Here’s an unusual business model: Encourage customers to copy your product and make more.   Bags by U is a youth group that sells fabric grocery bags and beeswax wraps — and helps people make their own. Its goal is to keep single-use plastics out of the ocean, and all of its proceeds go to environmental education and charity.   “The public should use them for reducing our single-use plastic and trash to reduce climate change and global warming,” says Sophia Morris, 14, who started Bags by U last year. “The true reason why I do it is because there are so many animals dying every year from water pollution, air pollution — all the pollution you can think of. It’s really sad.”   You can buy the produce bags and wax wraps online at rycyclebags.com or at The Recology Store, which has locations in Shoreline, Burien, Issaquah and Bothell. Beeswax wraps are $5 each, and bags are $8 each or 4 for $24. Bags by U also holds events where the kids bring sewing machines and people can make everything for free. Or go to BagsbyU.weebly.com for YouTube tutorials on how to make your own.   “It only turns out that we sell them because demand is high and not everyone wants to make them,” says RyAnn Morris, Sophia’s mom.   After coming up with the idea of making bags, Sophia and her mom took sewing classes and her grandmother bought her a sewing machine. Now Bags by U has two groups: The Burien group meets at her house, and there’s another group that meets at Queen Anne’s Cascade Parent Partnership, where she takes classes with other homeschooled kids.   “We started making them because I was inspired to try to get our family to be zero-waste and produce less trash in general,” Sophia says. “It was a step in stopping plastic pollution and getting a more healthy environment.”   The kids are using the money they raise to go on a Salish Sea expedition, and donating the remainder to The Ocean Cleanup.   Another big part of Bags by U is education. The kids make presentations about why environmental sustainability is important and teach people how to recycle properly.   “We’ll play a game,” Sophia says. “We’ll say, ‘Where do you think this goes?’ ” Start with a big pile of trash, and sort it into four piles: compost, recycling, TerraCycle and landfill.   The Bags by U kids also took a field trip to PCC Community Markets to see how they could shop zero-waste. They walked through all the departments of the grocery store with their own jars and bags to refill, and explored eco-friendlier alternatives like bar shampoo.   RyAnn and Sophia went through their whole house to figure out how to reduce their waste. They only use vinegar and baking soda to clean. When they’re out and about, they bring their own water bottles, coffee cups, bamboo silverware and of course, their own bags.

Now more than ever, it’s important to protect and preserve the environment with a cleaner, greener lifestyle. It’s as important to protect and preserve our skin. These products help you do both.

