Our Story
Hi all…l’d like to tell you how I got to where I am today.
After owning several take-out restaurants for over twenty years, I’ve seen a lot of waste; especially in
the form of single-use plastics. Naturally, we would always include napkins, forks and plastic bags,
not to mention single-serve bottles.
This is what customers expected...or is that the way should it be? I always felt there needed to
be a better way. So, our restaurants moved away from single-use take-out containers and went to
durable ones; the kind you could freeze and use in the microwave. They were even dishwasher safe.
But I felt like this still wasn’t enough. There had to be an even better way.
It was always in the back of my mind, and after I retired from the restaurant business, I had time to
think and do some research. That question was lingering there...What is the better way?
In my research I couldn’t believe the statistics. It was much worse than I actually thought. Did you
know...
Every year Canadians throw away over 3 million tonnes of plastic waste. This represents up to
$8 billion per year in lost value and wastes valuable resources and energy.
About one-third of plastics used in Canada are for single-use or short-lived products and
packaging. In fact, up to 15 billion plastic bags are used every year, and close to 57 million
straws are used daily.
Every year 1 million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals worldwide are injured or die when
they mistake plastic for food or become entangled.
Globally, one garbage truckload of plastic waste enters the ocean every minute, and that
amount is increasing steadily.
Over the last 25 years, nearly 800,000 volunteers have removed over 1.3 million kilograms of
trash from across Canada’s shorelines through Ocean Wise and World Wildlife Fund’s Great
Canadian Shoreline Cleanup program, supported by the Government of Canada. The most
commonly littered items on our shorelines are single-use or short-lived products, many made
of plastics.
So, I knew I had to find a way to Help! This is how ireuse2 was born.
After owning several take-out restaurants for over twenty years, I’ve seen a lot of waste; especially in
the form of single-use plastics. Naturally, we would always include napkins, forks and plastic bags,
not to mention single-serve bottles.
This is what customers expected...or is that the way should it be? I always felt there needed to
be a better way. So, our restaurants moved away from single-use take-out containers and went to
durable ones; the kind you could freeze and use in the microwave. They were even dishwasher safe.
But I felt like this still wasn’t enough. There had to be an even better way.
It was always in the back of my mind, and after I retired from the restaurant business, I had time to
think and do some research. That question was lingering there...What is the better way?
In my research I couldn’t believe the statistics. It was much worse than I actually thought. Did you
know...
Every year Canadians throw away over 3 million tonnes of plastic waste. This represents up to
$8 billion per year in lost value and wastes valuable resources and energy.
About one-third of plastics used in Canada are for single-use or short-lived products and
packaging. In fact, up to 15 billion plastic bags are used every year, and close to 57 million
straws are used daily.
Every year 1 million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals worldwide are injured or die when
they mistake plastic for food or become entangled.
Globally, one garbage truckload of plastic waste enters the ocean every minute, and that
amount is increasing steadily.
Over the last 25 years, nearly 800,000 volunteers have removed over 1.3 million kilograms of
trash from across Canada’s shorelines through Ocean Wise and World Wildlife Fund’s Great
Canadian Shoreline Cleanup program, supported by the Government of Canada. The most
commonly littered items on our shorelines are single-use or short-lived products, many made
of plastics.
So, I knew I had to find a way to Help! This is how ireuse2 was born.
Nikki Buchannon
Founder of ireuse2