It’s a familiar dilemma: you get to the front of the checkout line only to realize you forgot your reusable bag at home.
As single-use plastics are being phased out in Canada, the days where businesses can give you a plastic substitute are numbered.
“While you could argue that in the grand scheme of things it’s maybe a small change, I think it’s a good step in the right direction,” said Kathleen Shepherd, executive director of Environment Lethbridge, a non-profit organization working to find of ways to make Lethbridge more environmentally sustainable.
“We used to be one of the worst places in the country for the amount of trash we produced,” Shepard said. “Those numbers have come down significantly and it’s a really good success story for us in Lethbridge and we should be really proud.”
Read more: How Lethbridge’s SunRidge neighborhood pioneered sustainable living
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Chris Robinson, co-owner of health food store Purple Carrot, explains that it’s all about reusing what you already have.
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“We can buy all these amazing things to reduce our plastic waste, but there’s a lot you can use in your own home,” Robinson said.
“Before there was saran wrap, before there were Ziplock bags, we used cloth and tied it in our lunch,” Robinson said. “Fabric is great, so if you have an old sheet at home, you have old material at home, cut it up and use it.”
Robinson also suggests bringing your own containers, whether it’s a plastic cup or a clean ketchup bottle, in bulk and refillable to refill things like dry goods and cleaning products.
Bill Ramp, president of the Lethbridge Sustainable Living Association, sees waste reduction as a way of life that can positively impact the future.
“This is just one small component in a very large wave, in a very large movement,” Ramp said. “Where people start to take more control over how they work, how they live, how they consume, how they store, how they waste and how they don’t waste,” Ramp said.
And it’s not about everyone embracing full sustainability.
“There’s a phrase about zero waste that goes: We don’t need one person doing zero waste perfectly, we need a million people doing it imperfectly,” Robinson said.
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