“I always have a pet peeve of when I watch period dramas where there’s never a hair out of place,” Jodie Comer said brightly, calling from a picturesque corner of France. It was exactly three weeks ago, and the 27-year-old had just wrapped another day on the set of The Last Duel, Ridley Scott’s upcoming project centered around a 14th-century clash, co-starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver. “In those days, everything was a little bit more elaborate, but my character is very much a country girl,” Comer said, describing her on-camera coiffure—less labored-over than lived-in. “We’ve got all the lovely wispy bits. The ‘controlled mess,’ as we like to call it.”   Just days later—as the world took its own medieval turn, grappling with the newly declared pandemic—things felt decidedly less controlled. The film went on hiatus. Stores and restaurants shut their doors. Comer returned to England, to hibernate like the rest of us. But the actor’s work is not entirely on pause. Killing Eve, the cat-and-mouse series that she headlines alongside Sandra Oh, returns to BBC America ahead of schedule on April 12, to satisfy a newly captive audience. And today, Comer claims a new job title: global ambassador for the skin-care brand Noble Panacea.   “I’ve never imagined myself in this position,” Comer said, still marveling at the role. Since the line’s soft launch last fall, followed by a rollout via Net-a-Porter, Noble Panacea has proven to be an unconventional entry in the luxury beauty space, driven by science and sustainability. At the heart of the company’s formulations is a patented molecular framework—based on Nobel Prize–winning research by founder Sir Fraser Stoddart—that facilitates time-released delivery of active ingredients.   “They stand by what they say, and the proof is there,” Comer said, recommending her own secret weapon, the Overnight Recharge Cream: “You put it on, and you start the day off with a glow already.” It anchors the four-piece Brilliant Collection, geared toward a younger audience. The Absolute Collection, meanwhile, promises regeneration and extra nourishment for mature skin.   If the delivery system turns heads on the microscopic level, the more noticeable novelty is the packaging: single-serving sachets no bigger than a poker chip. The discs come with a collection envelope to facilitate easy return to Terracycle. “It’s a very conscious beauty approach,” added Comer, increasingly mindful of the way “we just consume, consume, consume.” It’s also convenient for frequent travelers—once we’re free to wander beyond our own homes again.   “I don’t know if you’re familiar with Liverpool, where I’m from, but Liverpool is the city of glam,” Comer said, explaining her introduction to beauty—the maximalist kind. She described the teenage ritual of getting a “curly blow” at the hairdresser’s, complete with round-brush styling and all-day rollers that “you take out at the last minute so your hair stays in longer.” She laughed at the memory of it all: the eyebrows that were “super heavily drawn on,” the big smoky eye, the obligatory contour. “I look back at pictures of myself, and I’m like, ‘Whoa!’” she said. “I respect my parents for just letting me get on with it!”   Season 3 of Killing Eve promises another take on all-out makeup: full clown regalia. “We shot that in Barcelona, so you can imagine the heat,” Comer said, joking about the hardship of giant floppy shoes. “I was kind of trying not to be a miserable clown through the whole couple of days that we shot that one—similar to Villanelle,” she said of her assassin character, who toggles between fearsome and impetuous. Comer posted a sneak peek of the clown makeup on Instagram, where—also like her alter-ego—she keeps her private life under wraps. “So much of what I do is so out there,” explained the actor, whose face is splashed across the April cover of British Vogue.   Maintaining social-media distancing is one way of setting boundaries—an ability she has come to admire in the “wickedly funny” Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who defined Killing Eve as the first season’s writer and showrunner. (In a twist, Waller-Bridge is set to turn up onscreen this season, playing a Villanelle victim.) “For me, Phoebe represents confidence, and I think that is incredibly attractive in a person,” Comer said, giving a shoutout as well to the London facialist they share, Jasmina Vico. Even with a skin-care hookup, it helps to have a professional look after one's complexion for the big screen.   That moment is slated to arrive with this summer's Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds. “They are both incredibly fun and calm and nurturing,” Comer said of her introduction to the fast-paced action genre—challenging for the stunt work as well as the choreography. “You have to film things in sections,” she said, “so it’s stopping at points and then making sure that you pick up with the same energy.” That skill—to pause for an undetermined stretch of time and someday restart again—has never felt more necessary. In the meantime, a skin-care regimen that takes things day by day, with enough glow to wow a Zoom audience, is one way to see us through.

