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Sustainable Intentions, Real Life Limits
When I was a younger woman, I was single, childless, and employed. I worked in a local shop that sold eco-products chosen for their benefit to society and the environment, including stainless steel straws, silicone replacement pouches for Ziplock bags, dish sponges made from biodegradable materials, and many more excellent products. I was fortunate to…
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Looking Back: 35 Years of Waste Reduction in SK
What did the waste and recycling world look like when SWRC began 35 years ago? Now that I’m retiring, I couldn’t help sharing a few memories from back then… Everyone loved SARCAN – it was a new program with a lot of positives – we liked getting our deposits back, it kept roadways cleaner and…
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The Bag in the Bag: Saskatchewan Households and Plastic Film Recycling
Recently I toured the Saskatoon landfill and LORAAS organics facility. One thing stood out at both places: plastic bags. There was all manner of plastic film hung up on fences, caught in special nets designed to contain it, and stuck in composting piles. Checkout bags might be banned in Canada, SK Recycles may have started…
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How Digital Marketplaces Changed the Secondhand Economy (and What It Means in Saskatchewan)
Over the past couple of decades, it’s been interesting to watch the change in how people buy and sell used goods. When I was younger, it mostly meant trips to thrift stores, wandering through garage sales, or flipping through the classified ads in the newspaper. Now it’s a whole ecosystem—mobile apps, local Facebook groups, and…
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Who is Responsible for Contamination?
Contamination in recycling bins has been in the spotlight lately. As SK Recycles rolls out its program for paper and packaging, cities and regions that chose the “community-led” model are worried about facing fines if contamination exceeds allowable thresholds. Under this system, municipalities (or contractors in the “program-led” model) bear the responsibility for everything in…
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Shoe Recycling
Last time I went shopping I was pleasantly surprised to find an outdoor doormat made out of recycled footwear. Our household often has kid shoes that are beyond donation and need recycling, so it had me intrigued. If I’m finding recycled shoe products at my local Costco, surely that means there’s a shoe recycling program…
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Diverting Organics from Saskatchewan Landfills – Where’s Your Garden?
I learned to compost because I couldn’t stomach the idea of putting kitchen scraps and leaves in the garbage. While I enjoyed watching the process and discovering which things break down easily and which don’t, I didn’t have a garden (too much shade and a lost quack grass battle) to absorb the finished product. So,…
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Repairing Our Perceptions
We know how to recycle. We’re getting better at composting. But when something breaks? Too often, our first instinct is to replace it. That reflex didn’t appear out of nowhere. Over decades, we’ve absorbed subtle (and not-so-subtle) messages: new is better, repairs are inconvenient, and replacement is easier than troubleshooting. At the same time, products…
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Getting clothes to last longer
I thought I already knew everything I needed to know about doing laundry in an eco-friendly way. But after we moved to an acreage with well water in 2019 I noticed a big change in how long my clothes were lasting. All of my clothes with stretch to them were losing their elasticity and sagging.…
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Mind the Gap: Household Hazardous Waste in SK
So, I was pretty excited back in 2019 when the province announced it was going to start a program for household hazardous waste. We were tired of telling folks that, no, they shouldn’t put HHW in the garbage, but actually, there was no place to take it. Years before, the province had even paid SWRC…
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Holey Socks & Shredded Leggings
When most of us think about recycling clothes, we think “donate it and someone else will use it,” and that’s partly true — but my kids create a fairly steady stream of holey socks, worn-out underwear, and leggings shredded at the knees — which are much tougher to find uses for. I already have as…
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2025 – Year in Review
Paper and packaging recycling continued to preoccupy us in 2025. Regina, Melfort and Weyburn decided to go with SK Recycle’s (SKR) community-led option and have adopted SKR’s accepted materials list. Saskatoon and Estevan have opted for program-led, they’ll turn over their operations to SKR starting in 2028. SKR developed guidelines for its Phase 2 communities…
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The Hidden Waste of Online Shopping
This Christmas we did a bit more online shopping than in past years. I noticed right away that Amazon has changed their packing materials to be more minimal and much easier to recycle. This got me curious about what has changed in the world of online shopping in terms of the waste it creates. For…
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Reducing food waste, one box at a time
Food waste is one of those quiet but huge problems: it’s bad for people, bad for farmers, and bad for the climate. Canada produces and trades enormous amounts of food, yet each year millions of tonnes of perfectly edible food don’t make it to people to eat. Add to that the rapidly rising cost of…
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Cleaning up an Estate or Downsizing in SK
When a parent or relative passes away or needs to move into care, the task of sorting through a lifetime’s worth of belongings can feel overwhelming. I went through this myself after my mom’s passing. My brother and I, with the help of our partners, packed up her whole house on the rural property where…
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Reusable Food Packaging
Having a family of four, I keep thinking it’s unsustainable how much recycling and waste we create. Even as someone who is actively looking to reduce the packaging we buy — between groceries, small amounts of take-out, and school lunches—it really adds up. We are now feeding a teenager, so buying in bulk is key…
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Meal Kits – Waste Saver or Waste Maker?
