Time to break up with your large garbage bin By Mike Layton Despite a higher cost and growing list of recyclable and compostable items that you can put in the blue and green bins, some households are holding onto their super-sized garbage bins and continue to throw away stuff they could recycle, reuse, compost, and […]

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Make informed choices when buying green By Terri Chu One great thing about living in the Annex is that there are lots of places to buy green products. (Though losing Grassroots means there are not a lot of places to refill shampoo bottles.) I find myself taking this for granted and not always carefully reading […]

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The energy lost in the pretense of plastic recycling “Why can’t they take black plastic?” asked my partner, staring at the City of Toronto recycling poster. I didn’t have an answer. The ad, which helpfully reminds Torontonians what goes in which bin, notes that all black plastics are relegated to municipal solid waste. Turns out, […]

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What the industry doesn’t tell you is that plastic doesn’t get recycled very well. By Terri Chu An attempt by Toronto city council to dispense with the 5-cent fee on plastic bags has instead resulted in the outright ban of the bags. Whether or not this will result in environmental gain is unclear, because sudden […]

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The Annex is home to a new form of green roof By Innis O’Grady It is said that a roof is often a source of untapped potential. They might be large, flat spaces but remain completely unused by its residents. The City of Toronto took note of this about two years ago when they transformed […]

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