WEBPAGE 1: HOMEPAGE Our Organization: Our organization, Waste Free World, is dedicated to reducing and eliminating all unnecessary waste from our lives. We were founded by Maryanne MacDonald. Upon retiring, Maryanne MacDonald began her own journey of discovery about the ecological impacts of our daily activities. For Maryanne, one of the 'ahhah!' moments came while watching a moving documentary called "Message in the Waves". This prompted her to actively campaign to eliminate one time use disposables particularly Styrofoam and plastic beginning with the London Plastic Bag Project already underway. Contact us if you would like more information about Waste Free World activities or would like to get involved. (wastefreevolunteer@gmail.com) Our Vision: To eliminate all unnecessary waste from our lives by choosing to be more in tune with the cycle of the natural world.  We will achieve this Vision when we:  - use only what is necessary to sustain and enhance our lives,  - reduce our individual consumption of over packaged, over marketed, spur of the moment, frivolous products  - recycle what we don't need so others can make use of it  - replace one-time-use disposables with reusable alternatives, this includes plastic bags, dishes, cutlery, mugs, and paper towels  - respect and conserve water  - conserve all forms of energy  - where possible eliminate transportation requiring petroleum, walk or bike, this also improves your health  - enhance our natural world by planting trees, eliminating chemicals, and giving the natural world an opportunity to provide for our needs - clean air, clean water, nutritious food.  - ensure our purchases of the necessities of life are produced in an environmentally responsible, sustainable manner  - buy local  Our daily choices make a lifetime of difference.   Contact Us: Email: wastefreeworld@gmail.com Phone number: (519) 645-2845 Address: c/o Thames Regional Ecological Association at Grosvenor Lodge. ======================================================================================== WEBPAGE 2: MEDIA AND AWARD INFORMATION Press Releases: -July 18th, 2008 - Greening the Festivals -June 5st, 2008 - London, ON: Three London Festivals Turning Over a Green Leaf Awards: "Green Foot Award" Think Globally - Act Locally Environmental Event Whiteoaks Mall April 12, 2008 "Green Foot Award" Think Globally - Act Locally Environmental Event April 4 2009 Videos: EcoVox - A local London Rogers TV show dedicated to living lightly on the earth. Magazines: EcoVox Magazine - A magazine written for Londoners, about Londoners, by Londoners decidated to living lightly on the earth. ----------- Greening the Festivals - Home County Folk Festival introduces more green initiatives Following the successful introduction of the Greening of the Festivals at Sunfest earlier this month, the committee responsible for the initiative is excited to announce the next phase of the program. This weekend, at the Home County Folk Festival, visitors will see new green festival initiatives, as well as improvements to those introduced at Sunfest. New: Bring your own, reusables, & dishwashing station The message from Home County Folk Festival is to "bring your own" dishes, cutlery, mug and water bottle. A dishwashing trailer has been installed in the park and the staff working there will gladly send the dinnerware through the machine for cleaning. For those who may prefer to rent, the dishwashing station will also carry a supply of plates and cutlery, which will be available for a small returnable deposit fee. In celebration of their 35th anniversary, the Home County Folk Festival will also be selling reusable water bottles and mugs at their info booth. Reusables and the dishwashing station are firsts for the Green Festival project and will be tested this weekend. Improved: More locations to fill up your water bottle In addition to the three permanent water fountains installed for Sunfest, there will be a water trailer to provide more access to free municipal water. This will help reduce the reliance of festival visitors on single-use plastic water bottles. Improved: EcoStations The EcoStation, first introduced at Sunfest, is where visitors go to dispose of their waste and sort it into the various bins for recyclables, compostables or landfill. Responding to feedback from visitors to Sunfest, the EcoStations will now be easier to find and use. They will be marked with green flags flying high overhead and new signage promises to make the process of sorting waste easier to understand. The Greening of the Festivals is a partnership between the City of London, Home County Folk Festival, Sunfest, Ribfest and Waste Free World. As Catherine McInnis, Home County Artistic Director and member of the Green Festival partnership, explains: ÒAlong with the goal to introduce waste diversion to these three major London events is our hope that visitors will be encouraged to continue good environmental practices at home as well as at their own summer get-togethers and celebrations. Contacts: Home County Folk Festival: Catherine McInnes, cathmcinnes@sympatico.ca 519 661-9116 Waste Free World: Maryanne MacDonald, wastefreeworld@gmail.com 