Citizens taking action ~ Vancouver, Lower Mainland, and beyond.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

How about some junkets to the Maritimes?


Mary-Em Wadding of Computers for Schools wrote this about her observations on a recent trip to the Maritimes:


Hi Everyone – I just returned from a trip to the Maritimes and was pretty impressed with what I saw out there in terms of home recycling and composting options for the residents in PEI and Nova Scotia.

New Brunswick had a program similar to BC with the exception of glass, which is land-filled there.
[Ed Note: landfilling glass is not so dumb. The glass we recycle is not "recycled" into new glass but "downcycled" into sand and gravel substitute. This is a complete write-off on all the energy used to create the glass. The only really good use of glass is in refillable bottles ~ as is still done by Canada's beer industry.]

My hostess in PEI had a little waste can in the bathroom and a bigger can for compost! For tissues and other assorted paper products etc, a very active green organics collection program, and their local recycling plant had a wind turbine on the roof!

All kitchen scrap is collected in Nova Scotia, and many of the fast-food restaurants have bins for both waste and compost available for consumers to use after their meals – see the photo. (not that they were used without confusion as to what went where, but I didn’t take a picture of inside the waste containers).

Perhaps Metro shouldn’t be sending politicians to Sweden to look at waste-to-energy. It seems a trip to the Maritimes might prove a better example at moving towards zero waste. If they can do it, why can’t we?

Monday, July 6, 2009

Composting in Montreal?


Instead of complaining when the city wouldn't provide food waste composting, Montrealler Steve McLeod stepped in and filled the void.

For $5/week, Compost Montreal provides you with a bucket to collect your greenwaste. You put the bucket on your porch once a week. He picks it up, empties it and installs a nice clean liner ready to be filled again. As if that weren't enough, once a year you get back a big load of compost for your own yard.

The city's parks department is part of the program, providing the facility for processing the food waste.

Read this 2008 write-up from CBC. I'll post more details after I contact them.