disposing-toxic-waste / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Disposing of household waste properly - recycling, garbage & toxic materials
Kitchens

Waste management: compost and recycling

Curbside pickup of garbage, compost and recycling: To facilitate recycling and waste management, first determine just what services are available in your municipality so you can sort your waste properly. Not all collection and disposal services are the same in all regions - recycling, compost collection, toxic waste de...

Plastic in landfill
Recycled and Reclaimed Materials

Turning Waste Plastic Into useable Fuel

Though we all diligently cart our plastic to the curb for recycling, the sad reality is that only about 7% of it is commercially viable for recycling, the rest ends up as landfill. Plastic is a petroleum product that until now has been very inconsistent and unstable when returned to an oil form. Recently a North Americ...

Recycled building materials
Recycled and Reclaimed Materials

Where to buy and sell used building materials

When buildings are decommissioned there can be a lot of valuable materials that could be used again, but when buyers can’t find sellers, otherwise usable materials are being sent to a land fill. There is a growing amount of used building materials that can be found at online classified websites such as Craigslist and K...

Waste management

How to dispose of Construction waste responsibly

The best way to reduce waste is to plan ahead to keep it at a minimum; here are some suggestions on how you can do that: Design your house with reduced waste in mind by keeping the plans at sensible dimensions. If you plan lengths to be 4 and 8 foot increments instead of 5 and 9, this makes the best use of industry st...

Why a Zero Waste Lifestyle is Important
Lifestyle and environment

Next to Nothing: Why Living Zero-Waste Matters

Garbage is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions heating up the atmosphere and causing climate chaos. People generate over 3.5 million tons of solid waste every day worldwide, and the United States tops the list of trash-producing countries. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. citizens ...

Renovate, Remodel or Rebuild? How to choose which is Best for Homes
Wall assemblies - renovation

Should I be renovating my home or tearing it down & rebuilding?

Should I Renovate, Remodel or Rebuild? This very question comes up a lot for me during site consultations with clients. Some people buy an old home, maybe inherit an old home, or are just tired of living in an old home and aren’t sure of the best course of action. We toil over the same decision with old cars; sometimes...

Sorting home recyclable materials at a recycling center
Lifestyle and environment

Why recycling is important, and how to recycle correctly at home

Spending more time at home in the last few months since Covid-19 redefined our reality has presented many with an opportunity to clean, rearrange furniture and make lifestyle modifications. One thing we noticed at home was that some of the items that found their way into our recycle bin, or worse, the trash bin, really...

How to organize food in your fridge to make it last longer
Lifestyle and environment

Fridge organization - how to optimize fridges to reduce food waste (and why it matters)

Preventing food waste - optimal fridge organization Did you know that there’s actually an ideal order or layout of how to organize food in the fridge? A way that could help prevent food waste, reduce grocery bills and improve how sustainable your household is?  So, to set the scene - you’re on your way home with your w...

Non-toxic food safe natural wood finishing oil for counters, floors, decks
Paints, finishes and natural coatings

Natural wood finishing oil is non toxic too

Livos is a Quebec manufacturer of natural wood finishing oils, and they are very transparent about the composition of their products which are mainly plants and some other natural materials. There are also no heavy metals used in the colouring pigments, so it is a completely sustainably-made and healthy product.  "In o...

How Much do Sustainable Green Kitchen Countertops Cost?
Kitchens

Pricing green kitchen countertops - there's never been a bigger choice of sustainable kitchen counters

How to price a sustainable kitchen countertop? As a professional cabinetmaker, I have often been asked how much a kitchen costs. There is no accurate answer of course, though when pressed, I would have to say somewhere between $18-30,000. The size of your kitchen, material choices and your taste in finishing makes it i...

A Renewable Natural Gas refinery built in Quebec with misguided public funding?
Renewable energy

Renewable Natural Gas (or not), RNG or Biogas Under The Microscope...

Recent articles have praised major public investments in biomethanization plants around Canada and North America. These huge chemical plants produce renewable natural gas (RNG) which is a pipeline-quality gas that is fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas and so can also be used in natural gas vehicles. RN...