Glenbrook Zero Waste Cul-De-Sac

Do you remember the Strathcona zero waste group?  Well it seems that they’re not the only ones up for a challenge.  Yesterday, Grant and I were invited to the  Glenbrook North Zero Waste meeting in New Westminster where another group of citizens are getting set to tackle their own zero waste project.

This is the second zero waste pilot sponsored by Metro Vancouver, but what’s really cool about Glenbrook North’s group is that all the 14 participant families live on a single street.  Talk about community!  The other thing that is great is that there is a diversity of family sizes and there are loads of kids which will make for an interesting project.

They’ve spent the last 5 weeks creating a baseline for their garbage (something I really wish we did before our project), and they’re just about to start a 12 week (or maybe a lifelong) zero waste challenge.  Because everyone is literally next door to each other, they’ve really been able to work together, meeting in each others living rooms, and setting up a communal green cone conveniently at the end of the cul-de-sac.

I can’t even explain the great sense of community we got from the meeting.  The teamwork (and perhaps friendly competition) that comes from doing a street-scale challenge is amazing.  Grant and I talked a little about our own year long project, showed our trailer, and shared tips on what worked for us, but mostly, we just got rejuvenated about zero waste.

It’s so exciting to talk to other people who are excited!

I’ll definitely be following the Glenbrook Zero Waste blog and wish them luck in their project.  To finish this post in the spirit of zero waste, here’s a hilarious commercial I snagged from the Glenbrook website.