Angel West ‘19: Turning to Environmental Care in Uncertain Times

Angel West ‘19 (pictured, right) completed her first year of Media Arts Studies at Conestoga College earlier this spring and decided to join her mother, Suzi West, on an environmental cleanup project, removing litter from major roadways around Kitchener. Suzi has always been a firm believer of taking care of the planet and leaving each space she occupies in a better state than she found it. 

The family is using environmental cleanup as one way to get through the pandemic, which helps them feel positive and keeps them occupied while spending time outdoors. They’ve gathered over 100 bags of garbage since they began, receiving local news coverage along the way for their efforts. Neighbours have taken note of their do-good initiative and have joined in their clean-up quest while maintaining physical distancing measures. Angel has taken this initiative started by her mother and plans to build out a blog to increase awareness around environmental care and how to limit one’s waste. She hopes it will motivate and inspire others to help take care of the environment for everyone’s benefit. 

As a family, they believe in taking action. Suzi’s partner, Barry Hunt, is President & CEO of Cambridge-based, Prescientx. He began to focus on disinfection technologies in 2009, after 35 years of developing products and services for use in healthcare settings. Currently, he is manufacturing ​UV disinfectors that can be used to safely sanitize essential personal protective equipment​. This technology can rapidly disinfect up to 700 N95 masks per hour, making it essential to supporting those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with several other technologies that are typically chemical free, Prescientx's innovations are now widely recognized as leading at the forefront of the infection prevention industry.