As we enter the holiday season, many of us will be visiting the local mall, Lansdowne Place, to do our holiday shopping. As one of the largest and busiest shopping centres in the area, you might be surprised to learn that Lansdowne Place is a community leader in energy efficiency. Lansdowne Place has been recognized locally and nationally for its commitment to sustainability. Mall managers have implemented a number of retrofit projects, some receiving funding from Peterborough Distribution Inc.’s (PDI) Save On Energy incentives.  Lansdowne Place is also committed to increasing waste diversion rates. The installation of a smart irrigation system helps the mall to save water, and an on-site food digester collects the coffee grounds from Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s, which are used to make nutrient-rich soil. Instead of being deposited into the garbage, the mall saves these coffee grounds for weekly pick up by Regional Organics, a recycler located east of Lindsay. Every year, Regional Organics transports 32 tonnes of grounds from the mall and uses this waste to make a soil mix. Even cigarette waste is redirected from a landfill. Cigarette butts are collected and shipped to the recycling company, Terracycle, where they are recycled into a variety of industrial products such as plastic pallets, while any remaining tobacco is composted.

A TV show mentions TerraCycle Canada's cigarette recycling program. The episode is about people highlighting innovative recycling initiatives from their region of Canada.

This month, TerraCycle celebrates the important milestone of a decade Eliminating the Idea of Waste through free recycling programs and custom recycling solutions in Canada. Since opening in 2006, TerraCycle Canada has engaged two million people to recycle, diverting 150 million units of difficult-to-recycle waste from landfills and raising over $400,000 for charity.

Did you know you could recycle used pens, pencils and markers? Two Oshawa boys have set up Operation Eco-Pen with drop boxes set up across the region. Luke Nguyen, 10, says he and his brother Derek, 12, saw their mom collecting used pens and thought they’d get more people on board.

An environmental organization installed 30 bins in the Village and in Old Montreal last month designed for smokers to throw out their cigarette butts -- which are then recycled. Every week, the Zero Butts Action Society collects the cigarette butts from the bins and ships them to TerraCycle to transform them.

Here's how it works: every week SAESEM collects the butts from the bins and ships them to TerraCycle, a company near Toronto that does the recycling. There, paper, ash and tobacco get turned into compost while the plastic in the filters gets mixed with other recycled plastic and made into new products.

TerraCycle, a company near Toronto that does the recycling. There, paper, ash and tobacco get turned into compost while the plastic in the filters gets mixed with other recycled plastic and made into new products.

TerraCycle, a company near Toronto that does the recycling. There, paper, ash and tobacco get turned into compost while the plastic in the filters gets mixed with other recycled plastic and made into new products.