Many of us are familiar with recycling. Children are taught the three R’s in school, we ask “Where’s your recycling?” when visiting friends, and participate in municipal programs in an effort to prevent litter, save resources, and help the environment.   Recycling is an impactful habit that makes a difference every day. The challenge is that standard curbside recycling programs are incredibly confusing. What is accepted varies from region to region (even town to town!), very few items are accepted, and sources say much of what we try to recycle through standard programs nowadays gets tossed in the trash anyway.   Why are there so many obstacles to our items being recycled, and what can be done to ensure more products and packaging aren’t thrown “away” to landfills (essentially, land sites where garbage is dumped or buried) or incinerators (where garbage goes to burn)?   What is recycling?   For starters, let’s define what recycling actually is: the collection of discarded items (also known as “waste”) and their transformation into material for new products. Recycling reduces the use of new, “virgin” material and the need to extract additional resources from the earth.   There are many ways to use resources instead of throwing them away. However, unlike waste to energy (using discards as a fuel source for heat or electricity) or upcycling (changing the function of an item without breaking it down, also known as “creative reuse”), recycling breaks down recovered material to build it back into something entirely new. It’s kind of magical!   So, what’s the problem?   There are key ingredients to the magic of recycling that are essential to its success, and if one is missing, it falls apart. Even if something is technically recyclable (more on this shortly!), there are several steps between it being tossed and it being transformed into a new product.   Aluminum, for example, is endlessly recyclable with strong demand all over the world. However, when it comes to plastic, companies often go for new over recycled. That’s because oil is currently cheap, and recycling costs more money to collect, transport, sort, and process into a reusable form.   Generally, if these costs are greater than what a material can be profitably sold for (this is the case with most plastics today), it is considered non-recyclable. Above all, recycling is a function of supply, so if manufacturers aren’t buying recycled materials to produce new items, there is no end-market for the material, and public recycling programs for said materials don’t exist.   This has come into even sharper focus with the recent tariffs on foreign garbage in China and other South Asian countries, covered extensively in mainstream news. Western regions such as the United States had long been sending our recyclables to those countries to supply their manufacturing, and now that they aren’t buying, our “recyclables” have nowhere to go!   As a result, public recycling is a bit of a mess. Single-stream recycling programs (where all recyclables — paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum — are collected in one bin instead of separated) cause cross-contamination, and good-intentioned residents often resort to “wish-cycling” (or, aspirational recycling) because they don’t how for sure what is accepted.   Everything from car parts, bicycles, 5-gallon pails, garden hoses, working smartphones and laptops, even an actual German Enigma machine from World War II, have been extracted from recycling lines as a result of poor separation, another key ingredient to effective recycling.   Discouraged, confused, and, to no fault of their own, generally uninformed about the ins and outs of recycling, people all around the world say they recycle, and yet, the US recycling rate remains stagnant at 35 percent, reflecting a lack of participation in existing programs.   What can I do to recycle more?   Public recycling is economically motivated, so most common items don’t belong in your blue bin. However, TerraCycle® proves that everything is technically recyclable, including candy and snack wrappers, plastic packaging, shoes, razor blades, and old and broken toys.   Even the taboo, the “yucky,” like chewing gum, dirty diapers, and cigarette butts—the most littered item in the world and one for the largest sources of ocean plastic pollution— are recycled into formats manufacturers and brands use for new production.   Recycling always comes at a cost, and public recycling is funded by taxes. The way TerraCycle works around these limitations is through partnerships with conscious companies, who create first-of-its-kind National Recycling Programs, many of which are free for consumers to use.   For products and packaging that don’t have a brand-sponsored recycling solution, the Zero Waste Box™ system has you covered. This is a convenient and all-inclusive option for households, schools, businesses, facilities, and events looking to lighten their footprint.   Simply select and order a solution based on what you want to recycle, collect, ship back to us with a prepaid return label and reorder your next Zero Waste Box system to continue to recycle everything.   It is worth repeating that the key reason TerraCycle is able to recycle almost everything is the fact that someone is willing to pay for it. More and more, the world is waking up to the fact that public recycling is on the decline, so by creating access to solutions, TerraCycle aims to show the world the magic of putting more material to good use.   Here are some additional tips on recycling correctly through your curbside program:  

• The most important aspect of recycling correctly is knowing exactly what your municipality accepts. Don’t be a “wish-cycler”! Go to your municipality’s website or call or email them to learn more.
• To find out what type of plastic a container is made of, look for the Resin Identification Code (RIC) at the bottom: a triangle made of arrows containing numbers 1 through 7. These are NOT “recycling numbers,” of which there are no such thing, and they do not equal recyclability.
• Here are some examples of items that fall into the Resin Identification Code (RIC) categories:

  #1 PET Beverage bottles and personal care packaging. Widely municipally recyclable if clear or white.           #2 HDPE Milk jugs, shower gel bottles, cream tubs. Widely municipally recyclable if clear or white.         #3 V (Vinyl) Cosmetics containers, PVC piping, protective clamshells. Not municipally recyclable.         #4 LDPE Squeeze bottles and tubes, plastic films and bags. Not municipally recyclable.         #5 PP Shampoo and conditioner bottles and product tubs. Sometimes municipally recyclable.         #6 PS “Glassware” containers or protective packaging for fragile items such as cosmetics. Not municipally recyclable without a dedicated take back program.       #7 OTHER Multimaterial packaging, flexible plastics, bioplastic and compostable plastic. Not municipally recyclable without a dedicated take back or composting program.      