519 636-9233 City of London: Scott Stafford, sstaffor@london.ca 519 854-3207 Dianna Clarke dlclarke@london.ca 519 617-1648 On other Green Festivals: Sunfest, Bob Fletcher, rfletcher8626@rogers.com 519 471-8626 London Rib-Fest, Don Donner, ddonner@bgclondon.ca 519 434-9114 ----------- London, ON: Three London Festivals Turning Over a Green Leaf Propelled by the need to take bolder environmental steps, a coalition of forces has come together to turn over a green leaf for festivals in the Forest City. Representatives from three festivals including Home County Folk Festival, London Rib-Fest and SunFest are working with the City of London and Waste Free World to colour the 2008 festival season green. "These festivals are an opportunity for the London community to come together and celebrate. People come to the festivals with family and friends and enjoy all we have to offer: the diversity of culture, art, music and food. Feeling good about our environmental impact is very much part of this experience." Catherine McInnes, Artistic Director, HCFF Festival organizers appreciated they have a long road ahead of them and look at the 2008 season to begin to make important first steps in "Turning Over a Green Leaf" Areas to be targeted at all or some of the three festivals are: - more recycling - introducing composting and the use of compostable food and beverage containers - accessible & free City water to replace the reliance on single-use plastic water bottles - Bring-Your-Own picnic ware, reusable water-bottles, and shopping bags - dish lending and dishwashing services These are some of the ideas brought forward by Waste Free World, a group of engaged citizens in London who are eager to see the city make strides in waste diversion and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The group formed less than a year ago and has initiated the recent London Plastic Bag Project and Bring-Your-Own Campaign at Covent Garden Market. "We know that greening the festivals is the tip of the melting iceberg but we think it is a great opportunity to educate Londoners and make a positive impact," said Trae Robinson, Waste Free representative "We are excited by the ripple effects of what people will take away from the festival. If we can make strides at these large festivals, others will be encouraged to 'green-up' their own summer events - everything from a family picnic to a neighbourhood event. Festival organizers are treating 2008 as a pilot project and hope that many of the ideas tested by the three festivals will become policy by 2009. Any festivals or events interested in becoming part of the greening initiative are invited to contact Waste Free World. More information is available at wastefreeworld.org This initiative has been made possible for Sunfest and Home County through financial support from TD - Canada Trust Friends of The Environment. Home County also received a grant from the London Community Foundation. Contact Info: Home County Folk Festival: Catherine McInnes, cathmcinnes@sympatico.ca 519-434-0510 Sunfest: Bob Fletcher, rfletcher8626@rogers.com 519-471-8626 London Rib-Fest: Leigh-Anne Tyson, ltyson@bgclondon.ca 519-434-9114 Waste Free World: Maryanne MacDonald, wastefreeworld@gmail.com 519-471-2428 City of London: Krista Kearns, kkearns@london.ca 519-661-2500 ext 2379 ========================================================================================= WEBPAGE 3: WASTE ELIMINATION Here are some tips to help keep London waste free: Waste Free Living -Organizations -Retailers -Individuals Waste Free Festivals and Events -Dishes and Cutlery -Rental of Reusables -Compostables -Water -Plastic Bags -EcoStations -How to Get Involved Waste Free Living: Organizations: Almost everyone belongs to an organization, be it your school, your church or your local sports club. With the power of people, an organization can change the world. Simple steps that you can take: Have an education session about plastic bags & their environmental impact. Use our powerpoint presentation if you like! Get all your members to take the plastic bag pledge Replace publicity material with something useful & get reusable bags for all your members. Approach your local retailers and ask them to reduce plastic bag usage. Download "A Letter to Retailers" & get your members to sign it Retailers: You are extremely important when it comes to reducing plastic bag use. After all, the customers get the plastic bags from you. You're paying for them, but you're giving them out for free. So why not start decreasing the number of bags you give out? STEP 1: Start asking customers if they need a bag instead of giving them one automatically. STEP 2: Display a sign thanking them for refusing plastic bags They'll soon get the idea. Individuals: Take your own bags shopping. Take them to grocery stores, bookstores & even to clothing stores. Refuse plastic bags! You don't have to accept plastic bags just because you bought something. You can say "NO PLASTIC BAG THANKS". Take charge, and feel good. You've just helped the environment! Don't accept any more plastic bags until you have used up all the bags you have at home. TIP: You don't need a plastic bag