Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

What's better: thin plastic shopping bags or reusable sturdy plastic bags? Uhh... neither?

A little part of me dies on the inside every time I see someone at the grocery store not only ask for plastic shopping bags, but also ask to have the bags doubled up because the contents are so heavy. I can't really blame them: the plastic seems to get thinner and thinner every year, but a sack of potatoes still weighs as much as it ever did! The question is, why do some people refuse to get with the program and use those sturdy plastic reusable shopping bags?

There are, sadly, many impediments. For one, reusable bags don't fit into briefcases and purses - forget spontaneous visits to the grocery store on the way home from work, except to amass more thin plastic bags. Those who drive don't fare any better, with reusable bags often forgotten in the backseat or trunk. I've also heard that some people like thin plastic bags because they can use them to line their household garbage bins, thereby avoiding the purchase of brand new bags for that singular purpose. And at least here in Toronto, traditional shopping bags are recyclable with our blue bin program, provided you use one bag to hold all of the others so they don't get lost in the shuffle - literally.

I can think of a few other, less common reasons for disliking reusable sturdy plastic bags, such as the fact that they are made in China. We ship our plastic items around the world to be recycled into reusable bags, then ship the final product around the world again to sell them here at home. Wow. That's one helluva carbon footprint. True, one container ship can hold millions of bags, so each individual bag doesn't carry much of the blame, but we still believe it's important to use CFL bulbs despite their minimal impact when examined individually!

And then there's, for me, the kicker: reusable sturdy plastic bags pile up just like everything else. Ironically, because it seems so wrong to throw them away, I hoard the little buggers and stash them like I'm secretly ashamed of them. The same fate awaits not only reusable grocery store bags, but also the ones that you can get at the book shop, clothing boutique, and shoe store. These days, I don't leave home without one of these purse-friendly reusable bags, so I have a clear conscience, but of course the old bags from years ago are still sitting, barely used, in my closet. Occasionally, new ones are added to the collection when friends bring food and drink with them when visiting me and refuse to take the empty bags back home with them upon leaving. And so the plastic accumulates in one form or another, even in an eco-friendly household, and in trying to generate less waste, the Western world still manages to create waste.

How many reusable sturdy plastic bags are collecting dust in your home, despite your best intentions?


Photo of plastic bag recycling station used under Creative Commons from Sam Felder (flickr).
Photo of plastic bag caught in tree used under Creative Commons from zen Sutherland (flickr).

Green Habits

What makes us conserve water and energy, divert waste from landfills, and choose alternatives over the car? How does Canada stack up to other countries? The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) took a stab at answering these questions with a survey in 2008. 10,000 people were polled in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The results are in, and The Globe and Mail designed some colourful graphics to help explain it all. I thought it might be neat to get your comments on some of the interesting points in the report.

Water

• Canadians and Mexicans use about twice as much water per person as residents of France and the Czech Republic.

I'm assuming this has something to do with our water-intensive industries like agriculture, coal and nuclear power plants, manufacturing, and my favourite: the tar sands. These industries grow disproportionately quickly as compared to our population size because we export so much food, energy, and oil.

• The most common household water-saving device in Canada is the low-flow shower head, compared with water-efficient washing machines, showers, and toilets in Australia and Korea.

Shower heads are cheaper and easier to install. I wonder if that's the reason for this discrepancy? Or does this have more to do with the fact that Canadians are delusional about how much water we have? Just because the Great Lakes are, well, great, doesn't justify wasting water.

• When people have to pay for household water use, consumption drops by 20%.

I know that those who are charged for water tend to conserve it, but I didn't realize the margin was so great. With that in mind, why aren't we charging for it if everyone already has to pay for power? This is probably why people are more likely to save energy than water - I bet there are more compact fluorescent bulbs than low-flow shower heads in Canada!

Energy

• In Canada, only half as many people use thermal insulation compared to efficient light bulbs, and even fewer have installed efficient furnaces.

This is a sad statistic, since the biggest proportion of household electricity use in Canada goes towards heating. I wish more people knew that you don't have to commit to a complex renovation project to better insulate your home - just buy a winter weatherizing kit for your windows!

• Hydro bill = conservation of electricity.

I look forward to the day when tenants in multi-unit buildings pay for the power they use. I can't stand hearing people boast that they waste electricity because they don't have to pay for it.

• Most homeowners aren't willing to pay much more for renewable energy.

And they shouldn't have to! I've said this many times before: if the things we consume were priced according to their full life cycle cost, from resource depletion, to energy and water use during manufacturing, to the disposal of toxic substances, then conventional energy sources such as coal would be expensive, while wind power would be affordable.

Waste

• Canada, Australia, and Sweden recycle twice as many products as the Czech Republic and Mexico.

As a Toronto resident, I'm very thankful for the City's hard work in this area. The number of things I can recycle is astounding, and while this doesn't make up for consuming too much, it's a good start.

• Young people produce 10% more garbage than their parents.

Why? They don't have to pay for the trash they produce? They look cool with a branded, single-use paper coffee cup in their hand? The media bombards them with messages that associate consumption with sexiness/happiness?

