Category Archives: Biogas

NEW Bonds are here!

The NEW ZooShare bonds are here with holiday cheer!

When we sold out of bonds in March, demand kept growing, so ZooShare developed a plan to offer new bonds that will earn 5% each year for 5 years.

These bonds have no construction risk: They will be held in an escrow account until after the biogas plant is built and will be used to repay the construction loan provided by our technology supplier.

Originally we had intended to borrow these funds from a commercial lender, however, due to overwhelming demand for ZooShare bonds and our preference to borrow from our supporters, we have decided to issue another $2.2M worth of bonds.

Click here to learn more and invest.

If you have any questions, we would be happy to chat. We can be reached at 647-704-6078 Monday to Friday 10am-6pm.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season!

Daniel, Frances & the whole ZooShare Team

Blog: Election Countdown:

election-countdown

The longest federal election campaign in recent history is coming to an end. We are now less than 2 weeks away from ushering in a new government, and advance polls begin this week. Unfortunately, the topic of the environment hasn’t received sufficient attention, so we haven’t heard a lot about strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or develop more renewable energy–including innovative and impactful solutions such as biogas. The Globe Debates didn’t shed any light on the political future of the renewables industry: “As the fastest-growing sector in Canada, it can’t be ignored, yet we didn’t hear details about a renewable path,” said representatives from the David Suzuki Foundation. One reason for this may be that the production of electricity is a provincial issue, not a federal one–but that being said–the environment (read: climate change and climate change solutions) is a growing concern among Canadians, and the topic seems to have been underestimated–at least initially–by party leaders and their teams.

When the election campaign first took off in August, Huffington Post Canada readers expressed that “the environment was at the top of their list” of campaign issues, and in early September, a survey of CBC’s Vote Compass users confirmed that the topic of the environment ranked second only to the economy, above health, accountability and even taxes! Despite the public’s interest in hearing about the environment, the economy has dominated discussions, and, as pointed out by the CBC, “the environment and climate change were reduced to fine print”. An article in Macleans echoed the sentiment, stating that “as party leaders make speech after speech promising millions for this and millions for that, even the global threat of climate change warrants barely a mention…The silence is deafening from all three major parties.” Indeed, continuing into October, The National Post wrote “If voters were hoping this election campaign would provide a stirring debate on the issue of climate change, with clear options from all the parties on how to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in the most cost-effective way, they will no doubt be disappointed. The parties have instead indulged in the usual finger-pointing and vows to do better, while failing to produce convincing plans to meet our international commitments.”

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris around the corner in November, it’s a surprise there hasn’t been a more concerted effort on behalf of the parties to communicate a strong message on what they think Canada’s position on climate change should be–especially since their current plans on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are essentially the same. As pointed out by The National Post, “There is in fact little difference between the policies on offer from the three main parties: all would largely leave the task of emissions reduction to the provinces.” That being said, The NDP is the only party to pitch an actual action plan on climate change ahead of the election. Will we hear more about a path for renewable energy alternatives as the election comes to a close? Your guess is as good as mine. For now, here’s what the parties have promised regarding the environment:

The Conservatives would:
• Lower GHG emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• Move to a low-carbon economy by 2050 and eliminate use of fossil fuels by the end of the century.
• Buy international credits to get to its greenhouse gas emissions goal.
• Reduce methane leaks from the oil and gas sector, capping emissions from the fertilizer and chemical producers and from natural-gas fired electricity.
• Approve the Enbridge Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline.
• Support both the proposed TransCanada Energy East project, and TransCanada Keystone XL oilsands pipeline.
• Protect Canada’s environment by promoting hunting, angling, and snowmobiling tourism.
• Pay $200 million over two years for Environmental projects such as cleaning up federal contaminated sites and protecting species at risk.