• Many municipal recyclers accept #1 or #2 white or clear bottles or jars (with caps, pumps, and spouts removed), aluminum containers, and clear glass with no attachments or added plastic. Again, this varies by region, so please check with your municipality for what is accepted.
• Colored plastic and small and complex items are generally non-recyclable.
• Nearly everything not accepted can be recycled by TerraCycle through Zero Waste Box.

T he beauty industry is notorious for using attractive packaging to entice customers – a marketing ploy that doesn’t always translate to being environmentally friendly (we’re looking at you, single-use plastic). In 2020, nothing is prettier than the three Rs. Make reduce, reuse and recycle an essential part of your beauty routine by choosing products in recycled materials or in packaging that’s reusable, refillable or recyclable. In the latter case, check the official recycling guidelines in your municipality to ensure that your packaging is blue bin approved. For example, the City of Toronto, where I live, doesn’t recycle black plastic (you can also get all your recycling information in Toronto on the TOwaste app).   To reduce new plastic production, some beauty brands are making bottles out of post-consumer recycled plastic. Others are partnering up with organizations like TerraCycle to collect hard-to-recycle materials. In 2018, L’Occitane launched its recycling program, where participating boutiques collect and recycle used beauty, skincare and hair care packaging from any brand. Clarins recently added collection boxes for its used packaging to all of its Hudson’s Bay counters. Burt’s Bees, mean-while, offers prepaid mailing labels for its used products to be shipped directly to TerraCycle.   Others have embraced the circular economy, where companies take back their products after use to be reused or recycled (think old-school glass milk bottles). M.A.C, for example, rewards customers with free products when they return their primary packaging, such as foundation bottles and lipstick tubes, to the Back-to-M.A.C program. How’s that for better beauty with benefits?   When brands do their part by using earth-friendly packaging, it’s up to you to make sure that it’s disposed of properly. Take Kaia Naturals’s The Vitamin Cleanse, for example. These all-natural wipes are fully compostable, but if they’re tossed in the garbage or flushed down the drain, that bio-degradation isn’t going to happen. “If people don’t know how to deal with the end product, it won’t actually reach the objective,” says Kaia founder Mary Futher. “The manufacturer can only do so much. You have to do the rest.”  

Best Bets

Refillable: M.A.C. Loud & Clear Lipstick in Baroque The Internet, $24, maccosmetics.ca TerraCyclable: Burt’s Bees Voluminizing Mascara, $14, shoppersdrugmart.ca Reusable: Lastswab Beauty, $18, lastobject.com (Check out six ways to go eco-friendly in under 24 hours.) Some ingredients used in personal care products, such as preservatives and fragrances, have been linked to a host of negative health issues, from contact dermatitis to fertility problems. The Canadian Cancer Society reports that phthalates, found in some nail polishes and perfumes, are being studied for their potential link to cancer. That risk has led to the green beauty movement and a demand for more-natural products that contain ingredients that are easy to recognize, typically in the form of organic botanicals, such as aloe, shea butter and coconut oil.   Though buying organic was costly at one time, it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg because greater consumer demand for natural alternatives has given brands an incentive to find ways to bring prices down. “It was our goal to give women an accessible, organic cosmetic range that they can easily buy and use daily,” says Anne Requier, a skincare lab engineer at Garnier International who recently introduced the certified-organic Bio range to Canada.   At Herbal Essences, an endorsement by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the UK verifies the efficacy of the brand’s botanical ingredients, such as aloe. “Because they have the biggest plant collection in the world, they can go back and get the standard,” says Rachel Zipperian, principal scientist for Herbal Essences. “They know exactly what aloe is supposed to look like, and they’re able to confirm that the aloe we’re using is high in [anti-oxidant] polysaccharides.”   For some, the future lies in clean beauty, a term used to describe products that include synthetic ingredients that mimic natural ones but can also be more stable, sustainable and even pure because this process eliminates potential contamination from toxins, pesticides and heavy metals. One such example is squalene, which was traditionally harvested from shark livers and olives to add moisturizing benefits to skincare. The California-based brand Biossance takes a different approach thanks to parent company Amyris, which bioengineered a plant-based, stable squalene using fermented sugar cane from Brazil, a plant that requires less resources than olives. (Check out the best mini clean beauty products to test drive.)   When it comes to understanding what’s going in your body, the onus is ultimately on you. According to Health Canada’s guidelines, labelling cosmetic ingredients is important because it “helps Canadians make more informed decisions about the cosmetics they use since they are able to easily-identify ingredients they may be sensitive to.” Reading the label sounds simple enough, but is it something that most of us are doing? According to Biossance president Catherine Gore, the answer is no. “It’s not that clear that you have to,” she says.   There are resources that educate us on product ingredients, such as Clean at Sephora and Environmental Working Group, but sometimes this wealth of information can lead to confusion. To help cut through the noise, Gore and her team at Biossance launched The Clean Academy, a series of YouTube videos hosted by Queer Eye grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness. Their mission is to offer real answers to topics that confuse us most at the beauty counter. “The tricky thing is that there’s a lot of information and sometimes that can be a lot to absorb,” explains Gore. “It’s also quite complicated in terms of some of the answers. We wanted to offer a platform that helps do that in a fun and entertaining way.”  

