The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast

By Laura Nash

What's The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast about?

Showcasing the best and brightest in the environmental community. Finding solutions that benefit the planet and the people.

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The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast episodes:

12.23.2021
145. Mushrooms
Mushrooms have been eaten by people for thousands of years, or perhaps even longer. They are used as a healthy food source, as medicine, fire starter, meat replacement for vegans, and Ikea is even experimenting with using them as packaging!...
11.22.2021
144. Food Forward L.A.
Rick Nahmias is the founder and CEO of Food Forward, an organization based in L.A. that addresses food waste and food insecurity. In July 2021 they had their biggest month on record with 7 million pounds of fresh fruit and...
11.09.2021
143. Cuba
Cuba is known as a beautiful tourist destination with colourful landscapes and beach resorts. But what is it like to live under a communist government? Is it better for the environment? Daylin Horruitiner of Spanglish Generation is a Cuban American born...
10.24.2021
142. Northshore Apothecary
Lou Corbett works with plants in a cabin in the woods north of Toronto. She founded Northshore Apothecary where she sells her products, all made sustainably. She takes great care to ensure the natural environment around her is healthy, while...
10.15.2021
141. Stay Well With Ferm Fatale
Julie Cielo is the founder of Ferm Fatale, a shrub kombucha mocktail company offered in sustainable packaging. She started Ferm Fatale to replace alcoholic drinks with something much healthier for our gut. Julie walks us through her autoimmune journey that led...
10.04.2021
140. NewLife Forests in Arizona
NewLife Forest Restoration is a lumber manufacturer with sawmills located in Heber and Williams, Arizona. This lumber manufacturer prides itself on its Zero Waste Initiative and works closely with the U.S. Forest Service to ensure sustainable, healthy forests. Their mission...
09.23.2021
139. Riff Energy Drinks
Each year, 11 billion kilograms of dried green coffee is processed for export, but it's only a tiny portion of the plant. Over 45 billion kilograms of cascara (the fruity pulp that surrounds the coffee bean on the plant) is...
09.15.2021
138. Aura7 Activewear
Aura 7 Activewear is made with recycled fibers from ghost fishing nets and other ocean waste. Their mission is to clean more seas and plant more trees by donating 1% of all revenues to Healthy Seas and with every purchase,...
09.08.2021
137. Neatly Cleaning Product
Iryna Rosetti Pacheco spent many years as a chemist in the cleaning industry before developing a new cleaning product called Neatly, which comes without plastic packaging or harmful chemicals. Her product is available on her shop's website Dew South, a zero waste...
07.16.2021
136. Bay of Quinte
Sarah Midlane-Jones is the communications coordinator for Bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan, an organization dedicated to keeping the water clean in the Bay of Quinte on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Photo of Moira River flowing into Bay of...
07.05.2021
135. Pipelines on Indigenous Land
Canada has some of the most ethical and environmentally friendly processes for extracting and transporting oil and gas in the world, yet we've become a hotspot for pipeline protestors who often recruit indigenous people to strengthen their efforts. The truth...
06.21.2021
134.Electronic Waste With Sunnking
Sunnking is an electronic waste recovery service in New York that recycles over 25 million pounds every year. Adam Shine is the Vice President of Sunnking, one of the biggest electronic waste recyclers in the country. Adam tells us how electronic recycling...
06.07.2021
133. Love Zero Waste
Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth host the Love Zero Waste Podcast and share what it's like living zero waste in Austria and Sweden.
05.20.2021
132. Emerald Packaging
There has been a gigantic increase in the demand for plastic food packaging since the Covid pandemic started. Kevin Kelly is the CEO of Emerald Packaging, a family-owned plastic packaging company in the US. He's disturbed by the significant,...
05.08.2021
131.Zero Waste in India
Sahar Mansoor and Tim de Ridder are the co-authors of Bare Necessities: How to Live a Zero-Waste Life. Sahar is also the founder and CEO of Bare Necessities and joined the conversation from her home in India. We discuss their new book,...
04.17.2021
130. A.I., Biotech, & Palm Oil
Leonardo Alvarez is the Chief Executive Officer of Protera, a biotech company he founded in his early 20's alongside his colleague, now Chief Operating Officer Francia Navarrete. Mr. Alvarez has a biotechnology engineering degree from Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. He joins the...
04.02.2021
129. Diamonds From The Air
Early in 2021 Elon Musk offered $100M in prize money for new carbon capture technology and there's a company already using carbon capture tech: Aether Diamonds. Aether Diamonds is taking that captured carbon from the air and turning it into diamonds,...
03.28.2021
128. UBQ Materials
Liat Arad is the VP of Marketing for UBQ Materials, a company that's spent many years developing a patented process to convert unsorted waste -- everything from banana peels to yogurt containers to mixed plastics and paper -- to create a...
03.19.2021
127. Open Source 3D Printing
Joshua M. Pearce, Ph.D., is the Richard Witte Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Director of the Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology (MOST) Lab at Michigan Technological University. He's also the Visiting Professor...
03.14.2021
126. NYC Fashion Designer Jussara Lee
Jussara Lee is a longtime fashion designer in New York City who came to New York to study fashion from Brazil and now focuses on fashion sustainability. Jussara joins the Zero Waste Countdown to talk about overseas labour issues...
03.06.2021
125. Sourdough
Heather MacMillan from Heather's Hearth is a professional sourdough bread maker and educator, hosting sourdough classes around the Ottawa and Barry's Bay area (I took her course at MKC!). Heather joins the Zero Waste Countdown to talk about the history of...
02.27.2021
124. Madawaska Kanu Centre
Madawaska Kanu Centre (MKC) west of Ottawa is a sustainable whitewater paddling school and resort, offering guests whitewater experiences, friendly staff, and incredible food. Stefi Van Wijk is the third generation to run operations at MKC, and she joins the show...
02.21.2021
123. BC Salmon Farms
The Canadian federal government recently announced that it would order about 19 salmon farms closed in British Columbia (BC) but without any local community consultation. Farmed salmon is BC's number one agri-food export and provides thousands of tonnes of nutrients...
02.12.2021
122. Urban Salmon
Caption: A team led by researchers at the University of Washington Tacoma, UW and Washington State University Puyallup have discovered a chemical that kills coho salmon in urban streams before the fish can spawn. Shown here Edward Kolodziej (left), an...
02.07.2021
121. Edible Coffee Cups
2.7 million takeaway coffee cups are being sent to landfill in Australia each day. Luckily, Catherine Hutchins and Aniyo Rahebi founded a new startup called Good-Edi, making edible takeaway coffee cups to mitigate the problem of coffee cup waste. The cups...