The Liberals would:
• Partner with provinces and territories to establish national emissions-reduction targets and provide funding to create the provincial strategies, including carbon-pricing systems.
• Invest $200 million a year to develop clean technologies in forestry, fisheries, mining, energy and farming.
• Put another $100 million into organizations that promote clean technology firms.
• Continue to oppose the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline; but support Energy East and Keystone XL pipelines.
• Phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
• Put a moratorium on tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia.
• Reinstate $40 million cut from the ocean science and monitoring program at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
• Increase protected marine and coastal areas to five per cent from 1.3 per cent by 2017, and to 10 per cent by 2020.
• Along with the U.S. and Mexico, develop a North American clean energy and environmental agreement.

The NDP would:
• Lower GHG emissions to 34 per cent below 1990 levels by 2025-2030.
• Create a cap-and-trade system with a market price on carbon emissions; revenue from cap-and-trade would be invested in a greener energy sector in regions where dollars are generated.
• Redirect $1 billion a year from fossil fuel subsidies to investment in the clean energy sector.
• Introduce the Climate Change Accountability Act to ensure that Canada meets its long-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent below that of 1990 levels by the year 2050.
• Invest in Sustainable Development Technology Canada – including wind, hydro, solar and geothermal technologies.
• Work with provinces to create a new fund to help Canadians retrofit their homes and offices to save energy and money.
• Would oppose the Keystone XL pipeline and the Northern Gateway pipeline (it initially supported concept of west-east pipeline, but says Energy East can’t be approved without more stringent environmental review process).
• Is promising that Canada will become “the global leader in the fight against climate change”.

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The Greens would:
• Reduce emissions 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025 and 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, becoming carbon-neutral by 2100.
• Eliminate all fossil-fuel subsidies to industry.
• Bring in a $30/tonne price on carbon.
• Oppose “any and all” pipeline plans.
• Introduce carbon pricing through a fee-and-dividend system to reduce fossil fuel use and encourage private sector investment in green tech, clean energy and green jobs.
• Refine capacity to process the oil Canada already produces.
• Accelerate construction of green infrastructure, ensuring a majority of Canada’s energy needs come from renewable sources by 2025.
• Work with the provinces to ensure no new coal-fired electrical generation plants are built in Canada.
• Legislate a ban on super tankers on British Columbia’s coast and impose a moratorium on drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• Produce stronger environmental assessment laws to help defend coastal communities from risky pipeline and tanker schemes.
• Repeal the Conservative omnibus security legislation.

The Bloc Quebecois would:
• Reduce dependency on oil.
• Make banks and oil companies pay more tax.
• Invest $40 billion in green technologies.
• Tighten security measures surrounding the rail transport of hazardous materials.
• Promote transportation electrification.
• Increase funding for greener residential, commercial and industrial buildings and introducing tax incentives for installing or converting clean heating systems via geothermal energy and hydroelectricity.

References include: The Maclean’s Primer on Climate, The Toronto Star, The National Post (here’s the second of two articles), and The National Observer (here’s the second of 2 articles).

Blog: Teach your kids about Biogas!

Would you like your kids or grand-kids to learn about ZooShare in the classroom? Now’s your chance!

We have co-created a workshop with TREC Education that teaches students about the science of biogas and the value of organic waste…It’s called “Digest This!”. We would love if you could spread the word and tell the teachers in your life about it. Scroll down for details.

Click here to see or print the “Digest This!” brochure.

IMG_20141107_133424 Above: TREC Education’s Program Coordinator Abasi Sanders teaches children in Grade 2 about biogas.

In the workshop, students use common household materials to create “a stomach” to learn how our bodies are like biogas digesters. They learn how organic waste is a form of renewable energy, and how biogas technology can reduce our impact on the environment.

IMG_20141107_145353 Above: This experiment, using household ingredients, teaches children about the breakdown of waste and the concept of collecting greenhouse gases.

The workshop was developed for the Grade 7 curriculum, but can be adapted for all grades.