Best Bets

Endorsed by Kew Gardens: Herbal Essences Bio Renew Potent Aloe & Hemp Shampoo and Conditioner, $8 each, herbalessences.ca EWG-Approved: Biossance Squalane + 10% Lactic Acid Resurfaving Night Serum, $82, biossance.com Certified Organic: Garnier Bio Lavandin Facial Oil, $25, walmart.ca (Check out the 12 toxic ingredients that can be found in beauty products.) Animal lovers, rejoice! Being cruelty-free is finally cool. And we have The Body Shop to thank for that. Back in 1989, it was the first global beauty company to lobby for an end to animal testing. Today, the company has been joined by many others, including makeup giant CoverGirl, which went cruelty-free in 2018. “Listening to our consumers, we started this journey with CoverGirl to demonstrate our commitment to this issue by achieving such an ambitious certification at scale,” said Camillo Pane, former chief executive officer of CoverGirl’s parent company, Coty. Broadly speaking, a cruelty-free designation means that the product was developed without any testing on animals, while vegan means that the product does not include any animal-derived ingredients.   To find out where your favourite brands stand, it’s important to do your research, as product formulation isn’t always transparent and animal testing may occur at the ingredient level. Leaping Bunny is an organization that vets beauty products for compliance at all points (CoverGirl is the largest makeup brand with Leaping Bunny’s stamp of approval). Its Cruelty-Free App makes it easy to check on the go.  

Best Bets

The Industry Giant: Covergirl Clean Fresh Skin Milk Foundation, $13, shoppersdrugmart.ca The Pioneer: The Body Shop Shea Body Butter, $21, thebodyshop.com The Makeup Maestro: Kat Von D Beauty Tattoo Liner, $27, sephora.com Now that you’ve learned about the 3Rs for beauty products, check out the sustainable wellness items our editors love.

Sir Fraser Stoddart a remporté le prix Nobel de chimie en 2016 pour ses travaux sur les molécules. Les soins Noble Panacea, The Absolute pour les peaux dévitalisées et The Brillant pour les épidermes fatigués, en sont l’application directe.

Une dose quotidienne de soin

Contenue dans des Doses Actives Individuelles, la formule intègre l’Organic Molecular Vessel : une structure moléculaire capable de protéger, puis de libérer progressivement sur la peau, jusqu’à 67 ingrédients actifs, comme dans le baume de nuit The Absolute. Et parce que “l’innovation nécessaire au progrès se doit d’être responsable”, ajoute Céline Talabaza, CEO de la marque, un partenariat avec TerraCycle, via un système d’enveloppes prépayées, a même été mis en place pour collecter les doses journalières.

