Monthly Archives: May 2010

Diary of a “No Poo’er”

There are a lot of people out there giving up shampoo.  So many, in fact, that there’s a name for it.  The “no poo” method (I kid you not) is when people skip the shampoo and use something else – namely baking soda and maybe vinegar – to clean their hair.

Yes, I too thought this was crazy when I heard of it.  How can you be clean without the lovely fragrant bubbles? The bottle says you’re supposed to apply it twice for crying out loud.

But I’d been skipping the conditioner for months, so when my mega sized bottle of shampoo finally ran out, I thought I’d give it a try.  The following is my “no poo” diary. Continue reading

44 Comments

Filed under DIY, Hygiene

The Clean Bin Project: The Film

If you read this blog regularly, you know that Grant and I have been working on a documentary film of our year of trying to live consumer free and zero waste. Guess what?

We’re finally done!!!!

Now for the shameless promotion:

If you live in Vancouver, please come out and see it on the big screen on Sat, May 29th, 2010 at 7pm at Granville 7 Cinemas! Tickets are available through our online box office (there will also be a few at the door).

If you live in the rest of Canada, keep an eye out for us because we’ll be cycling across the country this summer, showing the film along the way.  Maybe we’ll be coming to your town? You can watch our progress  and see the film schedule at http://www.cleanbinmovie.com/screenings/ (yes, I know it’s not very extensive yet – we’re working on it).  Please contact us if your community is on our route and you want to help host a community screening.  Looking forward to seeing lots of you this summer!

If you live somewhere else in the world, thanks for reading this far.  You’re just going to have to sit tight for a bit – we don’t have DVD’s or t-shirts or anything else for sale.  But we definitely have bigger plans, and we’ll let you know if the movie gets into a film festival near you.

Finally, the blog.  Like many of you, I really don’t want this blog to become overrun with film news, so we have set up a separate website for the movie (www.cleanbinmovie.com).  Here at the Clean Bin Project Blog, I’ll continue to post every week or so about zero waste and DIY and consumer free stuff just like usual.  On the film website, we’ll have a news section where we’ll write about the movie and how the screenings are going and post photos from our tour etc.  We are going to share the same old twitter account because I just can’t possibly manage two of everything.

Sound good?

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Filed under video

Clean Bin on Simple Savvy

Generally, I wouldn’t describe our lives as ‘simple’.  We always seem to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, forgetting to do the laundry and clean the bathroom, as the ‘to do’ lists pile up.  However, I do like to read about simple living.

I like the idea that it’s possible to live simply.  Sometimes I even get a taste of it when I’m out in the garden or baking bread from scratch.

One of the blogs I read weekly is Simple Savvy (I don’t just read about garbage, you know).  Christine, who writes the blog, often interviews other bloggers for their take on living simply, and this week, I’m honored to say, the interview was with yours truly! I’m far from a simple living expert, but it’s interesting how our attempts to live zero waste have led us to a similar lifestyle to those who are focused on other things like simple living, eating local, or avoiding plastic.

You can read the interview on the Simple Savvy blog here.

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Filed under media

A Sad Day for Breakfast Choices

I ride the BC Ferries quite often.  Grant’s family lives on the island, and my family has a cabin over there. Inevitably, Grant and I are too disorganized to pack some food, and we end up eating on the ferry.  It’s actually not so bad.  I appreciate the fact that you can get breakfast on a real plate and eat it with real cutlery. They also serve a pretty mean burger and clam chowder.

But here’s the thing that gets me. Despite the “real plate” options, there is a ton of packaging. The cooler is stocked with a lot of pre-packaged food – salads in clamshells, cheesecake with a plastic ramekin of berry sauce, plastic wrapped sandwiches. You have to be vigilant and strategic to avoid waste. Continue reading

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Filed under food, packaging

The Movie Industry:2

Ok, ok, all you positive people who commented on the last post.  You’re right – the guy was using his own reusable container.

Gives you hope doesn’t it?

6 Comments

Filed under interactions, reusable containers