“We received an email from the spouse of a ZooShare member whose child was in Grade 2,” says Kelly Park, Events and Communications Manager for TREC Education. “She was excited to teach her child about ZooShare, so we adapted the workshop for a younger audience,” she says, “And they’re smarter than you think!”

One of the great things about TREC Education is that their workshops are affordable for teachers — as a charity, TREC Education receives grants, sponsorships and donations to help offer workshops at affordable rates. The first “Digest This!” workshop is only $175 and additional workshops are $135. If you’re feeling generous, you can even sponsor a workshop.

Click here to download the “Digest This!” flyer and pass it along to the teachers in your life, or email Kelly to ask how you can get the “Digest This!” workshop in your child’s classroom.

IMG_20141107_134756 Above: Students learn about the different types of biogas plants around the world.

Blog: The smell of success – Ontario biogas tours show us how it’s done

Last week, the Biogas Association held its annual conference in Hamilton, Ontario, which included a full day of touring nearby biogas plants. The purpose of the tour was to continue the up-close and personal learning that has facilitated the growth in the industry we’ve experienced to date. The conference brings together people and companies from around Ontario, across Canada, and increasingly from the US and Europe as well. The tours are the highlight of the conference for me because they provide the opportunity to see different configurations and strategies for effectively and efficiently converting organic waste into energy and fertilizer. These are the biogas plants we toured:

Toronto’s Disco Rd. green bin processing facility

Eilers Farms – the first hog farm in Ontario with a biogas plant

The Hamilton Wastewater Treatment Plant

Bio-En’s commercial biogas plant in Elmira

Municipal biogas projects have different priorities and constraints compared to farm-based projects, which are also different compared to commercial projects like ours. These factors drive design decisions. Everyone working in the sector has a different approach to creating as much energy as possible while keeping capital and operating costs low. This includes different ways of processing waste (dry vs. wet), as well as different mixing systems and tank configurations. Each approach has its merits of course, so it brings the plant owner back to assessing what the primary goal of the facility is.

It is also important to remember that biogas plants are living systems, and just as living things tend to get sick if not properly cared for, a biogas plant is no different. This doesn’t just mean keeping the machine well oiled, but maintaining a healthy diet that doesn’t change greatly from day to day or week to week. While the odd piece of cake doesn’t hurt, like us, biogas plants won’t be too productive after gorging on certain foods. Just like us, biogas plants have to watch their intake of junk food–actual junk–like plastic, metal, glass, bones and sand. These materials could break the pumps and mixers that keep the big stomach going, while the bone fragments and sand (collectively known as grit) can settle on the digester floor, slowly reducing the digestion capacity over time.

$The light fraction of contaminants - plastic bags$

The light fraction of contaminants – plastic bags

$Grit and the heavy fraction of contaminants in Toronto's curbside organics$

Grit and the heavy fraction of contaminants in Toronto’s curbside organics

The biogas tours continue to show me how important it is to design care right into the plant itself. Recipe planning is essential, but also being flexible enough to handle shifts in the recipe. Purchasing sufficient pre-processing equipment to remove as much junk as possible is essential, but having a maintenance plan aimed at minimizing digester downtime is just as important. Without this care and attention to detail, plant performance will suffer, which means more downtime and ultimately reduced profitability.

Just like our bodies, biogas plants work best when the health of their digestive system is at its peak. Should we get sick, a few days off typically resolves the issue. This is where the analogy of a human stomach versus a biogas plant tends to diverge –- a biogas plant cannot take a few days off: Waste management companies and municipalities need somewhere to drop off their waste, because the waste never stops…They would have to deliver it somewhere else–probably less sustainable and more expensive. The biogas plant needs to run with minimal down-time, and to ensure this, it is equipped with multiple redundancies and tested on an ongoing basis, allowing it to be fed 24/7. This satisfies the needs of waste producers, waste haulers and ultimately the people of Ontario consuming the green energy.

