Reuse Stumbles

My name is Jess and I am shiny new to the Reuse Centre blogging team. I’m also somewhat new to this effort and energy directed toward the earth, our environment, and waste management, which means I make a lot of mistakes. One reason why I've been really excited to join the team is the push it’ll give me to learn more about the city because I’m also new to Edmonton. It’s a lot of newness. So I guess the commitment I’m making to this blog is to keep trying to find zesty ways to reduce my waste and reuse what I can, and also to keep digging into the incredible community of environmentally conscious people here in Edmonton.

An unrelated photo of me in a swath of greenery as a formal introduction. So pleased to be here.

To sort of sum me up, I’m not Martha Stewart or a DIY queen. I’m a 24-year-old creative who works two jobs and plays pretend mom to a giant dog. I love and yearn for practical waste solutions and I also really like to laugh at myself.

A few months back I became simply overwhelmed by the massive amount of waste produced by my ancient drying machine and the seemingly endless toilet paper rolls that litter both our recycling bin and at times our trash (ugh). Ever helpful, The Internet advised stuffing the rolls with lint for easy fire starters. This seemed so practical to me—we have a fire pit in the yard and I’m fairly useless when it comes to starting a real fire. So we took a few months’ worth of rolls and lint and made fire starters that we keep ready in a bag near our back door.

Well. Let me tell you...

I used one fire starter as a test while doing some yard work, and haven’t used a single one since. Turns out that between fire ban season and monsoon season this year, we don’t actually enjoy many fires.

Moreover, there are SERIOUSLY SO MANY fire starter rolls. And surprise, surprise, the lint and rolls keep piling up. I could produce enough for my entire community I bet.

What a lovely reminder for me that reuse isn't always as easy as it's made out to be. But the stumbling is important! While our beloved Internet reuse lists and Pinterest hacks can host incredible gold mines, this attempt left me searching for a different answer—even if that answer means considering a more radical zero waste bathroom approach. But ... maybe I’m still working up to that one.

 - Jess (Volunteer)