Progress and Driving in neutral
A lot can happen in five years. Hey at our school a lot can happen in
five minutes. But let’s keep the focus on zero waste. When this project
started back in 2002, the big push was for all households to get the
three stream system. The Blue/Grey box already existed but it’s expanded
to take even more products. You can check out our links page to see the
items you can now recycle. One big improvement is that you can now
recycle any product from #1-7. Back in 2002, you could put out over 6
bags of garbage a week (CRAZY). Now you can put out up to 6 bags every
two weeks. That’s a little better, but still a large amount in our eyes.
The biggest improvement since 2002 has been that all households now have
the Green Bin. All your organics can be kept out of the garbage. Pop
quiz: Does your garbage smell? If you answered, yes, there’s a problem.
It shouldn’t. Most of the products that USED to make your garbage smell
should now be in the green bin.
Of course while we think the green bin is absolutely awesome, a big
problem is that apartments and condos still don’t have it. It’s partly the
fault of the apartment and condo owners who aren’t making it easier to
recycle and compost by where they put the bins, and it’s partly the fault of
tenants who can’t be bothered separating their garbage. They figure that no
one will find out that they are not recycling and composting. Good news is
that the city is going to try and force apartments and condos to start
recycling and composting more by taxing them for excess garbage. In the mean
time, the bad news is that there is a whole lot of organic waste that still
ends up in the landfill.
The other thing that really needs to change is our packaging. If you’re
actually using the green bin and blue box properly, think about what’s left
for your garbage? Packaging. We have lots of problems with packaging, and
you can read more about it in our next section. Don’t stop now, you’re
learning lots. Go get yourself a snack and read on!
|