When operators talk about waste, the first item that comes to mind is food. But there are plenty of other wasteful avenues anyone interested in creating a zero-waste establishment can explore. The challenge for many is knowing when and where to invest and, more often than not, they’re not seeing the whole picture, according to industry experts. “One hard idea to reconcile is operators are typically dealing with waste when it happens and factoring that into their costs,” says Josh Wolfe, corporate chef and director of Sales – Ontario for Food Service Solutions Inc. in Mississauga, Ont. “That’s a bit of a backward approach.” He likens it to the notion of defensive driving. “You can learn how to brake when sliding on ice or get out of dangerous situations. Or you can anticipate what’s around you and put your focus on keeping the right distances or slowing down when conditions are bad. If you do that, you won’t need to take corrective measures.”   Equipment can serve the same preventative purpose, he says. “There are a few processes that can come into play to help treat food differently to mitigate waste. In North America, we cook and serve and hot-hold food so it’s ready quickly. That’s outdated. Cook-chill is the way to go. It’s a much better process with the right combination of equipment.” That combination would typically include a blast chiller, vacuum sealing (to preserve food longer) and a combi and/or rapid-cook oven. “With cook-chill, you can buy large cases of proteins, apply cooking methods such as sous vide or a combi oven — both of which work hand in hand with the chiller — and finish items when ordered. You reduce waste and service time and you no longer have to pre-anticipate because you’re cooking precisely what you need.” Not only can operators reduce food waste, intelligent appliances only use energy when it’s required, he says. “They also help reduce waste through human error because they can be programmed to cook things consistently with little training.” Leaning more on technology can play an enormous role in reducing waste on many fronts, Wolfe notes. “There’s a new DRY AGER cabinet, for example, that manages its own moisture. Instead of losing 25 per cent of volume, dry-aging loses less than 10 per cent. That saves a tremendous amount of waste and increases revenues.” One other discipline chefs need to consider is quantifying their waste and its dollar value, he adds. “It’s easy to do that with labour and is measurable up front.” For Andrew Shakman, president and CEO of Leanpath in Beaverton, Ore., zero waste is all about measurement and analytics. “Historically, there’s been no easy way to measure food waste. In fact, it’s the most undermanaged part of most foodservice operations.” Leanpath’s food-waste equipment platform combines intelligent scales, cameras and touchscreen devices with cloud-based analytics and tools. “This equipment is about driving awareness and changing behaviours in kitchens. Waste reduction occurs when people are making smarter decisions on what they produce and serve. You can only do that when you operate from an informed position.” Even if you don’t look at the data, the improvement is almost immediate. “Having control-systems equipment people can see helps shape a kitchen’s culture and behaviour.” IKEA Canada began working with Leanpath’s food-waste tracking program in December 2018 as part of its global mandate to reduce food waste by 50 per cent by 2020. It reached the 31-per-cent mark within one year of implementing the program, reports Melissa Mirowski, Sustainability manager, IKEA Canada. More than 94,000 kgs. of food waste have been saved since the program started — the equivalent of approximately 200,000 meals. “With the program, we’ve been able to track all food waste in real time. The data is automatically updated onto the Leanpath platform where co-workers can see what is wasted, how much and why. The predictive reporting helps us identify ways to prevent waste through efficient meal planning and material handling. The biggest surprise was that something so simple could create such a big impact across the board.” A NEW TAKE ON DISPOSABLES Beyond food, there are other ways to keep items out of waste streams, says Chris Knight, consultant with The Fifteen Group in Toronto. “Purchasing second-hand equipment is an opportunity for restaurants to save money and be effective in their cost management. It also keeps things out of landfill and recycling plants.” Another area that is gaining momentum is biodegradable takeout packaging. “The improvements we’re seeing are unbelievable. We’re now seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of different packaging using natural products — from corn-based to hemp-based to soy — that do a good job. Even the major chains are working on making the transition to more natural packaging products. They cost more than Styrofoam or plastic, but [operators] can recoup that with a price adjustment.” For those with one-time-use objects that have no place to go, TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Boxes group in Trenton, N.J., has been running a program for hard-to-recycle items not accepted in traditional waste-management streams, explains Rhandi Goodman, global VP. Customers simply order one of its cardboard waste boxes for recycling specific items (e.g. hairnets, gloves, chip bags, plastic wrap, rigid containers, disposable cutlery, coffee cups) to be shipped to their venue. Each box includes a shipping label so it can be sent back for recycling. “Operators can pick what items they want to collect and place them in a designated area,” she says.   SMALLER IDEAS DELIVERING A BIG IMPACT Zero-waste initiatives don’t necessarily have to be on a grand scale to make a difference. Many smaller outlets, including cafés, are equally committed to reducing waste in their operations. At Golden Gecko Coffee in Toronto, Jake Healy says he’s always searching for innovative, environmentally sustainable options for his restaurant. “I find Kickstarter (a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity) useful to find innovative crowdsourcing projects,” he says. He’s always open to trying out programs focused on eliminating the use of disposable coffee cups and recently joined a pilot project with Reego, a new reusable takeout-cup concept where the café charges a one-time $5 deposit for a cup and lid that can be switched for a clean one at any other cafe participating in the program. The company claims if only one-per-cent of Toronto’s takeout coffees were served in reusable takeout containers instead of single-use disposable, more than seven-million disposable cups and lids would be kept out of landfills and oceans. Healy has also sourced a plant-based reusable HuskeeCup for in-store customers. “Reusable cups really help reduce the waste stream in the coffee industry,” he says. Christie Peters, chef/co-owner of The Hollows and Primal in Saskatoon, says she’s always had a zero-waste mindset since opening her first restaurant in 2011. Because Saskatoon didn’t have the compost or pickup systems you would typically see, “I had to come up with my own systems, working with local farmers and other partners to be able to run a no-waste operation.” She only uses biodegradable papers and napkins and harvests honey from a beehive on the restaurant’s roof. She also does whole-animal butchery, using the bones for stocks and sauces and dries and burns them for the compost. “We just got a hammer mill for grinding the bones and bloodmeals for our garden.” All equipment is second hand, including a dehydrator and “a beautiful old combi steam oven we use for canning and preserving,” she says. “We do a ton of canning, pickling, fermenting, drying, freezing and smoking.” Tables and chairs are reclaimed and refurbished pieces. “If anything breaks, we get it repaired. We don’t throw it out. The waste water from the water-cooled fridge is looped to water the patio plants. “We’re looking to push that further and put in a holding tank for flushing toilets.” Her newest project is an aquaponic system at Primal where fish fertilize greens. “People think sustainability is expensive. But the less waste you create, the more money you save. Why buy fertilizer for your garden when you can compost? Why pay for garbage pickup when you can exchange that compost with the farmers you work with? We have one dumpster for our two restaurants that gets picked up once a month. It’s never full. We’re pretty proud of that.” Written by Denise Deveau          