All of these lessons have permeated ZooShare’s plans and designs over the years – our focus from the start has been to learn from what is being done around us as the industry grows and evolves. Our biogas plant is essentially a hybrid of the smaller farm-based systems and the larger commercial ones, giving us plenty of examples to draw from to ensure that our gut is healthy and the feeding never needs to stop.

Bonus! Learn what happens to Toronto’s Green Bin Waste

One of the stops on the biogas tour was at Toronto’s Disco Road Green Bin Processing Facility. As many of our members live and work in Toronto, we wanted to share the journey of these organics:

Once the trucks empty the green bin at the curb each week, the waste stream is taken to a transfer station, where all of it is transferred from the smaller trucks making the pick-ups to larger transport trucks. These larger trucks bring the organics to one of two digester projects located within the City, either to Disco Road (near the airport), or the Dufferin Transfer Station (located near Dufferin and the 401).

Upon arrival, the mixture of organics, plastic bags, diapers and everything else that ends up there begins the process by getting tipped onto a big concrete floor in a sealed building.

Toronto’s green bin waste begins its journey from waste to biogas

From here it is loaded onto conveyors by a front-end loader. It is then mixed into large receptacles known as hydro-pulpers, which are used to separate the organic portion from the plastics/metals/other portion. The light and heavy waste products, which collectively make up 19.5% of the total volume entering the facility, are separated here. The remaining mixture is then pumped into centrifuges, which are used to remove the grit (sand, broken glass, broken bones, etc) – collectively totalling another 1.5% of the total volume of material that enters the facility.

All the grit removed from the waste prior to digestion

All together, Disco Rd receives 300 metric tonnes of material per day. After the contaminants have all been removed, the material is then pumped into the digestion tanks, of which there are 2 with capacity of 5,300 m3 each. Digestion occurs over a period of 17/18 days, at which point the facility is left with biogas and digestate. The liquid digestate is reused in the process, while the solid digestate is loaded onto trucks to be taken to a compost facility north of the City for ‘finishing’. Unfortunately, the biogas is currently being flared (burned to neutralize its impact, but not used for energy), however, there are plans to begin generating power in 2017 that will be used to run the facility and adjacent public works yard. All of this is controlled by a computer system, which is monitored 24/7 both onsite and remotely via cell phones.

Blog: Member Spotlight: Don Ross

Don grew up in North Western Ontario where the outdoors was his playground; As a pilot, he witnessed the sky being used as a garbage dump; Last year, he and his wife Heather only threw out 3 bags of garbage.

When did you become passionate about the environment?

There isn’t a particular moment that I can say I became passionate about the environment, it’s been a part of my life since I was young. I grew up in North Western Ontario, the outdoors were my playground: Fly-fishing in the rivers, camping in the woods, playing in the snow…It gave me respect for the power of nature…And if anybody has ever gone winter camping in Canada…it certainly teaches you to respect the power of nature!

In high school one of the class projects was doing a documentary about what was important to you. Mine was an exposé about the pulp and paper mills that I grew up around in Fort William. I put it to music and tried to show how we were using the sky as a garbage dump, pumping all this pollution up into the sky. Not too long after I finished high school, I got my aviation licence: Flying around Thunder Bay, I saw a many factories and mills that reinforced my view that we were treating our air and atmosphere like a garbage dump. It made a very strong impact on me.

If I had to pick a particular moment when I became more involved as an adult, it would be around the turn of the century: Prince Edward County was going to be first County in Ontario to have wind-farms, and having lived there since 1980, we certainly knew we had a tremendous wind resource here! The people that were opposed to the wind farms were getting a lot more attention than those in favour, so I founded Citizens Advocating for Renewable Energy (CARE), which gave a voice to the silent majority who supported wind power.

In 2005 my wife Heather and I were some of the first in Ontario to receive the Renewable Energy Standard Offer [the predecessor to the Micro-fit program] in which people were given the opportunity to sell power to the grid. With Bullfrog Power we paid a small premium in order to source our energy from wind and small run-of-river (hydro) projects. We put solar panels on our roof and added more panels after the Micro-fit Program came in. Together, with the solar hot-water we added, it made us more conscious of the power we were consuming and how it was being produced.

