Happy Earth Day!
Since 1970, April 22nd has become a monumental day in environmental activism that allows us to reflect on how our individual actions impact our environment. Activists have used Earth Day to really voice their concerns about the future of our planet and the current state of our deteriorating environment. We, as citizens and individuals, should reflect on how we can help create a cleaner environment and a more sustainable future!
As kids, we’ve learned the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce: buy less things to minimize your consumption. Reuse: purchase second-hand items or transform items for another purpose rather than throwing them away. Recycling: throw your items into a bin so that they could be collected, then transformed and manufactured into another material.
In Canada, we throw all our recyclables into one bin, which includes paper, plastic, metal, and glass. Materials like paper, cardboard, and aluminium are easy to recycle, but plastics could only be downsized -- which means that they’re just turned into cheaper products and can last in our environment for hundreds of years. This is why we should minimize our plastic consumption overall, which includes avoiding plastic bags, single-use disposable plastic cups, utensils, and so on.
Since 1970, April 22nd has become a monumental day in environmental activism that allows us to reflect on how our individual actions impact our environment. Activists have used Earth Day to really voice their concerns about the future of our planet and the current state of our deteriorating environment. We, as citizens and individuals, should reflect on how we can help create a cleaner environment and a more sustainable future!
As kids, we’ve learned the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce: buy less things to minimize your consumption. Reuse: purchase second-hand items or transform items for another purpose rather than throwing them away. Recycling: throw your items into a bin so that they could be collected, then transformed and manufactured into another material.
In Canada, we throw all our recyclables into one bin, which includes paper, plastic, metal, and glass. Materials like paper, cardboard, and aluminium are easy to recycle, but plastics could only be downsized -- which means that they’re just turned into cheaper products and can last in our environment for hundreds of years. This is why we should minimize our plastic consumption overall, which includes avoiding plastic bags, single-use disposable plastic cups, utensils, and so on.
Recycling often becomes our go-to method because there’s a strong notion that everything that we are throwing into our bins is transformed into other products, therefore not creating any waste at all. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Recyc-Quebec’s 2018 report shows that 114 000 tons of material collected for recycling that year was thrown into landfills -- that’s 11.4% of the total material collected. It is also a 2.3% increase of 2015’s 91 000 tons of rejected material.
Why is there so much rejected material?
Recyc-Quebec’s 2018 report shows that 114 000 tons of material collected for recycling that year was thrown into landfills -- that’s 11.4% of the total material collected. It is also a 2.3% increase of 2015’s 91 000 tons of rejected material.
Why is there so much rejected material?
Citizen Responsibility
Remember being told to wash out your yogurt containers or cream cheese containers before throwing them in the recycling? Well hopefully you have been doing that! Cleaning out your containers makes the jobs of the employees at the recycling centres so much easier as the container is ready to be recycled right away.
If your container is still full of cream cheese, the employees have to remove it from the conveyor belt, put it aside, maybe or maybe not rinse it out, maybe in the end throwing it into a landfill because our recycling centres are just overwhelmed with the volume of materials they’re receiving. If we as citizens do our duties and properly recycle our materials, it reduces contaminating the other surrounding material, and also increases the amount of materials actually being recycled.
Decrease value of our materials
In 2018, news broke that China will no longer be accepting foreign waste, which included Canada’s recycling material. This is due to the fact that they were receiving half of the world’s recyclables -- which is disappointing for a “first-world country” like Canada that should have developed the technology to process our own waste. Unfortunately, our government isn’t able to develop a better recycling system so it is up to us as individuals to make the change!
Also, China was receiving material that was not good quality, so they couldn’t do anything with it and manufacture it into other items. The bales of plastic, paper, and metal that Canada was sending over to China has garbage mixed into them, which like previously mentioned, contaminates the surrounding material.
Since China is no longer accepting foreign waste (which, good for them because Canada should take responsibility for our own waste…), our recycling centres are left with tons of extra material that they don’t know what to do with. This unfortunately leads some centres to go to their last resort and throw out recyclables into our landfills.
