The third annual Febreze Frenzy contest is underway and New Glasgow's A.G. Memorial School is on the leaderboard to take home the top prize.  The contest is part of TerraCycle and Febreze's innovative collection-and-recycle program...

« L’école La Perdriolle est une école qui a l’écologie à cœur! » déclare Cynthia Bilodeau, enseignante. « En effet, portant fièrement l’étendard des écoles EVB (établissements vertes Bruntland), les élèves qui y gravitent sont des habituées de l’écologie, du pacifisme, de la solidarité et de la  démocratie. » Les étudiants de cette école participent à un certain nombre d’initiatives vertes, y compris celle-ci. Pour soutenir leurs chances de gagner ce concours, ils invitent le public à apporter des gourdes-collation usagées à leur école au lieu de les jeter.

The launch of the Great St. Lawrence River Cleanup began on Saturday and kept volunteers and crews very busy, pulling everything from plastic bottles to shopping carts to half of a car out of the river along Cornwall Harbour. “What the divers are doing right now is putting the garbage into piles,” said Karen Cooper, organizer of the cleanup. “They put it all together and then they will hoist it out on July 23.” Cooper said there were about 65 people involved in the cleanup. “Jared (Baker) and his guys pulled out half a car out of the river by themselves,” said Cooper. Cooper said this year they have added recycling to the event.

That's a lot of butts. In one day, Butt Blitz 2017 collected more than 7,600 cigarette butts in Vernon's downtown core. That is more than 15 pounds of cigarette butts. Twenty three people gave up a sunny Saturday to rid the downtown core of the disgusting cigarette remnants. This was the first year Vernon has participated in the Canada-wide blitz that has collected tens of thousands of cigarette butts over the years. Organizers said the event not only cleaned up the community, but raised awareness about the toxic impact of cigarette butts and how they pollute the environment, contaminate water and soil and poison wildlife. All the butts will be sent to Terracycle for recycling and redeemed for Terracycle points. Terracycle is a Canadian company that collects hard-to-recycle items and turns them into 'green' products. Through TerraCycle’s free recycling programs, participants can earn TerraCycle points which are redeemable for charitable gifts, TerraCycle products, or a donation to a school or non-profit of your choice. “The more butts we collect the more money we earn for charity,” said Elliman. Last year, the Canada-Wide total was 122,800 butts collected. This year's goal is 200,000. Pocket ashtrays will be available for purchase by donation at the event which is being organized by A Greener Future in partnership with BrainGarden.ca.

St. Anthony’s School is competing to win a picnic table made from recycled GoGo squeeZ pouches through the inaugural “Ready, Set, GoGo” collection contest, courtesy of GoGo squeeZ, the applesauce snack brand, and recycling company TerraCycle. St. Anthony’s School is hoping to collect the most snack pouch waste, including the flexible pouches and plastic caps, before May 31. Schools earn one point for each GoGo squeeZ pouch sent to TerraCycle for recycling and one point per each vote received on the contest page during the contest period. The grand prize picnic table will be made from recycled waste collected through the GoGo squeeZ Snack Pouch Recycling Program, a free, national program operated by GoGo squeeZ and TerraCycle. “Each classroom at our school has a designated TerraCycle bin where students put all items accepted by TerraCycle” said Amanda Saxton, teacher at St. Anthony’s School. “Green Team members empty the bins periodically into a larger bin and then waste is sorted monthly and shipped.” The GoGo squeeZ Snack Pouch Recycling Program recently hit a nationwide milestone of over 315,000 units collected and nearly $7,000 dollars raised for charity. “We would love to win this contest because our school has been involved in Terracycle for a number of years,” Saxton continues. “It would be very rewarding for students to see firsthand an example of a product that can be created from the items we've been collecting for years.” The program is an ongoing activity, open to any individual, family, school or community group. For each piece of waste sent in using a pre-paid shipping label, participants earn points that can be translated into charitable prizes or cash donations to the school or charity of their choice. To learn more about the program, visit www.terracycle.ca/en-CA/brigades/snack-pouch-brigade.

A Mississauga school is recycling to win a garden and cash for charity, and students need your help. St. Jude’s Academy, a private school for junior kindergarten to Grade 12, is in the Meadowvale area on Torquay Mews. The school is on the national leaderboard to win the top prize of a garden made from 100 per cent recycled material through the third-annual Febreze Frenzy recycling contest. This year's contest is the biggest in TerraCycle Canada’s history, with $8,650 of charity donations being shared among the top ten winners. Participants must send in as many units of air and home care waste, such as trigger heads from spray bottles, as possible before May 31. Two points are awarded for each item sent to TerraCycle. The contest is part of TerraCycle and Febreze's air and home care recycling program. The free, national initiative allows for any brand of air-freshener cartridge or home-cleaning packaging to be recycled. Anyone in Canada can sign up to take part.

Rochelle Archibald is the founder and executive director at A Greener Future, an organization that is all about picking up junk for cleaner waterways and lakes.