Around that same time, An Inconvenient Truth came out, and that’s also when our 1st grandchild was born…That was my driving force from that point on…When you have grandchildren, that changes everything. I always visualize my grandchildren being my age, 60, what kind of world will we have for them? We have to do things that will make it a better world for them and for their parents.

Why did you decide to invest in ZooShare?

ZooShare fits with what we think is right. We feel like we have to set an example, and leading by example is the best way. I think it was Ghandi who said “be the change you want to see in the world”. If you want something to happen, it’s you who has to make it happen. Rather than just wishing things were different, make them different.

For us, ZooShare was a perfect way to get involved, we really love the idea of making use of waste products. Our society needs to manage our waste better, what better way than making clean electricity from it?

7% is a wonderful, very attractive return on our investment, so for people that are more focused on the financial benefits, you can make some green for yourself while producing green energy. For us it wasn’t as much about the return as much as it was about being a part of an innovative, creative and positive environmental project with high-visibility: We like that [the ZooShare biogas plant] will be in a public place (at the Zoo) where millions of people will see how energy is produced. It will trigger thoughts about how energy is made and consumed. Now, I don’t think energy production is something that most people think about, we all take it for granted.

We were also very attracted by the teaching element of ZooShare. I know we’ll be taking our grandkids to the Zoo again, and we’ll be able to point to the plant and say, “we helped to make that happen” and “we can make the world a better place”.

Finally, we were very impressed with the professionalism of the team and how our questions were answered. We had the good fortune of knowing Petra [who sits on the ZooShare board] and Daniel [ZooShare’s Executive Director] was wonderful in answering the questions we had. We would recommend to anybody that they get involved in ZooShare and buy bonds.

What are some conservation projects you think other ZooShare supporters would be interested in?

Water conservation is very important to us. I helped start County Sustainability Group. Every year we raise awareness about water conservation through the sale of rain barrels, which coincides with World Water Day. Rain barrels create an opportunity for people to think about where water comes from, and what an important, scarce, and rare resource water is and that we really need to treat it with respect. We use the proceeds from the sale of rain barrels towards a bursary for students in Prince Edward County who show an interest in studying environmental sustainability.

Heather and I have always been thrifty, not wasteful…One day, on garbage pick up day, we suddenly realized how many bags of garbage people were putting out…We couldn’t remember the last time we did that, so we decided to keep track…It was quite amazing: we only put out 6 bags for the whole year! So I wrote a column about that for the County Weekly News and challenged people to reduce their garbage by 50%. That year we reduced our own waste from 6 bags to 3. We do that by practicing ‘Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rethink’. ‘Refuse’ and ‘Rethink’ are the ‘silent Rs’: ‘Refuse’ is to be a smarter consumer: consuming less is the very first step. You have to decide between wants and needs. ‘Rethink’ is to think about everything you’re doing and try to find a better way to do it. It’s never being satisfied that you’re doing the best you can, because there’s always a way to do it better.

Another area that I think a lot of people could think about doing to take better care of the planet–and themselves– is gardening. When you think about our parents during the war, everybody had gardens, it was essential, there’s no reason why anybody who owns property could not have a garden of some size, shape or form. Since I’ve retired I’ve ben carving up my lawn and using more and more garden space and growing our own food. It’s better for you, and it’s an amazing way to keep yourself in good condition, you know where your food is coming from, and you reduce your carbon footprint (instead of buying food that is being transporting from everywhere around the world, you’re going out to your backyard). There’s instant gratification in having your own garden because you can pick it and cook it fresh right away. It also increases your own food security, knowing you can grow it and store it and have it there when you need it. You can also support your local organic growers and farmers, CSAs and community gardens, and advocate for bees and pollinators that are being devastated by neonics.

