Since 2018 Waste Free Edmonton has advocated for strong municipal action on single-use items in Edmonton. This helped result in an effective Bylaw being implemented July 1, 2023. But there is still work to be done.

The textile industry is one of the world’s largest contributors to emissions and waste. Fast fashion floods the market with low-quality goods that release microplastics and end up in landfills. Waste Free Edmonton wants to help address its impacts in Edmonton.

Having fun on Halloween doesn’t have to come at the expense of the environment. There are multiple ways to help reduce your waste footprint every October, whether it is through costumes, candy or pumpkins.

Think of all the monoculture lawns in Edmonton and imagine what they could represent: support for pollinators, space to grow nutritious food, and contributors to the fight against climate change by sequestering carbon through planting native species.

Educating people about waste is one of Waste Free Edmonton’s core values. Our school program, Waste Free 101, was a team of trained volunteers able to deliver curriculum-specific presentations to Division II and III students in the Edmonton area.

Our local government is responsible for managing and implementing waste reduction strategies. The next four years are critical for Edmonton’s long-term environmental progress, and we are surveying candidates to understand their opinions on the topic.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a resurgence of single-use plastics, like masks and gloves. As research on the coronavirus and what we can do to stay safe evolved, Waste Free Edmonton drove awareness of the need for reusable masks and the local artisans that create them.

Our desire for the perfect holiday can inadvertently lead us to create excess amounts of waste. Waste Free Edmonton wanted to remind everyone to focus on what really matters — people, not things — and developed resources to help shift our attitudes towards holiday gift-giving.

Eliminating plastic waste in the hospitality industry starts one straw at a time. In the summer of 2018, Waste Free Edmonton and Plastic Free YYC competed to see which city would convert more restaurants to go straw-free. Both cities, and the planet, won.