新时代商业文明第三辑

Scary fact #1: We dump around 2.12 billion tons of waste every year. Scary fact #2: As it stands, 75 percent of waste—including beauty products—in the U.S. is recyclable, yet only 30 percent is actually being recycled, according to the EPA. Unfortunately, your beauty routine has a major environmental impact, thanks to the overwhelming consumption of plastic and ingredients that may not be eco-friendly. Although it’s important to note that being sustainable is more than just a trend—it's the right thing to do all year long—with Earth Day coming around, there’s no better time to give your beauty routine an eco-friendly makeover. Here are five mistakes you’re probably making right now, and the appropriate solutions to fix them.

You’re not recycling your empties.

  Let’s kick it off with the most egregious beauty sin: not recycling your empties. Throwing your beauty products into the trash is a small move that has big consequences for our landmines and oceans.   The solution: Get yourself a dual compartment bin ($65; homedepot.com), that has a section for waste and another for recyclables. That way, when you go to throw any trash away, you’ll be reminded to recycle whenever possible.   If you don’t have a go-to source for dropping off your recyclables, beauty brands like Unilever have partnered up with Terracycle to collect hard-to-recycle items from around the world and convert them into consumer products. Not only will they pay for all shipping costs, they’ll also make a donation to charity for each brigade collection they receive.   Also, keep an eye out for beauty brands that offer recycling options in-house. L’Occitane has a great initiative where you can take any full-sized product from any brand to the store and it will give you 10 percent off any new full-sized product you buy that day. Origins allows you to bring back any empty Origins containers to the counter and the brand will ensure they are recycled. And Back to MAC is a program that gifts shoppers a free lipstick once they have returned six full-size empties to the store.  