Gardening is also a great tool for the next generation. it’s a skill that kind of got lost after our grandparents, but when kids see it, they are amazingly interested in how things grow. There’s nothing better than taking my grandkids to the garden. In our generation, people have a consciousness of what we are leaving behind…it makes your decisions easier, it makes you think, “it’s not about me it’s the people who follow us”.

About ZooShare

The ZooShare biogas plant will recycle manure from the Toronto Zoo and food waste from Canada’s largest grocery chain into renewable power for the Ontario grid. This process will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of removing 2,100 cars from the road each year, and will return valuable nutrients to the soil in the form of a high-quality fertilizer. To build this project, we are selling bonds that earn a return of 7% each year for 7 years.

If you are a ZooShare member interested in being profiled for our Member Spotlight, please email Frances for details.

Blog: Member Spotlight: Denice Wilkins

Denice-Wilkins-and-John-Wilson_IMG_0815
Denice and John at ZooShare’s “Thanks A Million!” party October 2014.

ZooShare Investor Denice Wilkins is a lifelong environmentalist, protector of turtle eggs (ask her about Turtle ICUs) and even owns an organic blueberry farm in Tweed, Ontario. Denice and her husband, John Wilson, built and designed their passive-solar home.

When did you become passionate about the environment?

“You’d think Detroit would be a weird place to become so interested in nature, but you don’t have to live in the country to become passionate about the environment,” Denice points out. The Michigan-native founded a neighbourhood environmental club at the age of 10, in which duties included: alleyway trash pick-ups and stuffing neighbours’ mailboxes at dawn with messages like ‘Keep America Beautiful’, written in red and blue. She and her friends even wrote to the Governor of Michigan and told him about their environmental concerns “and he wrote back!” exclaims Denice. Meanwhile, in Quebec, Denice’s future husband (John Wilson, pictured above) was catching frogs and snakes and appreciating nature “the country-way”. While Denice went on to get a degree in Environmental Education, John became a wildlife photographer and cinematographer. “He shot his first wildlife film in The Galapagos, during an 8-month motorcycle trip through South America,” Denice reveals. The pair even made films together in Iceland and South Africa.

detroit_skyline_from_windsor_quote

Why did you decide to invest in ZooShare?

“We always wanted to invest in socially responsible investments, and so when I heard about ZooShare and the idea of ‘impact investing’, I really loved it because we didn’t want to profit from things we think are wrong: tobacco, nuclear missiles, etc…” laughs Denice. “And responsible investing is about the environment, social justice, gender equality…[Those concepts] are a part of our lives, our careers, our passions…and so ZooShare fits beautifully into that…It all weaves together…I’m very passionate and concerned about the state of the planet, from extinction to climate change to the myriad of problems that are impacting the planet right now…And I really believe in the power of one: The power of one person to make a difference, and the power that one idea can have to inspire a group of people to make a larger change…When you feel so powerless…It’s easy to become apathetic and say ‘there’s nothing we can do…we’re on the Titanic and it’s going down’, but investing in ZooShare is a way to do something, and that just helps me feel a little bit better about things.”

About-ZooShare_Goup-Photo_IMG_0841

What are some conservation projects you think other ZooShare supporters would be interested in?

Denice’s husband, John, was really ahead of the curve when he designed their passive-solar home 35 years ago: “He was an early adopter of energy efficiency,” explains Denice: “The house is oriented to the south, with lots of large windows to let the light in. The windows on the North side are smaller and fewer. We only have one level that is above ground and the rest of the house is below ground, which keeps the house insulated. On a sunny day we don’t need any heat source on at all…Until the sun goes down, then we start our wood stove…We’re not off the grid, but we have a solar hot-water heater, and our home is Bullfrog powered.

(Flikr Photo Credit)

Denice and her husband also own Wilson’s Organic Blueberries, an acre and a half farm in Tweed, Ontario, where people can pick their own organic blueberries (July through August). “We also help pick blueberries for people who don’t want to pick their own,” mentions Denice.

