A new way to look at waste and sustainability

Volunteers from the Calvary Church weave old milk bags into weather-resistant mats for unhoused people at the RE:Connect event. (Photo: Gabe Pollock)

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Hello, and welcome to the Peterborough Currents email newsletter!

It’s Currents co-editor Gabe Pollock here. This week, I attended Peterborough’s “inaugural circular economy event,” and learned what exactly that means. It was an unusual (and often inspiring) assembly of people and organizations, all exploring new ways to use the resources we already have and reduce the amount we throw away.

Plus: it’s Halloween, and out of the Peterborough Currents crypts we’re resurrecting a classic story by Diane Robnik about the rowdy history of local Halloweens past.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween!

Offering an alternate way to think about waste and sustainability

by Gabe Pollock

An unusual assembly gathered at the Morrow Building this Wednesday, including environmental non-profits, vintage clothing retailers, rental shops, recycling groups, upcycling artisans, and housing advocates, among others.

What united them all was a shared commitment to sustainability and finding innovative uses for what we already have.

This was RE:Connect, dubbed Peterborough’s “inaugural circular economy event,” which was scheduled to coincide with October’s Circular Economy Month.

The circular economy is a way of rethinking our economy to consider the value of resources beyond their initial consumer use. Far beyond “the three Rs” of sustainability, presenters at the event talked about “the ten Rs,” including: respect, refuse, reduce, reuse, renew, recycle, responsibility, rethink, replant, and restore.

“When I have abundance and I share it, we all have what we need,” says Christina Balint of local sustainability charity GreenUP. “We will never be left wanting, if we think about it like that.”

“What I’ve loved most out of all of this,” says Steve Paul, “is the ability to make partnerships and collaborations.” (Photo: Gabe Pollock)

At the centre of it all is organizer Steve Paul. In 2024, Paul founded Clean Up Peterborough and started organizing litter pickup events in the community.

“We couldn’t do cleanups in the winter,” explains Paul, “so I pivoted to recycling and thinking about ways we could get involved in the circular economy.”

He started working with local organizations, including OPIRG, the social justice activism group, and Repair Cafe, who organize regular events where people can bring broken items to have them repaired by volunteer experts.

Jen Naus of Studio 45 puts her skills as a costume designer into creating zero-waste fashion, transforming items like terrycloth towels and pillow cases into shirts and bags. (Photo: Gabe Pollock)

In addition to vendors, demonstrations, and information booths, the event also served as a drop-off point for items that are normally difficult to recycle, including batteries, print cartridges, coffee pods, pill bottles, and pet food packaging. RE:Connect partnered with organizations that can take these items in, break them down properly, and find uses for them.

The tagline for RE:Connect was, “Where community and circularity meet,” and Paul emphasizes the importance of a full community effort to address ecological crises and find abundance.

The City and County of Peterborough have both been enthusiastic partners in his work, and both were present at the event. Paul notes that, based on current estimates, the Peterborough landfill at Bensfort Road will reach maximum capacity in under 10 years, so we need innovative solutions and community action now.

One person’s junk … can be a child’s treasure

The rowdy Halloweens of Peterborough’s early day

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young people waged a “dark onslaught” of pranks and mischief every Halloween. It led to a crackdown by Peterborough’s early police force.

by Diane Robnik

It is Halloween, and that means communing with the spirits of the dead. From our story crypt we dig up Diane Robnik’s 2024 article on the rowdy history of Halloweens past. Victorian boys prowling the city lobbing rocks at people sounds sincerely and truly terrifying. After the City introduced a parade, the celebration became more pleasant, more focused on costumes, and more gender inclusive.

Read the article