How can we help?
I’m sure we’ve all had the moment when you’re looking at an item you have in your hand and you’re not sure if it’s recyclable or not…. Don’t be afraid to look it up! Download the Ca Va Ou? App or visit Recyc-Quebec’s website which offers information on the recycling programs in the province, including a list of what’s allowed in your recycling bin. You can also visit your local Eco-Quartier in your borough to ask your recycling questions, and to find pamphlets with the do’s and don’ts of recycling.
Overall, the best thing to do is reflect on your consumption habits. We are privileged to even have a recycling program across the country, and even so to have the options of reduce and reuse, but to have a more sustainable future we need to think about our individual impacts and how to reduce our carbon footprint on this planet.
Let's try to focus more on reduce and reuse rather than recycle! Shop at second-hand stores, transform your old items yourself rather than throwing them away, and buy less! Any small action in sustainability in an important action in the long run.
Today, on Earth Day, during this quarantine, think about how you can reduce and reuse in your household! Instead of throwing out an old pair of jeans, transform them into cute new shorts. Paint some old furniture and make it look brand new instead of buying something to replace it. Reuse items that would normally be recycled improperly like plastic containers and create something with them. Think about how our landfills are quickly filling up and we are running out of space to open new ones so eventually our garbage will have nowhere to go.
By: Alessandra Szilagyi
2019 Federal Candidate, Green Party of Canada
If your container is still full of cream cheese, the employees have to remove it from the conveyor belt, put it aside, maybe or maybe not rinse it out, maybe in the end throwing it into a landfill because our recycling centres are just overwhelmed with the volume of materials they’re receiving. If we as citizens do our duties and properly recycle our materials, it reduces contaminating the other surrounding material, and also increases the amount of materials actually being recycled.
Decrease value of our materials
In 2018, news broke that China will no longer be accepting foreign waste, which included Canada’s recycling material. This is due to the fact that they were receiving half of the world’s recyclables -- which is disappointing for a “first-world country” like Canada that should have developed the technology to process our own waste. Unfortunately, our government isn’t able to develop a better recycling system so it is up to us as individuals to make the change!
Also, China was receiving material that was not good quality, so they couldn’t do anything with it and manufacture it into other items. The bales of plastic, paper, and metal that Canada was sending over to China has garbage mixed into them, which like previously mentioned, contaminates the surrounding material.
Since China is no longer accepting foreign waste (which, good for them because Canada should take responsibility for our own waste…), our recycling centres are left with tons of extra material that they don’t know what to do with. This unfortunately leads some centres to go to their last resort and throw out recyclables into our landfills.
How can we help?
I’m sure we’ve all had the moment when you’re looking at an item you have in your hand and you’re not sure if it’s recyclable or not…. Don’t be afraid to look it up! Download the Ca Va Ou? App or visit Recyc-Quebec’s website which offers information on the recycling programs in the province, including a list of what’s allowed in your recycling bin. You can also visit your local Eco-Quartier in your borough to ask your recycling questions, and to find pamphlets with the do’s and don’ts of recycling.
Overall, the best thing to do is reflect on your consumption habits. We are privileged to even have a recycling program across the country, and even so to have the options of reduce and reuse, but to have a more sustainable future we need to think about our individual impacts and how to reduce our carbon footprint on this planet.
Let's try to focus more on reduce and reuse rather than recycle! Shop at second-hand stores, transform your old items yourself rather than throwing them away, and buy less! Any small action in sustainability in an important action in the long run.
Today, on Earth Day, during this quarantine, think about how you can reduce and reuse in your household! Instead of throwing out an old pair of jeans, transform them into cute new shorts. Paint some old furniture and make it look brand new instead of buying something to replace it. Reuse items that would normally be recycled improperly like plastic containers and create something with them. Think about how our landfills are quickly filling up and we are running out of space to open new ones so eventually our garbage will have nowhere to go.
By: Alessandra Szilagyi
2019 Federal Candidate, Green Party of Canada
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