In addition to being a member of ZooShare, Denice has another special connection to the Zoo: “One cool thing I didn’t mention is that I am on the board of the Quinte Field Naturalists, and one day we received a package from the Zoo about their turtle conservation efforts. We worked with the Toronto Zoo to put a turtle nesting beach on my property.” Denice learned about Turtle Nest Protectors, simple contraptions that prevent rapidly growing raccoon and skunk populations from devouring turtle eggs, which are in decline due to habitat loss. Although Turtle Nest Protectors are easy to make, Denice recognized that most people wouldn’t bother making them, “so we sell them inexpensively,” she adds: “Turtle Nest Protector is a boring name, I prefer ‘Turtle ICU: Incubation Care Unit.”

“Turtles are very site-loyal,” Denice explains, “if a turtle nested in your yard last year, it will probably come back. And please help a turtle across the road! The ones that are killed on the road are generally females going out in search of a place to nest. If it’s safe and you can pull off the road, help the turtle go in the direction it was heading.”

You can read more about Denice’s Turtle Initiatives here.

About ZooShare

If you are a ZooShare member interested in being profiled for our Member Spotlight, please email Frances for details.

Blog: 3 ways to watch your “waste-line” in 2015

organicsCampaign

What a way to start 2015! On January 1st, Metro Vancouver made it illegal to dump food waste in landfills. Vancouver is leading the country by example: “We encourage food scraps recycling because it’s the right thing to do, it takes waste out of our landfills, it reduces our methane contributions, and it creates compost and bioenergy.” says the City of Vancouver website.

We’re excited to hear that Toronto is currently undertaking a long term waste management strategy for the next 30-50 years: “Development of the strategy will consider options which support waste reduction, re-use, recycling and recovery before final disposal,” says Annette Synowiec, Manager of Waste Management at the City of Toronto. You can learn more, share your thoughts, and get involved by clicking here.

In the meantime, it’s important to make sure that we each watch our own “waste-line” in 2015…And just to be clear, we’re not talking about shedding pounds or body sculpting! CBC recently reported that “more than $31 billion worth of food is wasted every year, and as tempting as it might be to blame waste on farms, supermarkets and restaurants, the reality is that most food waste is produced by you and me. Canadian households are accountable for almost 50% of that food waste:

Why? Well, you’re not the only one who buys fruits and veggies with the ‘best of intentions’ (which become mush at the back of your fridge). There is some “guilt relief” by putting that liquified spinach in the green bin, but let’s talk about ways we could prevent “veggie liquefaction” in the first place. Here are 3 ways to watch your “waste-line” in 2015:

1. Buy Less!

In the average Canadian household, one in four produce items gets thrown out¹. As the price of food continues to rise (35% in the last decade) wasted food starts to look more and more like wasted money–as it should. Are you part of a one or two person household? Do you have a Costco membership? Please don’t buy that 6-pack of romaine lettuce! Not only is fresh produce more expensive at Costco, but do you really need six heads of lettuce? Or a huge box or oranges? Yes, it might seem like a good deal, but it’s not if you’re throwing half of it away. “We didn’t renew our bulk shopping membership a couple of years ago,”says Annette Synowiec, Manager of Waste Management Planning at the City of Toronto. “I take stock of what I have in my pantry, and I’ve made a conscious effort to do small-scale grocery shopping…It saves me so much money.”

Be honest with yourself: Do I really have the time or appetite to eat all that food?

bigstock-Full-shopping-grocery-cart-in-50236352

2. Preserve!

So you’ve bought less food, but what do you do with it once it’s in your house? Yes, you eat it. But how do you make that food last longer? “By learning preserving techniques you can learn how to keep that food,” says Toronto’s Joel MacCharles, founder of wellpreserved.ca. In a compelling TED TALK about food preservation, Joel explains that “if you can boil water, you can preserve food.” An even easier technique includes using your fridge effectively. But if you’re not big on glass jars or fridge organization, perhaps paper sounds more appealing to you? Fenugreen FreshPaper helps your fruit and veggies last 2-4 times longer: Their paper is infused with a special blend of organic spices with anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. ZooShare supporters get 20% off FreshPaper by using the discount code SHAREFRESH at checkout.

