Green Committee members have been eagerly promoting Eco friendly initiatives over the past while by inviting involvement in agency and community projects.

The clothing swap at Aegis had a great turn out of folks who were able to update their wardrobes while passing on those items that they no longer wanted. Twenty large bags of clothing were donated and at the end of the "free shop" only 4 bags were left.  These were donated to a local charity, so this event has been deemed a great recycling success!  Part of the appeal was the Tim Hortons Community Cruiser, which everyone partook in the sweets and coffee!  The Green Committee plans to organize another clothing swap in the near future, we will keep you posted as to the details.

The Great Canadian Shore Clean-up was a fun, "feel like a part of the solution" experience. Although we didn't have a large turn out of participation, those who did show up for this annual event enjoyed the challenge of gathering the items on the list for recycling and collecting data for research purposes.   Even though our contribution to preserving the food chain was a small one, it felt good to be a part of a nation wide project dedicated to reducing waste and creating awareness. Persons served who participated in this event are excited about joining in the cleanup next year!

With Christmas fast approaching, the Green Committee would like to share a few environmentally friendly tips.

• LED Chirstmas lights come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours for all your decorating needs
• Putting lights on timers is an easy solution to saving some energy
• Cloth Christmas bags and dollar store bags are a great idea for gift wrapping - they can be reused many times.
• Recycling old Christmas cards into labels for gifts Recycling old wrapping paper into paper chains for the tree
• Purchasing gifts with little or no packaging greatly reduce the waste into the landfills.  
• Thinking about the gift ahead of time and where it will end up also helps reduce the environmental waste!

If you have any recycling tips for the Green Committee, we would be happy to pass these along. Email the Green Committee at greenpowercomittee@mapcl.org

Merry Christmas and keep recycling!