• Canadians are better at properly disposing of used batteries than expired medication.

 I hope events like the City of Toronto's Community Environment Days will help balance out those numbers. Improperly discarded prescription medication finds its way into our drinking water!

Transportation

• When commuting, the proportion of Koreans using public transportation is almost as large as the proportion of Canadians driving cars (around 50%).

I think we can all agree that most transit systems in this country need some work. I don't get why provincial and federal levels of government aren't helping out more.

• People state they would use public transportation if it were faster and cheaper, and they want transit stops no farther than 15 minutes from their homes.

Sounds reasonable. We need better infrastructure in suburban areas, or better yet, we need to stop developing the sprawl!

• On average, a 20% spike in gas prices would prompt motorists to cut back on their driving by 8%.

This is funny, because driving 120 km/h on the highway instead of 100 km/h represents a 20% increase in fuel consumption. Just saying...

You might be interested in reading the full article or the OECD report. The graphics are quite useful. Make sure to come back to this post afterwards - please help me make sense of some of these stats!


Photo credits: water droplet; wind turbine; landfill; traffic.

Trash-Talking... in a Good Way

It's always bothered me that we don't take waste generation seriously - after all, it's not often we think about what happens to trash once we put it out on the curb. Out of sight, out of mind, anyone? When you read the word "landfill", you probably conjure a mental image of a mound of dirty, smelly stuff, but do you ever think about where it is? Do you know where the landfills are located in your area?

Living in Toronto, that has been an easy question to answer: Michigan! But not anymore. As of two weeks ago, our garbage is staying in-province! The best part: it's called Green Lane, which makes me think of ponies on a meadow, with flowers and butterflies. Wee! Interestingly, this landfill is equipped with a methane gas collection and flaring system. I'm not sure how this is possible without housing the trash indoors, but I'm happy to hear that the emissions will be used to generate electricity. While this is not exactly what I had in mind when I heard Ontario will be phasing out its coal-fired power plants and relying more on alternative sources of electricity, it's better than letting the landfill fumes directly contribute to global warming (methane is much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide). Just don't use this as an excuse to avoid practising waste diversion!

In other trashy (but good) news, Vermont has become the 27th US state to ban electronic waste from its landfills. It's always a good idea to keep lead, mercury, and cadmium away from, well, every living thing! Toxic chemicals like these can mix in with that nasty sludge created by mountains of garbage, and this concoction seeps into the ground, then leaches into groundwater. To make an electronic waste landfill ban effective, proper disposal of the toxic products must be cost-effective and convenient. Vermont has opted for a free recycling program paid for by manufacturers, discouraging the public from illegal dumping and providing an incentive for electronics companies to reduce the amount of hazardous materials in their devices in the long run. What's next? Ensuring the e-waste is disposed of properly and on domestic soil, not shipped overseas to be taken apart in ways that hurt workers and the environment.

While Ontario has not put an electronic waste ban in place, the City of Toronto encourages its safe recycling and provides free curbside pickup of unwanted devices. Check out the spoof video ad:



For more details, read the City of Toronto media release about the Green Lane Landfill and the Associated Press article about the electronic waste landfill ban.

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum...

Walking home from my trip to the post office today I noticed a number of my neighbours have dragged their Christmas trees to the curb, in time for tomorrow morning's garbage pick-up... and the first of two Christmas tree collection days in January!

Don't mock me, I'm allowed to be excited about this. You see, according to the City of Toronto's Waste Wizard, Christmas trees must be removed of all decorations and placed on the curb as is (i.e., not in a bag), as the trees will be shredded and turned into compost. What a good deal!

Please check your collection calendar to find out the dates for your neighbourhood, and if you live elsewhere, I strongly urge you to do the requisite research for your area! Don't just dump your tree with the rest of your trash. It will only end up on a landfill, and that will make me sad.

Photo credit.

No Impact Week: Day 2 - Trash

This week I'm experimenting with No Impact Week, exploring some of my past successes at decreasing my carbon footprint and generating even better ideas for the future. My goal is to challenge myself to redo the week later this year when it will have the greatest impact on my day-to-day life. Click here for a review of Day 1 - Consumption.

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Day 2 - Trash

It's funny how I unconsciously renamed the second day of this experiment; I called it "Waste" instead of "Trash" at the end of yesterday's post and almost did the same again today. While it's true that throwing so much stuff in the garbage is a big problem that we're ignoring (when was the last time you visited a landfill?), it's important to scrutinize what goes in your blue and green bins, too. Of course any waste diversion is better than none, but minimizing our overall waste generation, whether blue, green, or black, is better. In other words, it's time for a waste audit!

Day 2 of No Impact Week called for examining the contents of a bag that I was supposed to fill with my "trash" from Day 1. Once again I should remind you that I'm not really participating this week, as it's too abnormal compared to my usual routine. Case in point: I stayed home on Day 1. Not bringing anything new to my place meant not opening any packages, not using any bags, and not accumulating receipts. My breakfast was toast, cut from a loaf of bread purchased on December 31st and brought home in a reusable shopping bag, and spread with peanuts-only peanut butter from a glass jar. Since I don't cut away the crust (who does that?!) and ate both slices of toast completely, no waste was generated. Lunch and dinner were leftovers from lots of big meals over the holidays, resulting in dishes and utensils that needed to be washed, but not much else. Between the meals? I read books, watched DVDs I had previously borrowed from a friend, had conversations on the phone and in person, and played games. Keep in mind that Day 1 of No Impact Week fell on January 2nd, a Sunday firmly wedged between two vacation days. Definitely not a normal waste generating day for me.

