The Zero Waste Countdown Podcast

Beer is a fermented, antimicrobial, sustainable beverage that has been consumed for thousands of years. Daniel MacKinnon sat down with Laura to discuss sustainable beer making practices on his Canadian farm that's been in his family since 1784, using their own barley and local hops, and they take care of their waste responsibly. 

Right from the growing process to the reusable kegs being sanitized for decades of reuse, beer can be a sustainable beverage from start to finish.

Every year the MacKinnon farm hosts a large party for thousands of people, that also operates with minimal waste. 

Dana O’Brien, Executive VP of Food and Agriculture at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, and Andy LaVigne, President and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association discuss the biotech industry from an environmental perspective. 

Andy LaVigne, President and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association

Dana O’Brien, Executive VP of Food and Agriculture at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization

Biotech is important for feeding the world with nutrients, mitigating food waste, and developing crops that are more resilient for climate change. 

Riggs Eckelberry is the founder and CEO of the water technology company, OriginClear, which is delivering water solutions for industrial customers worldwide. OriginClear has developed and licensed an invention that treats industrial and agricultural waste water with very little energy, and no chemicals. Industrial users can treat their

Riggs is driving the disruption of the trillion-dollar big water industry that has fallen behind the times and is affecting the health of millions. Our billion-dollar centralized water systems aren’t coping with demand, and water quality is getting worse, but the solution is for businesses to do their own water treatment, using modular, prefabricated systems that are trucked right on site. They get better water quality,

Matt Daigle joins the ZWC to talk about his company Rise, a place where we can see home rebates and incentives from every province and state across America!

We talk about sustainability in New Brunswick, construction waste, efficient choices for renovations, and what it takes to become a Certified B Corp. 

What does fermentation have to do with zero waste living? Quite a bit, actually! Fermenting foods allows us to store and preserve fresh local food so we can eat healthy and reduce the packaging we'd otherwise need to buy. 

Sandor Katz is a native of New York City and a graduate of Brown University, currently living in Cannon County, Tennessee. Since 2003 when Sandor's book Wild Fermentation was published, he's taught hundreds of  fermentation workshops and has empowered others to reclaim this important transformational process. The New York Times calls Sandor “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” His latest book, The Art of Fermentation (2012), received a James Beard award and was a finalist at the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Scott Cooney is the Founder and CEO of Pono Home Essentials, an organic zero waste company born on Oahu that has recently expanded to Las Vegas, and the energy efficiency company Pono Home in Hawaii. 

His mission is to reduce waste and teach the world (not just Hawaii) on how to live in a healthier and greener home. Pono Home Essentials has a unique zero waste mission for customers to return their empty product bottles to use and Pono Home Essentials will BUY them back (this also helps customers recycle more while reducing waste). 

Scott discusses the current litter situation in Hawaii, what it's like being sustainable in the middle of the ocean, and how his company operates without waste. 

Chloe Debois, co-founder and president of Ocean Legacy Foundation, joins the ZWC to talk about her work cleaning up beaches and shorelines around the world.

They recently released a program called E.P.I.C.- Education, Policy, Infrastructure & Cleanup - a management strategy aimed to support ecologically sensitive areas and communities that are in a plastic pollution crisis. 

John Morris lives in Hong Kong and hosts his own podcast called Zero Waste Money. John gives us a glimpse into Hong Kong through a zero waste perspective and discusses his own personal purchases, and the cultural aspects of Hong Kong and waste. 

Coffee cup litter is a big problem in Canada and almost all municipal recycling facilities in Canada do not accept coffee cups in blue bins, because there's a thin layer of PET plastic on the inside of the paper cup to make it waterproof. There's a company who does recycle them though, and produces products made of recycled paper.

Renée Yardley is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sustana Group, who produces sustainable, recycled fibres and paper products. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from McGill University, and an M.A. in General Management from Harvard University.

Renée joined the ZWC in Philadelphia at the Sustainable Brands New Metrics conference in November 2019 to discuss the world of recycled paper and fibres.

More and more companies are reporting on sustainability and some stock exchanges around the world even require it to be listed. Alyson Genovese from Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sat down with Laura at the Sustainable Brands Metrics conference in Philadelphia to discuss sustainability reporting, why it matters, and why it's gaining in popularity across the world.

This episode was recorded at the Sustainable Brands Metrics conference in Philadelphia 2019. 

Music Credits: Open Those Bright Eyes Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)