you can also visit toronto.ca/reuseit for a list of organizations that accept donations.

If your items can't be donated to those in need, the City of Toronto's garbage collectors will pick up these large items for free, provided you live somewhere with curbside pickup. 

However, foam and polyester pillows can be placed straight in your household or building garbage bin. 

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Bad things happen when the wrong items and recycling get together!

In fact, if you put items in your recycling bin that shouldn’t go there, it all goes to the landfill.

These items are a no-no for the blue bin: 

• Textiles (that includes things like pants, sweaters, curtains, towels, bed sheets, and fabric scraps) 
• String
• Hoses
• Black coffee cup lids
• Batteries
• Shoes
• Black plastic takeout containers
• Needles and pins

For more detailed information, you can refer to the City of Toronto's Waste Wizard tool. 

Everything you use or consume has to be made or grown, and this all takes energy. 

To create energy, we burn fossil fuels that emit carbon or other gases. Carbon is the most common, but there’s also methane and nitrous oxide, which deliver 25 and 300 times more warming potential than carbon, respectively (wow!).

A “carbon footprint” is actually the sum of all the gases emitted to create an item, which is why it’s referred to as a “carbon dioxide equivalent” (CO2e). Everything you do has a carbon footprint!

The carbon footprint of an item includes everything that is required to produce that product: the materials used to make it (including the transportation of those materials to the factory), the making of the item at the factory, transportation of the finished good to the store (where you will then buy it), and what happens to that item once you’re done with it (reuse, recycle, or landfill). 

Everything has a carbon footprint, and it all adds up!

In the coming weeks, we’ll share information about the carbon footprints of some common items. Determining the carbon footprint of an item is complex, so the numbers will only be approximations. 

However, these facts will give you an idea of the environmental impact of common items and help you make decisions about your daily habits or which items to buy at the grocery store.

And why should we care about choosing items with lower carbon footprints? 

Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which leads to global warming and climate change. Selecting items with lower carbon footprints can help fight climate change!

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While well-intentioned, our eagerness to start doing better can sometimes lead to wasteful behaviors. And remember: waste is one of the natural enemies of sustainability!

Whether you’re a small business owner looking to make your business more sustainable or an individual trying to be more environmentally conscious, you can have a big positive impact by using what you already have. 

One common mistake that people make when trying to improve their sustainability is to throw out or otherwise waste the products they already have. 

For example, people may dispose of plastic single-use pens without using them, throw out plastic-packaged foods, or bag up all their fast-fashion clothes.

Many individuals and businesses feel this pressure to ditch their current, less sustainable products and run out and buy fancy new products that are marketed as more sustainable alternatives to what they already own. 

They might feel like they have to go out and drop $100 on a fancy, top-of-the-line glass container set or feel pressured to go on a shopping spree at this season’s most popular eco-conscious fashion brand.

But before you throw away what you already own to “upgrade” it to something else, ask yourself: Is this really necessary? Do I really need this new item? 

In spite of marketing tactics and social pressure that might tell us otherwise, the products we already own are often still perfectly capable of serving their intended purpose or can be useful in another way.

So, first and foremost, use up what you already have before making any low-waste or eco-conscious swaps.
And if you do decide to upgrade an item, just remember to do so as responsibly as possible. 

For example, if the item is still usable, you can benefit others in your community by donating it to a local charity or other cause (such as our REmarket event). 

If it’s entirely unusable, try to find a way to recycle the item, whether that’s through your city’s recycling program or a private operation, like Terracycle’s many programs. 
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The first step to creating a more sustainable world is REthinking what we do and how we do them, and learning to use and appreciate what you already have can be a great first step on this path.

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By Katelyn Marie Poyntz

​What do you end up throwing out the most? Start keeping track of your food
​waste habits to help identify what you can do differently to make a positive impact.

Together, we can help keep usable produce out of the trash!

*This post is based on content originally posted on Wylderr.

Here are some tips: 
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• Buy nonperishable items in larger sizes to reduce packaging (e.g., buying 24 rolls of toilet paper vs. eight or a big jug of laundry detergent instead of a small one). You’ll most likely get better unit pricing too.
• Buy fewer items of better quality (e.g., buy one sustainably produced sweater vs. five cheaper ones that will wear out quickly). Consider sustainable and ethically sourced materials, and support local businesses.
• Make a reusable swap (e.g., use a refillable water bottle, get your morning coffee in a reusable mug/thermos, bring your own container when getting takeout food, or bring your own reusable produce bags to the grocery store).
• Buy naked vegetables (e.g., buy field cucumbers instead of plastic-wrapped ones, and choose bulk mushrooms, carrots, and onions instead of packaged ones).