Nicole Veerman | Special to the Fitzhugh
To celebrate Earth Day, which occurs annually on April 22, Jade Refillery has written an article for the Fitzhugh about reducing the usage of single-use plastics.
Was Kermit the Frog right when he sang “It's Not Easy Being Green”?
These days, single-use plastics are so prevalent that it can feel hopeless to even attempt to avoid them.
It’s easy to ask ourselves, what’s one straw, one take-out container, one shampoo bottle or one toothbrush?
In the moment, that one straw might not seem like a big deal. But if everyone were to ask that question and if everyone were to give in and take one, that would add up to a lot of unnecessary single-use plastics in the waste stream.
It’s like Anne-Marie Bonneau, the Zero-Waste Chef, says: “We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
That quote was the inspiration behind Jasper’s zero-waste shop, Jade Refillery. We believe in progress over perfection.
The planet doesn't need us to be perfect, but it does need us to try. We can all choose to reduce our plastic consumption, reuse what we have and now with Jade Refillery, you can choose to refill instead of buying new.
For years we’ve been taught that recycling is the solution to our consumption and the waste it creates.
We’ve been told that if we just wash and sort our packaging and drop it off at a recycling centre, all of that plastic will be transformed into something shiny and new.
Unfortunately, as good as it feels to pack up our take-out containers, shampoo bottles and clamshells, and dump them in the recycling trailer at the Activity Centre, the cold, hard truth is that only nine per cent of all plastics are actually recycled.
As for the remaining 91 per cent, 12 per cent are incinerated and 79 per cent accumulate in landfills or the natural environment.
And since plastics never fully breakdown, every piece of plastic we have ever used remains on the planet today. Just think: that means your very first toothbrush, and every one you’ve used since, is still kicking around somewhere.
Once you know these facts it can seem impossible to make a meaningful impact on the number of plastics in our waterways, landfills and ditches.
But that’s not the case. Since Jade Refillery opened on July 1, 2020, Jasperites have refilled more than 2,000 bottles, with shampoo, lotion, body wash, laundry detergent, cleaning products and more, saving 2,000 plastic containers from our landfill.
That doesn't even include all of the plastic the community has diverted by purchasing safety razors, silicone ear swabs, bamboo dental floss, reusable snack bags or any of the other zero-waste items we carry.
Jade Refillery encourages Jasperites to rethink the way they shop. We provide an opportunity to ditch unnecessary packaging and to choose Canadian-made, eco-friendly products.
The beauty of refilling is that you use what you already have: when your laundry detergent runs dry, you bring in the same jug you just emptied and fill it up again.
Together, by choosing to refill instead of recycle, our community is proving Kermit wrong. We are kicking our dependence on single-use plastics and we're ushering in a new day — a day where we choose to reuse and refill instead of recycling! Jade Refillery is located in the Jasper Wellness Centre at 318 Connaught Drive. Visit our website for our hours and to check out our online shop at www.jaderefillery.ca.
