On Trend: B.C. organizations are taking sustainability to heart

Reducing, reusing and recycling get creative as well as practical

Credit: Ocean Wise/JLGijssen

Douglas Coupland picks up marine waste along with inspiration for an art exhibit

Oceans away

One person’s trash is another person’s—art piece? Vernon muralist Michelle Loughery got 500 community members to create public art using fishing buoys salvaged by the Vancouver-based Ocean Legacy Foundation. Parts of ArtRoute Blue Buoys are on display at the Greater Vernon Museum and Archives and Caetani Cultural Centre. Plastic debris from the sea inspired Vancouver author and artist Douglas Coupland‘s Vortex installation, at the Vancouver Aquarium until May 2019.

Diversion tactics

Habitat for Humanity, the non-profit supporting affordable home ownership, keeps usable building materials out of the landfill through its ReStores. Now RecycleSmart Solutions, a Richmond-based waste management company, is helping Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver to divert materials like Styrofoam, plastics, cardboard and organics.

The write stuff

Vancouverite Shia Su likes talking garbage. She also writes about it on her blog Wasteland Rebel and now in print. Zero Waste: Simple Life Hacks to Drastically Reduce Your Trash outlines the benefits of cutting back, plus how to do it, from shopping to packaging. Local bistro Bel Café may have taken a page from Su’s book. Its two locations now pack takeaway food in reusable—and returnable—glass jars.