Rochelle is the quintessential example of somebody who turned her hobby into a business or, in her case, a not-for-profit. Even on trips for work in her previous employment, Rochelle would spend her free time picking up litter and post the cleanup results on social media where she received support and encouragement. Eventually, when her work contract came to an end, Rochelle decided to follow her passion for cleaning up into an not-for-profit adventure instead. Soon enough, A Greener Future gained sponsors and became incorporated, growing well enough to gain cleanup projects in Portugal, Spain, The Bahamas, The United States and, of course, Canada. We’ve also created two flagship events that help define what A Greener Future is all about. We recently ran our third annual Butt Blitz, which is a Canada-wide cigarette butt cleanup. We have volunteer coordinators in cities coast to coast that rally volunteers to pick up butts, counting as they go, and then send them all into TerraCycle to be recycled. This year we picked up a staggering 186,000 cigarette butts and handed out 520 pocket ashtrays! By cleaning up butts already on the ground and raising awareness of the damage they cause we hope that eventually smokers will realize the environmental and health concerns related to cigarette butt litter.

Following Earth Week, my children and I enjoyed doing plenty of fun activities that enabled hands-on learning about ways to be more green and the effects it will have on our planet. Recently, we sat together on a wobbly tree log in the middle of a local conservation trail where we have our daily walks, and then I remembered a quote that has always affected me but particularly in that moment as I sat watching my children collect rocks and sticks, basking in all the natural beauty:

We do not Inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow It from our children.

Realizing that it really is less complicated than we may think to be more green, I’ve compiled a list of 30 simple ways to help lead a more sustainable lifestyle.  After all, every day should be Earth Day.

30 Simple Ways to Lead a More Sustainable Life

(#14) Buy recycled pencils for the kids.  Smencils (gourmet scented recycled pencils) is a favourite in our home.  TerraCycle®, a recycling program partnered with Staples Canada is also a fantastic initiative! They provide a second life for used writing instruments and all you need to do is save your used writing instruments and recycle them at your nearest Staples store.  Learn more here: https://www.terracycle.ca.  

The Butt Blitz of 2017 is underway and downtown businesses are chipping in. The Butt Blitz aims to remove the thousands of cigarette butts that are thrown onto downtown Barrie streets every day by having folks put them in one of the 23 cigarette containers throughout the area. A press conference was organized by the Downtown Barrie BIA Thursday at ZuZu Fashion Boutique. ZuZu owner Tracey Baker was excited to be a part of the campaign to clean up downtown as her shop has been a mainstay for the last two years at 25 Dunlop Street East. Not only a member of the Downtown Barrie BIA, Baker is also very conscience of the environment and wants the city to be a leader in that concern. “This an environmental issue that maybe people don’t think about too often,” said Baker. “4.5 trillion butts are discarded annually on our planet and the majority of those end up in lakes and streams. One cigarette butt in one litre of water can kill one fish. That’s horrifying when you look at the numbers that are polluting the waters, and we are Barrie, we’re known for our beautiful bay.” The campaign was spearheaded by A Greener Future which is a Canadian environmentally-directed non-profit that creates events to help clean up the planet. The Butt Blitz is a nationwide event and Barrie’s leg starts May 6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. where Baker has asked shop-owners and anyone in downtown to clean up the space around them and put the butts in plastic bags where they’ll be picked up near the end of the day. While the Blitz takes place Saturday, Baker reminds everyone they can start now and keep going always. “The Terracycle receptacles are up and will be emptied periodically from now till forever,” said Baker. “When they’re emptied they are sent to Terracycle where the butts are actually recycled into making shipping pallets. It’s a great way to not just keep the city clean but also the environment. We’ve already seen that it works as we have had three full bags already. Approximately 750 butts per bag multiply that by the 23 containers and we are really making a dent in the waste.” The city of Barrie purchased the 23 containers and the BIA installed them. Tom Ambreau is with the BIA and loves that the city has taken a course of action to help the environment. Ambreau also stresses the other obvious reason to clean up the butts as beautifying the city is important too. “The environmental concern is key here and we have to take care of our future,” said Ambreau. "But another factor is the mess. How many times do you walk downtown and see all the cigarette butts lying around and hate the mess? With our patio season coming, it will be nice to get the area totally ready for hanging out and enjoying our downtown.” People can head over to ZuZu’z today to pick up the items needed for Saturday’s But Blitz. For more information on the campaign, check the website. For more information on the Butt Blitz and where you can find the receptacles, check the Downtown Barrie BIA website.

Volunteers are coming together to clean up the streets in the Butt Blitz. This is the first year Vernon will be participating in the Canada wide initiative to clean up communities and raise awareness about the impact of cigarette butts. “They pollute our environment, contaminate water and soil, poison wildlife and children and start a large number of wildfires. All of these things cost millions of taxpayer dollars to mitigate,” said Jack Elliman, a local organizer. The event starts in the park next to the Greyhound depot at 10 a.m. and end at 4:20 p.m. at the skateboard park at Polson Park. “As we move along we will be counting the butts we collect and announcing the grand gross total at the end of the day,” said Elliman. “All of the collected butts will then be sent to Terracycle for recycling and redeemed for Terracycle points. The more butts we collect the more money we earn for charity.” The event is organized by A Greener Future in partnership with www.BrainGarden.ca