There’s many ways to become creative about packaging to avoid filling landfills.

Pause before you leave home and prepare. Depending on where you are going, think about what you might take with you so that you don’t end up creating unnecessary waste. All we need to do is think one step ahead to be the solution.

• Many restaurants and food trucks will let you take food away in your own containers (reusable glass or steel are good choices). If you are visiting family for dinner, bring your own containers for leftovers.
• There is alternative packaging on the market which uses beeswax on cloth. It works similar to plastic wrap, but is reusable and completely compostable.
• Refuse plastic straws! Travel with and use a metal, paper, or bamboo straw if you need one.
• Always have reusable bags with you. Pop anything and everything into these, knowing that every plastic bag you avoid is one that won’t be filling up your home or the landfill.
• When it comes to toiletries and bathroom supplies, try to source refillable options – like shampoo, conditioner, and lotions. Plastic and package free products are preferable. Get creative and have fun by making your own products at home.

Shop locally at zero waste, bulk and refill stores.

How many times have you wished you could get something repaired instead of tossing it away? Perhaps it’s a tear in a garment, or a hole in a sock, a cord to a favourite appliance, or something mechanical. More than 1,653 non-profit Repair Café groups are active worldwide, helping to divert hundreds of thousands of kilograms of waste from landfills.

On average, Repair Cafés are generally held once a month in a community meeting place setting and even include mentorship on how to: sew, knit, darn, glue, solder, and make electrical repairs.

To find out when the next Repair Café near you is, visit Repair Café on Facebook or the CreativelyUnited.org event calendar and learn more about starting your own group at www.repaircafe.org/en

If you want to undertake one of the biggest challenges imaginable, try going without creating any waste for an entire year! That’s exactly what one Vancouver area couple did. Their fascinating story was made into an engaging, multi-award winning comedic documentary known as The Clean Bin Project. Another highly recommended documentary is The Story of Stuff.

Improving our quality of life means that we build awareness around our consumption and the power we wield with our dollar. Take a moment right now to think about where the things you buy come from? How far have they travelled to get to you? What kind of carbon footprint does that create? Might you be able to ship less by buying products that are made locally?

Shopping for local goods, produce and artisan products is not only kinder to the environment; it is also more generous to our local economy and community.

Do you know a farmer? Might you have a friend that is an artist? Is there a way to source what you desire directly from them?

A few ways to shop local and ship less, include shopping at farmers markets and locally owned stores, buying gifts at craft fairs and art shows, and choosing restaurants and cafes that serve locally sourced ingredients.

The shipping industry is one of the most polluting and, until now, unregulated industries in the world. Seventeen of the largest ships emit more toxic sulphur than all the cars in the world. As well, ships burn dirty fuel that emits black carbon which, in turn, accelerates ice melt. We need to consider what shipping does to our health, the Arctic, and the world.

Seablind, a powerful documentary by British Columbia filmmakers, explores these questions and the hidden costs of shipping — a massive facet of globalization that virtually all of us rely on yet few know anything about. CreativelyUnited.org proudly hosted the Canadian premiere of Seablind. See CreativelyUnited.org’s Artists as Changemakers video series to watch an interview with Victoria, B.C., filmmaker, Sarah Robertson.

By restructuring our environment in ways that sustain good behaviours and making bad behaviours inconvenient, we can break free of the constraints that limit our freedom and impede optimum health.

Observing what drives our habits is the first place to start. Could it be that our daily coffee or snack stop is driven by a need for distraction or interaction?

Be aware that every day, marketing firms are creating cravings in the hope that we respond by opening our wallets. This is why we tend to overconsume in order to solve some “problem” in our lives.

Conscious effort and awareness will help us formulate strategies for reform. For example, controlling the cues that make us reach for the phone every time it pings is one way to control this habit. Try turning your phone off, for starters, and changing up your routine. You might be surprised how much lighter and happier you feel as a result.

There’s a big difference between fair trade and free trade. It’s important to recognize that fair trade empowers, creates partnerships, improves the quality of life and creates a livable wage for individuals and businesses. Also, fair trade companies generally are conscious of their environmental impact and are most often organic and pesticide free. Although free trade can make some things cheaper to purchase, it often comes at a price to those who are the most vulnerable, such as small businesses, workers and artisans.

Look for fair trade symbols on your consumables and use your purchasing power to support local businesses and producers who use and supply fair trade products, knowing that your choices can, and do, make a difference.

Coffee can be seen as an everyday necessity that gets most people through their day. Are we really aware of the enormous impact of buying our coffee in a disposable cup each day, or even once in a while? The solutions are easy! Bring your own travel cup and make a habit of always using it. Many coffee shops will give you a small discount on your order if given a re-usable container (anywhere from 5 to 30 percent). Ask the barista for a “to stay” mug. Your coffee will stay hot, fresh, and flavourful!

• Vancouverites throw out 2.6 million paper coffee cups every week.
• Almost two billion take-out coffee cups needlessly end up in landfills each year because most Canadians have not switched to using travel cups.
• Most fast food/coffee cups are not recyclable or facilities don’t exist to recycle cups or lids.
• EACH disposable coffee cup is responsible for 0.24 lbs of carbon (C0₂) greenhouse gas emissions.

Sources: City of Vancouver, CBC, The Vancouver Sun, environmentaldefence.ca