01.31.2021
120. Water For First Nations
Jocelyn Burzuik, President and Senior Construction Manager at Sundance Construction, joins the Zero Waste Countdown once again to talk about a very important issue here in Canada that she has lots of personal experience with: clean drinking water for First...
01.25.2021
119. Sustainable Affordable Housing
Jocelyn Burzuik is the President and Senior Construction Manager of Sundance Construction in Manitoba, and when it comes to her new housing development, affordability is directly related to sustainability! Jocelyn combines her Metis heritage and First Nations concepts of...
01.15.2021
118. Carbon Tax Problems
Canadians pay a lot of taxes and have a lot of expenses. Far too many Canadians are struggling with poverty and have very high electricity bills, our phone bills are some of the highest in the world, and our internet...
01.09.2021
117. Solar Oysters
Oysters from Chesapeake Bay, Library of Congress Oysters are little nutritional bombshells. They're packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, fatty acids, and particularly of note during Covid: Vitamin D and Zinc. More than 80% of hospitalized Covid patients were found to...
01.01.2021
116. Veteran Compost
Justen Garrity founded Veteran Compost over a decade ago after his military service. The company focuses on two things: Employing veterans and their family members; and Turning food scraps into high-quality compost. Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans have an unemployment rate that exceeds...
11.23.2020
115. Plastic in the North Sea
Susanne Khün holding up a fulmar Susanne Khün has a Ph.D from Wageningen Marine Research in the Netherlands where she has put years of research into her thesis called "Message in a belly - Plastic pathways in fulmars". Tune in to hear...
11.16.2020
114. Endocrine Disruptors and Plastics
Scott Coffin has a Ph.D in environmental toxicology from the University of California Riverside and works for the California State Water Resources Control Board. Scott has done many studies on toxicants in plastic that involve some fascinating scientific techniques....
11.09.2020
113. Holiday Shopping Ideas
For this year's holiday episode I've collaborated with three sustainable Canadian companies with eco friendly gift ideas for the holiday season! Dave O'Connor from Genuine Tea won best tea in Toronto in the Now Reader's Choice Awards and offers high quality...
10.25.2020
112. Toxins In Bioplastic
Lisa Zimmermann is a Ph.D researcher in the Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology at Goethe University Frankfurt and part of the PlastX Research Group. She recently conducted a study that was published in September 2020 called: Are bioplastics and plant-based materials safer than...
10.13.2020
111. Nuclear Energy
Paul Acchione is an engineer and management consultant in Ontario who has worked in the nuclear and fossil fuel industries for over 48 years and has a wealth of knowledge about how nuclear power works, how nuclear waste is stored...
10.05.2020
110. Keeping Produce Fresh With Hazel Tech
According to Hazel Technologies, the U.S. wastes more than 25 billion pounds of post-harvest fruits and vegetables annually, which amounts to over $86B in wasted resources. Aidan Mouat is the CEO of Hazel Technologies,...
10.05.2020
109. Sharing During Covid
The Olio sharing app from the UK is reporting record numbers of users sharing food and other items during the Covid pandemic. Tessa Clarke joins the Zero Waste Countdown to share food waste statistics and explain how her sharing...
09.21.2020
108. How Our Grid Works
Emily Thorn Cortha is founder & president of Thorn Associates, an energy and carbon management consulting corporation, and one of Canada’s top industrial energy efficiency experts. She joins the ZWC to discuss how our electricity grid works in Ontario -...
09.14.2020
107. Rent a Romper for Kids
Lauren Gregor is the founder of Rent A Romper based in LA, which is a monthly clothing subscription service for young children who tend to grow out of their clothing extremely quickly. Lauren joins the ZWC to talk about...
09.08.2020
106. Zion Lights on Nuclear
Zion Lights is the UK Director for a group called Environmental Progress, which is a research and policy organization fighting for clean power and energy justice to achieve nature and prosperity for all. She was previously a spokesmen for Extinction Rebellion, and she’s...
08.24.2020
105. Plastic And Marine Life
Dr. Denise Hardesty is a principal researcher at CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere in Hobart, Tasmania. She's done extensive research over the years on marine plastic debris by studying sea birds, sea turtles, and waste reduction campaigns. We discuss what happens when...
08.17.2020
104. Turning Plastic Into Fuel
Bob Powell is the CEO of Brightmark, a disruptive and innovative company based in San Francisco who's turning plastic waste into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), while also recycling all types of plastic. For this “Call for Plastic Waste” - Brightmark is working to...
08.09.2020
103. Beyond Plastic Awards
BEYONDPLASTIC has announced the 2020 award winners to those who have come up with viable alternatives to plastic pollution.
08.02.2020
102. Toxins In Our Plastic Products
Lisa Zimmerman is a Ph.D researcher in the Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology at Goethe University Frankfurt and part of the PlastX Research Group. She conducted a study called Benchmarking the in Vitro Toxicity and Chemical Composition of Plastic Consumer Products. Lisa and...
07.26.2020
101. Apocalypse Never
Michael Shellenberger joins the ZWC to talk about his new bestselling book Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. We discuss the problem of ocean plastic, highlighted in his book, but from an unusual angle - some animals have been saved...
07.20.2020
100. SUPing with Plastic Tides
Christian Shaw is one of the founders of PlasticTides.org, an organization that matches youth interested in sustainability with mentors from around the world. His goal is to combine adventure and science through SUP (stand up paddle board) expeditions, researching ocean...
07.13.2020
99. The Trouble With Glass
Glass is very popular in the zero waste world. We know it's BPA free, and we know it's not going to end up as microplastic in our environment, or leaking out into our hot beverages. But glass is difficult to...
07.06.2020
98. PFAS Forever Chemicals
Cora Young is an atmospheric and analytical environmental chemist from York University in Toronto. Chemical and News Engineering Magazine has named her to the Talented 12 list, which recognizes up-and-coming chemistry researchers and innovators who are tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues. Cora went to the...
06.29.2020
97. Pika Diapers
CEO of Pika Diapers Alon Cohen joins the ZWC to talk about his company's new diaper washing machine, making it easier for parents to use cloth instead of disposable diapers.
06.22.2020
96. Bottled Water
Rich Razgaitis is the co-founder and CEO of FloWater, a company determined to stop the horrific flow of plastic from bottled water into our environment. Find out why Rich says bottled water is the new cigarette, and how his machines are...

