Reducing Waste in Kagawong

As seen in the previous post, Canadians create more garbage per capita than any other country in the world. We are blessed with lots of open and natural space and have very little problem finding a new spot for a landfill to bury our waste. Well Manitoulin is not quite like that. On our small island there are fewer and fewer landfills allowed to operate, and in the end, we don't really want large piles of garbage here anyway.  So how can break this habit and start producing less garbage here in Billings Township?

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Breaking Habits

There are many habits that we in North America, and specially in Canada, need to break to produce less waste. Here's a quick list:

• Not Composting: using compostable containers to mix with your food waste is a no-brainer, add some leaves and you eventually get rich soil that you can use to grow more food, or just make your gardens more lush.
• Disposable containers: containers that just go into the garbage are a huge problem. We consume food everyday and if we are throwing out the containers everyday that's a big pile of plastic, foil and treated cardboard that we then have to deal with.
• Disposable products: Buying products that can only be used one or two times is a terrible waste. Pater towels have their place, but often you could use a cloth and toss it in the laundry. Disinfecting wipes are the same. Disposable batteries are much more expensive than rechargeable ones in the end.
• Not Fixing Things: companies have gotten used to us buying cheaper products that don't last much past their warranty date. So we have gotten used to buying appliances and such more often,  creating more large waste. Better to spend a bit more, buy quality products that will last 2-3 times as long, and that can be fixed when something goes wrong. Learn who the local repair people are!

Solutions for Less Waste in Our Landfill

There are a whole variety of ways that we can reduce what's going into our landfill.  Here's a review of the basics for processing our local waste.

• Recycle all plastic and metal that you can. Every piece that gets recycled is less in our landfill.
• Don't throw bad plastics (non-recyclable ones like styrofoam, or plastic bags), or glass, into the co-mingle recycling. This becomes 'contaminated' recycling and is likely just sent to the landfill. Sorting recycling too much becomes too costly and companies don't bother. Recycle Plastics 1-6 only, so "If in doubt, keep it out."
• Remember to put all cardboard and paper together and recycle it separately.
• Use clear plastic bags so that the landfill attendant can see that you are recycling as much as possible. They have the power to refuse your waste if it's not in a clear bag.

However, make a big change is also needed to make sure we are managing our waste, and our landfill, properly. Here is a sample list of big impact actions  - maybe try one or two for now, or jump in and try for all of them!

1. Compost: Fill out the Billings Compost Survey here! About 25-30% of our waste is compostable. On an island without much depth of soil, this is gold going to waste. Find out more about how to compost and start! Speak to your neighbours that are already doing it, or just give them your compost because they are likely happy to take it! This is by far, the easiest and most impact we can have to reduce dangerous waste in our landfill. The compost isn't the dangerous part, but the water in compost will spread other dangerous chemicals from leaching away.
2. Buy products with better packaging: Avoid plastic containers whenever possible, but if you have to try and buy plastics 1 &2 as they are the most recyclable. Some modern 'plastics' are also biodegradable and can be composted. Sometimes simple choices are quite different though such as margarine vs butter. Margarine comes in plastic, but butter can come in different types of foil - choosing well can reduce waste! Also, try bringing reuse-able bags for groceries and your produce. Buying in bulk can help too with reuse-able containers.  Image Source
3. Force yourself to go the landfill less: See what you can do to reduce creating your own garbage. Everyone's lives are a bit different and ways to cut down on waste can be as well. So see if you can only go every 2nd or 3rd week, and find ways to create less waste overall so you only need one bag each time you go.
4. Talk to others: We all share in the burden of creating waste, and the benefit of still having a working landfill. So we all need to think about waste more, and ways to minimize it. Talk to your friends and neighbours about the issue and discuss ways you're producing less waste. Spread the word and raise awareness. Also, speak to local businesses and compliment them on ways that they are already making a difference. Spread the impact and change will come faster.

As Canadians, we should think about the waste we produce. It isn't a fun topic, but since we are the worst waste producers in the world on a per capita basis, then we need to get serious about it. All the details can be confusing, but remember, it still comes down to the big 'Rs' (in order): Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. So let's 'Rethink' about some of how our habits so we don't keep making huge amounts of garbage for our landfill.