Top 15 Sustainable Initiatives in Ontario

Ontario, the land of clean water. In the past years Ontario has experienced tremendous development, becoming one of the largest and most influential provinces in the country. Throughout its growth, the province was able to continuously step up as a positive influence in sustainable development. Today, we present you L’Autre Couleur’s Top 15 Sustainable Initiatives in Ontario, with hopes that these companies can inspire new up and coming companies to place as much important on the social side of the business as its financial side.

There are many more sustainable initiatives that we may have missed, so if you believe you should be in the Top 15 Sustainable Initiatives of Ontario, feel free to contact us and we will evaluate your sustainable initiative.

Top 15 Sustainable Initiatives in Ontario

1) BullFrog Power

Bullfrog power emerged on the energy scene with a visionary goal: to transform the electricity landscape in Canada. This revolutionary company has been mentioned several times in previous posts, as it supplies green power to countless enterprises around Canada trying to reduce their impact on the environment. They offered homes and businesses a green choice where previously there wasn’t one. We would easily list Bullfrog Power as one of the top 20 sustainable companies in Canada, as their broad impact positively affects the day to day of so many business across the country. Keep up the great work!!

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2) Beau’s All-Natural Beer

Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. is located between Ottawa and Montreal in the small and quaint town of Vankleek Hill. Accordingly, Beau’s is the first brewery in Canada to choose 100% green electricity and 100% natural gas with Bullfrog Power. They also currently have a partnership to support the Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op! To add to this, they are a Certified B Corp! And as if it weren’t enough, they recently launched a kickstarter campaign to help build The Rawanda Craft Brewery Project.

What is a certified B Corp?

B Corps are for-profit organizations that give as much importance to social profit as they do financial profit. Over 5 of the top 15 in this article are certified B Corps, so you can expect to see this phrase come up often in this article!

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3) Nanoleaf

Lighting uses 15-20 percent of electricity generated worldwide, making efficient lightbulbs a key tool for reducing energy consumption. Nanoleaf‘s vision is to create a better world through conservation and to preserve the planet that we love. They hope that that their designs will help to push the transition to much more efficient lighting for the world.

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4) Buncha Farmers

Founded in Keswick, Ontario, Buncha Farmers Inc. is a small and conscious company that develops organic and natural cleaning products. As its name indicates, it was initially created with 11 farmers and artisans. Presently, only two founders – Cory Besser and Iggy Natoli – along with a few employees continue the company’s warm and kindred spirit of a green and conscious lifestyle.

Having used their products personally I must say they offer the best stain remover I have ever used. It works great, smells great, and comes from natural organic sources. What else could we ask for!

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5) 100KM Foods

100km Foods Inc.’s mission is to establish a viable, dynamic and sustainable local food economy whereby chefs have access to the freshest and best products that Ontario has to offer, and Ontario producers have a dedicated channel for the sales, marketing and distribution of their products at a fair price. They are also certified by B Corporation!

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6) Province Apothecary

Province Apothecary offers natural organic high-quality skincare products. The founder, Julie Clark, started out making quality recipes in her kitchen, due to the continuous frustration of not being able to find natural skin products that could work well on her sensitive skin. Since the company started, it has seen tremendous growth, becoming a leader for organic Canadian beauty. Of course, all products are also vegan and cruelty free, so check out some her products such as the clear skin advanced spot serum!

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7) Reunion Island Coffee Roasters

Reunion Island Coffee is firmly committed to supporting sustainable coffee farming and offers a growing line of direct trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade coffees, all while working to maintain their standing as one of the most environmentally responsible coffee roasters on the continent. By expanding their direct support for farmers, NGOs working in coffee-producing countries and a wide variety of Canadian organizations, Reunion Island strives to make life incrementally better both at home and abroad.

What is the Rainforest Alliance?

Based in New York with offices all around the world, The Rainforest Alliance is a NGO working to conserve worldwide biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour for the better. Since starting, they have helped consumers make the more responsible choice, by being a guiding light in a not-so-transparent industry.

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8) Summerhill Group

Summerhill is a leading Energy Efficiency and Product Stewardship services company specializing in consumer engagement. As yet another wonderful certified B Corporation, Summerhill works with industry, business, government, associations and NGOs to deliver meaningful consumer engagement programs for their customers in an effort to make significant positive environmental and business impact and affect consumer behaviour change.

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9) Fresh City Farms

Fresh City Farms delivers local and organic food to thousands in the Toronto area each week. By farming right in the city, Fresh City changes the way people eat by bringing makers and eaters closer together. Fresh City works with a network of other local makers that are certified fair trade, local, organic and B Corporation, to provide a full and convenient grocery solution.

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10) Green Planet Bio Fuels

Green Planet Bio-Fuels is a family owned and operated business in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for the purposes of recycling waste cooking oil from restaurants, hotels, shopping centres and food manufacturers in Southern Ontario, with all oils collected being used as the feedstock of biofuel as a clean, alternative energy source.

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11) Steam Whistle Pilsner

Steam Whistle Pilsner is a sustainability star! Using solely pure spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast, all GMO-free, to brew their beer, they use unique green glass bottles which are made with 30% more glass. This means the same bottle can potentially be washed, inspected and refilled up to 45 times – about three times as many as the industry standard brown bottle. Their painted logo not only saves trees from becoming label paper, but also eliminates ink, varnish and glue from contaminating the water drained from our bottle washer.

This brewery chooses clean, renewable power with Bullfrog Power for 100% of our electricity requirements and uses bio diesel in their delivery trucks with Canada Clean Fuels Inc. and the list goes on!

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12) Yirego

Yirego is a Toronto-based innovative household design company with a focus on creating environmentally sustainable solutions through unconventional designs. We recommend you check out some of their work, as it is certain to wow you.

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13) The Eco Laundry Room

The Eco Laundry Room on Danforth’s entire venue has been designed to be energy efficient. Spanish-made ENERGY STAR rated front-loaded washers are used, using 15 gallons of water per load, compared to 23 gallons used by a standard machine. Plus, they require less soap. They paired these washers with German-made intermittent dryers, which use half the gas compared to regular models allowing clients to wash and dry their clothes in under an hour.

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14) Vision Ecoproducts Ltd.

Vision Ecoproducts Ltd. is a manufacturer of building products made from plastic that are low-cost, low-maintenance products that are practical, sustainable and made from 100% recycled materials. In traditional practices, builders used wood, aluminum, steel and metal – with VisionEcoproducts Ltd., they use a new line of exciting and environmentally friendly building products.

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15) Next Grid

In 2009 NextGrid began working with Jan Post the inventor of the Green Turbine to help bring his revolutionary micro-steam turbine technology to the North American market. Developing an affordable combined heat and power system around the Green Turbine became the relentless focus of NextGrid.

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And there you have it! L’Autre Couleur’s Top 15 Sustainable Initiatives in Ontario

L’Autre Couleur is a socially conscious content marketing & design agency that represents companies making a difference in social good & sustainability. We offer end-to-end full service in digital marketing services, ranging from content writing & web design, to social media and campaign management. To work with us on content writing or digital marketing projects, feel free to contact us!

This was the sixth of ten posts; one for every Canadian province. By the end of 2016 you can expect a Top Sustainable Initiatives article for every province of Canada! To stay updated on the up and coming initiatives, subscribe to our monthly newsletter and like us on Facebook. Also please comment if we have left out any important sustainable initiatives in Ontario that you believe should be part of the top 15, or if you have any thoughts/ comments on the article.

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