During a busy week, the idea of having dinner ingredients delivered straight to your door feels like a lifesaver. That was my thinking when I tried a Canadian meal kit service, Chefs Plate. Everything comes portioned out, with recipe cards, and just enough of each ingredient to make dinner. And I’ll admit — it was…
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The Reusable Cup Dilemma: When Sustainability Meets Consumerism
Our reusable mugs shelf is full to bursting with smoothie cups, travel mugs and water bottles, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. How does this happen? How does trying to reduce disposable cups still turn into overconsumption? Reusable cups and water bottles are everywhere — in backpacks, car cupholders, and on social media…
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Learning to Camp and Cabin Sustainably
There’s nothing quite like packing up the car and heading out for a few days at the lake or camping in the woods. Here in Saskatchewan, we’re lucky to have access to beautiful lakes, forests, and parklands. Some of my favourite memories include pitching a tent under the stars at Grasslands National Park, roasting marshmallows…
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Zero-Waste Gardening in Saskatchewan
Cultivating Sustainability from the Ground Up Spring in Saskatchewan has a way of waking us up—the sun rises earlier and lingers longer, the ice disappears almost overnight, and there’s that familiar itch to go outside and get our hands in the dirt. Earlier this year, my friend bought a house with a big garden and…
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“Plalking” for Earth Day
This Earth Day, I learned a new word that perfectly describes something simple yet impactful: “PLALKing” — the act of Picking up Litter while wALKing. Out for a run along the beautiful Saskatchewan River, I noticed that, while the snow had finally melted, what it revealed wasn’t pretty—takeout containers, plastic cups, receipts, napkins, cardboard, cigarette…
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Conscious Consumerism: Supporting Sustainable and Low-Waste Businesses in Saskatchewan
The recent focus on buying Canadian and buying local has generated new apps, like CanadianMade and O SCANada (Chatelaine), that allow consumers to scan product barcodes to see if they are sourced from Canada. This is an interesting time, causing us to think twice about where we are shopping and what we are buying. For…
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A Guide to Cleaning Cleaner this Spring
As we near the tail-end of a long and cold winter, the fast-approaching March 20 means spring is finally around the corner! For me, that means I am pulling out my running shoes to go for a few sock-soaking puddle runs, and getting a head start on spring cleaning. This year for spring cleaning, I…
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And so, My Low Waste Journey Begins …
Welcome to Less is More, where sustainability meets everyday life in Saskatchewan. I’m Jana Ham, your guide on this journey. I joined the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council as a Blog Writer and am excited to be part of a passionate team committed to educating and inspiring the people of Saskatchewan to reduce waste. About Me…
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2025: The Year of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle….and Resolutions
As we ring in the new year, it’s a great time to reflect on our habits and set goals for personal growth. Like most successful New Year’s resolutions, keeping things small, simple, and sustainable is key because over the course of a year, small lifestyle changes can add up to make a big difference. One…