when you buy small items, books, magazines, CD's, videos, diapers, etc. Just carry them out of the store in your hand. Keep the receipt in the book or mag. Any other tips? Email us & share them around! Waste Free Festivals and Events Transforming all all Festivals in the Forest City Waste Free will not happen overnight but the Coalition has made progress in many areas. Participating festivals at Victoria Park include: SunFest, Home County Folk Festival and RibFest. Here's how you can help the effort to minimize waste while you enjoy the festivals. Dishes and Cutlery Bring Your Own: You are encouraged to bring your own reusable containers, mugs, dishes, and cutlery which will save on disposables products being used. Rental of Reusables An alternative to disposables will be offered at the festival whereby you rent a reusable (your deposit will be returned when you return the dishes for washing) This action will also save on disposable products being used. Compostables Many vendors will supply your food choice on a compostable container ,which you must then place in the compost bin at the eco-station. This will eliminate a tremendous amount of garbage in the park and create good soil for gardens in the future. Water Bottled water is being discouraged this year. Look for the refilling stations and water fountains provided by the city. This source of water will help to eliminate the abundance of single use plastic water bottles and once again cut down on disposable products in the park and the waste generated. Plastic Bags Vendors are being asked to not give out plastic shopping bags at the festivals. Therefore you are encouraged to bring a backpack or a reusable cloth bag for your purchases. More info on the London Plastic Bag project here EcoStations Look for the signs indicating the locations of the recycling, composting and garbage bins. Follow the instructions at each site for how to sort any items you are throwing away. It is critical that there not be cross contamination of the bins otherwise all will become landfill How to Get Involved It will take lots of new volunteers to help ensure that London's Festivals go green. We encourage you to contact your favourite festival and ask to be part of their green team. www.sunfest.on.ca www.homecounty.ca/greenfestival Or, you can e-mail us and we will be happy to make you part of our Waste Free World volunteer list. ======================================================================================== WEBPAGE 4: FACTS Facts about Plastic Water Bottles Hidden Costs: - The production, delivery, recycling and dumping process pollutes our air, land and water... contributing to global warming. - This pollution causes ill health. - Tax $$$ paid towards the treatment of illnesses caused by pollution. - Tax $$$ paid towards landfill, recycling, and dumping costs. - The privatization of water. - Positive initiatives not achieved as a result of $$$ being diverted unnecessarily to a water bottle culture. Why we should drink tap water? - A glass of London drinking water is tested and safeguarded to a much more rigid standard than bottled drinking water bought in stores. - An average London household gets their daily water needs for approximately 90cents, less than the price of one bottle of drinking water. - London residents get 1,650 glasses of water for the same price that you pay for a bottle of drinking water. - We are blessed with an abundant supply of fresh drinking water. (Source - Enviro Works Publication - City of London - July 2006) Note: - Unsafe levels of lead were detected in London homes built prior to 1952. This does not mean we should buy bottled water. Facts about Plastic Bags 7 million plastic bags are used EVERY DAY in Ontario. Worldwide, this figure escalates to billions. Environment Plastic bags are NOT biodegradable. They decompose into bits of plastic that contaminate our ground, and leach into our waterways. They last for decades, and contribute enormously to persistent large visible litter. This increases the cost of keeping our city clean. Manufacturing Plastic bags are manufactured from foodstock of petroleum, which is non-renewable. The manufacturing of plastic bags contributes to carbon emissions and hence global warming. Water Plastic bags are bad for water systems. They clog up drains and rivers & they collect stagnant water, creating ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. They also create major problems in oceans. They look just like jellyfish, which are the staple food of turtles. These and other animals eat the bags, which block up their stomachs and cause them to starve. ======================================================================================== WEBPAGE 5: USEFUL LINKS Find 3 sites that talk about waste reduction and for each site include: 1. a picture (their logo or a picture from their site) 2. a link to their site 3. a BRIEF (no more than 2 or 3 sentences) about the site ======================================================================================== WEBPAGE 6: REFERENCES This is the page where you let us know where you got your images from that you have included for the site. Organize it nicely.