What's The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast episodes:

145. Mushrooms

144. Food Forward L.A.

143. Cuba

142. Northshore Apothecary

141. Stay Well With Ferm Fatale

140. NewLife Forests in Arizona

139. Riff Energy Drinks

138. Aura7 Activewear

137. Neatly Cleaning Product

136. Bay of Quinte

135. Pipelines on Indigenous Land

134.Electronic Waste With Sunnking

133. Love Zero Waste

132. Emerald Packaging

131.Zero Waste in India

130. A.I., Biotech, & Palm Oil

129. Diamonds From The Air

128. UBQ Materials

127. Open Source 3D Printing

126. NYC Fashion Designer Jussara Lee

125. Sourdough

124. Madawaska Kanu Centre

123. BC Salmon Farms

122. Urban Salmon

121. Edible Coffee Cups

120. Water For First Nations

119. Sustainable Affordable Housing

118. Carbon Tax Problems

117. Solar Oysters

116. Veteran Compost

115. Plastic in the North Sea

114. Endocrine Disruptors and Plastics

113. Holiday Shopping Ideas

112. Toxins In Bioplastic

111. Nuclear Energy

110. Keeping Produce Fresh With Hazel Tech

109. Sharing During Covid

108. How Our Grid Works

107. Rent a Romper for Kids

106. Zion Lights on Nuclear

105. Plastic And Marine Life

104. Turning Plastic Into Fuel

103. Beyond Plastic Awards

102. Toxins In Our Plastic Products

101. Apocalypse Never

100. SUPing with Plastic Tides

99. The Trouble With Glass

98. PFAS Forever Chemicals

97. Pika Diapers

96. Bottled Water