Airmiles “My Planet” eco Label page

 I got an email from Airmiles.ca summarizing a range of eco labels that we migh see on a day-to-day life - EnergyStar, EPEAT, WaterSense, and a whole lot more.  It’s great! You should check it out when you have time!

Déjà Poo: The Living Machine Sewage System

This eco infographic is great!  Better yet, this idea is being implemented! Published on Wired, they reported that the Port of Portland has incorporated the “Living Machine”, which uses soil and bacteria to filter out pathogens and turning wastewater into nonpotable water.  But the signature element of the system is the plant life that grows up and out of it—right into the lobby.  It’s awesome!

This is how it works:

1. toilet water goes into a septic/holding tank
2. the overflow gets pumped into “wetland” cells where water, pathogens, and biological content are absorbed by the plants
3. whatever that’s leftover is treated with UV light and sent to a storage tank
4. water in the storage tank is used in the toilet…..
5. repeat steps 1 to 4

Green Gift idea - Recycled Typewriter Cufflinks

I came across the green gift guide to father’s day on inhabitat.com, a blog with future designs/innovations including green products.  I went through the guide and am most attracted to the Recycle Typewriter Cufflinks! I like them because they’re personal and practical yet with a small environmental impact.  Do you like them?

Green Company - FROGBOX, the right way to move

If you were a student not living from home, you probably have moved several times during the duration that you’re a student.  I was personally in Kingston Ontario for about 6 years, which I moved 5 times. When I move, there are two types of moving boxes: cardboard boxes and plastic totes.  For cardboard boxes, we usually take some from grocery stores or collect used ones from the lab.  We moved so much that we know which types of boxes are sturdier than others!  Yes, those apple boxes =).  For certain items that may contain liquid (shampoo, sauces, cleaning products, …etc), we use plastic totes.  We reuse these cardboard boxes, give them away when other people need them, and we’ve recycled others when we don’t need them anymore.  We keep all plastic totes.

We try as hard as we can to not buy any boxes, and we’ve done quite well.  But wouldn’t it be nice to just rent some reusable boxes for the move?  Well, if you live in Vancouver, you’re lucky!  FROGBOX does exactly this! It’s an awesome idea and in an environmentally conscious and transient city like Vancouver, they could do quite well! The process is simple - they drop them off, you pack the boxes and move, and finally they pick up the boxes!  I would consider using it in my next move if I need more boxes!

What do you think?

Grand & Toy offers 48-hour delivery as sustainable option for Canadian businesses

Grand & Toy is a large Canadian based office supply company, very similar to Staples.  In 2008, Grand & Toy delivered 8.4 million orders to more than 200,000 customers.  Now that’s a lot of overnight deliveries!  In fact, 4500 tonnes CO2-e was emitted for the 2008 delivery, whcih is equivalent to flying from Vancovuer to Toronto 4500 times a year!  Earlier in 2009, Grand & Toy started a pilot program called “48 Hour Delivery”.  Essentially, recommending their customers to choose the 2-day delivery option, Grand & Toy is able to optimize logistics issue and be more (energy and carbon) efficient in making deliveries.  During the pilot project, Grand & Toy found that 50% of the customers would choose the 48 hour delivery option as an eco alternative.  Grand & Toy is now rolling out this program nation wide!  Personally, I am a little skpetical about the carbon savings that can be acheived, but I would love to be proven wrong and see some data in their carbon footprint for 2009!