3. Watch This!

“Just Eat It” is a documentary about food waste by Vancouver filmmakers Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin. We had the privilege of watching this film at Hot Docs last year. Now it’s streaming for FREE online thanks to B.C.’s Knowledge Network. Watch it now!

Join us on Facebook and Twitter for more food-saving tips!

About ZooShare:
The ZooShare biogas plant will recycle manure from the Toronto Zoo and food waste from Canada’s largest grocery chain into renewable power for the Ontario grid. This process will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of removing 2,100 cars from the road each year, and will return valuable nutrients to the soil in the form of a high-quality fertilizer. To build this project, we are selling bonds that earn a return of 7% each year for 7 years.

REFERENCES

1. “Five Ways to End Food Waste” by David Suzuki’s Queen’s of Green
2. “27 Billion” Revisited: The Cost of Canada’s Annual Food Waste by Dr. Martin V. Gooch, Dr. Abdel Felfel and Caroline Glasbey. December 2014.

Blog: How “natural” is natural gas?

Since the late ‘90s, the word “natural” has been permeating the marketplace. Everything from fresh produce, to shampoo to artificially flavoured junk food has been branded as “natural”.

This label of course, is linked to the idea of promoting and living a healthier lifestyle, it is implied that “natural” is better for you, and “natural” is better for the environment. (The less chemicals, colouring and hormones, the better!)

In light of this new slant on the definition of “natural”, it’s interesting to contemplate why natural gas doesn’t seem more contradictory. As a fossil fuel that releases harmful emissions and greenhouse gasses, it certainly isn’t good for our health, or the health of the environment.

While natural gas may not conform to our newly formed consumer definition of “natural”, it is natural by the traditional definition of “made by nature”.

Thanks to the death and decay of millions of prehistoric animals and plants that were exposed to intense heat and pressure in the bowels of the Earth, we now have fossil fuels. Fossils fuels include crude oil, (a.k.a. petroleum) coal (which we just said goodbye to, here in Ontario) and, of course, natural gas.

Despite being a fossil fuel, natural gas is often seen clean energy alternative. Why? It burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels, “releasing lower levels of harmful emissions such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides”[1].

Like biogas, natural gas is composed of methane. Methane is known for its toxic effects on the environment, however, when methane is burned, it can be converted into heat or electricity and produces 30% less carbon dioxide than crude oil and 45% less than coal.

If biogas and natural gas are comprised of the same substance, what makes biogas any better than natural gas? It’s their origin. Natural gas comes from the aforementioned dead animals and plants, of which we have a limited supply, and biogas comes from our waste, which, unfortunately, seems to be a never ending supply in North America.

In addition to the controversy of natural gas coming from a limited supply of precious decayed animals, recent technological developments in the gas industry have created a new wave of controversy. Say hello to the new mining technique that extracts natural gas far below the surface of the Earth, you’ve probably heard of it: fracking.

Fracking is the mining for natural gas deep underground, where gas is stored in the pores of rocks like shale. Being able to reach and extract gas in such a way at such a level is an incredible feat of science that has revolutionized the mining industry, but not much is known about it.

Critics would be quick to point out the desperation of energy companies to find additional fossil fuels means they are ignoring the potential environmental hazards of fracking. Many consider fracking a stop-gap measure as society makes the transition to other energy sources…like biogas.

[1]Brinson, Linda C.. “Is natural gas a good source of energy?” 29 August 2012. HowStuffWorks.com. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/natural-gas-energy.htm 27 March 2014.