2You’re buying from unsustainable brands.

  The beauty world is full of murky waters, especially when it comes to product sourcing. From vaguely worded promises to unclear labeling systems, brands that tout “cruelty-free” can have some misleading fine print.   The solution: Do your research! Ensure the brand is truly cruelty-free and against animal testing. The leaping bunny symbol is a guarantee that none of the products have been tested on animals. Sephora also has a green checkmark indicating products that are free of certain questionable and unwanted ingredients. Put down any product that contains phthalates, mercury, toluene, lead, or formaldehyde, as these chemicals are considered to be some of the most damaging to the planet.   When you’re shopping, look for sustainable beauty brands that have thoughtful packaging. Try to avoid Styrofoam, cartons, and PVCs where possible. Any packaging made with recycled material will be recyclable and likely list a disclaimer on the container. Case in point: Tata Harper‘s packaging is bottled in reusable and recyclable glass (with soy ink used for the labeling), while 85 percent of Aveda’s skincare and haircare products are made of 100 percent recycled materials.  

3You’re using disposable makeup wipes every day.

  As useful as single-use makeup wipes are, the cotton used to create makeup removal pads and buds are not biodegradable and don’t easily break down, causing too much trash to stack up in our landfills. What’s worse is that some are actually individually wrapped in plastic, doubling the amount of waste produced.   The solution: If you use a small mountain of cotton balls or wipes on the daily, consider switching to washable, reusable pads, like the Makeup Eraser Cloth ($20; sephora.com), that only require water to work. Not only will you be doing a huge favor for the environment, you also won’t have to restock as often and you’ll be saving your skin from all those harmful pesticides in regular cotton balls.  

4You’re not taking advantage of refill programs.

  Chances are you have some holy grail beauty products that you swear by—and you simply toss 'em and order another when you reach the bottom of the tube. Well, you might want to check if your favorites are refillable. More and more beauty brands are starting to offer intelligent refill systems that allow you to reuse your existing jars and containers.   The solution: Limit your packaging consumption with refillable makeup and skincare products. Myro, a chic deodorant company, has a subscription service that periodically sends you new scent cartridge refills that are ready to be popped in whenever you're running low. Rituals, an ayurveda-inspired bath and body brand, offers eco-friendly refills for their skincare and body products—just take out the bottom of the jar and replace. And Kjar Weis is a sustainable makeup brand with gorgeous compacts that can be used again and again. Simply remove the cartridge and refill with a fresh one when you hit pan.   But wait, there’s more! Loop is a program that gives customers the chance to buy products from beauty brands, like Dove, Pantene, and The Body Shop, while renting the packaging. You just pay for the contents and a deposit for the bottle and it’s delivered to your door via a carbon-neutral mode of transport. Let Loop know when you’re running low, return the empty bottle to be cleaned, and they’ll send a new product to you in reused packaging.  

5You’re a serial beauty dater.

  Every beauty lover is probably guilty of this one (myself included). Do you like to use different beauty products on rotation? From those products, do you tend to barely dip in before moving on the next one? If you’ve answered yes, you’re a serial beauty dater. This mindset feeds into the buy-and-throw-away mentality, which takes a hard toll on the environment (and your bank account).   The solution: Streamline your beauty routine! A good system to practice: Only add one new product to your routine once you’ve finished another one.   If you want to experiment, try doing it with brands that remove packaging from its products altogether. Lush, Ethique, and Love Beauty and Planet all have shampoo bars that come wrapped in recyclable paper that clean your hair without ingredients that hurt the environment when they go down the drain. Meow Meow Tweet and Davines also has a wide range of products, from bar soaps to facial products, that utilize paper tubes instead of plastic.   Now, if you do have a stash of products you just don't want anymore, lilah b. has a system that takes away your unwanted beauty goods (even if it's not theirs) for free. Just e-mail declutter@lilahbeauty.com to receive a prepaid return shipping label and ship over your unwanted stuff. They'll work with a dedicated partner to process and recycle them so you get to declutter and give back to the system.