If I had to highlight areas I can - and will - improve on, then these are my top 5:

• Start carrying a reusable food container and utensils with me wherever I go, to complement my water bottle and insulated thermos. If I can't finish my meal at a restaurant, I won't need a styrofoam clamshell. If I can't avoid a quick lunch at a food court, I will at least be able to decline taking a plastic fork, knife, and/or spoon. I can even cut up an old shirt into many pieces and always carry one with me to use as a napkin, then wash them all at the end of the week.

• Invest in organic cotton produce bags for grocery trips. Often, I'll place certain fruits and veggies directly into my reusable shopping bag, then once at home, I'll reuse old plastic produce bags to store these items in the fridge. But purchasing a dozen apples at a time doesn't lend itself well to this procedure. So, instead of loading them into new plastic produce bags, I will start bringing my own to the store!

• Reduce the number of garbage bins in my home to two: one in the kitchen, and one in the bathroom. Then, increase the number of bins for compostable facial tissues such that there is one in each room! Most non-reusable, non-recyclable, non-compostable items are found in the kitchen and bathroom (if any of you come up with a reuse for floss, I'm all ears), while every other room generates virtually only facial tissue trash - which is green bin friendly where I live. By keeping these two streams as separate as possible, I can maximize my landfill diversion.

• Plan meals around what's in the fridge to avoid having to compost food that has gone bad. I'm actually really ashamed that this happens. Sometimes I cook a big meal too soon before leaving town for the weekend, and it's inedible when I get home. Other times I excitedly pick up some interesting groceries, then forget them at the back of the fridge until I notice them again for "that smell". I'd like to design some sort of a spreadsheet (laminated, to be used with dry-erase markers) that keeps track of the inventory of the fridge, including the dates on which certain items were purchased and cooked. That would make it a lot easier to use up food before it goes to waste.

• Buy groceries at my local farmers' market more often to avoid excessive packaging. This goes hand in hand with my second point about reusable produce bags! There are some veggies that automatically come with packaging in some stores. For instance, my local grocer carries imported spinach that has been pre-washed in a facility that subsequently places the greens in clear plastic containers. Why not instead purchase locally-grown spinach from a nearby farm with my shiny new cotton produce bags?

I'm glad to have discovered a few more simple actions, which, taken together, can noticeably lower my carbon footprint. Although it's comforting to know that I can recycle and compost most of the things I throw out, the best strategy of all is not to bring so much stuff home to begin with!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my thoughts on Day 3 - Transportation.

Photo credits: landfill compactor and cat with tissues.

What I've Been Up To, Part I

I've been too busy to take photos of what I've been up to, and that's too bad. I'll have to paint a picture for you using 1,000 words - or maybe fewer, since these days hardly anyone has an attention span that long anymore! Here is the first installment:

Community Environment Days

From my childhood I remember when my mom used to drive to the parking lot adjacent to our local public pool and drop off used batteries, paint cans, and fluorescent light bulbs. Naturally, this occurred on hazardous waste collection days - she wasn't just dumping the junk! While the concept has been around for some time, I was quite impressed with the City of Toronto's Community Environment Days, at which I had the privilege of volunteering a few weeks ago. Ironically, the parking lot area devoted to household waste drop-off was set up in such a way that you could drive along a U-shaped route, pausing at each station to hand over your items with the appropriate department. Why on earth was idling encouraged at an environmental event? I have no idea.

Besides the drive-through setup and resulting unnecessary vehicle emissions, I have to say everything else about the E-Day was satisfactory at worst and excellent at best. First along the route was the electronics station, where "anything with a cord except for air conditioners" was accepted. I saw TVs, computers, printers, telephones, cell phones, cameras, and stereos being dropped off, and their component parts will be reused if still functional or recycled if broken. As my role at the event was to direct residents based on what they had brought, I was standing next to the electronics station toward the start of the route at the two-stroke engine drop-off, which accepted gas or electric lawn mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws in return for a gift certificate to Canadian Tire! Good deal, I tell you.

Next were Toronto Water and Live Green Toronto booths, where residents could purchase rain barrels, indoor water efficiency kits, backyard composters, green bins, and kitchen containers. The latter two could be taken home for free in exchange for damaged ones. Every resident was also invited to help themselves to a few shovelfuls of leaf compost and take a garden waste bag home for curbside pickup once filled. Other household items in good condition were also being accepted for reuse, and by that I mean things like clothing, eyeglasses, dishes, sports equipment, books, etc. Additionally, art supplies and dress-up clothes were collected for donation to local schools.

Last, but based on the line-up, definitely not least, was the hazardous waste station. I saw the "usuals", like my mom's old batteries, paint, and light bulbs, but was happily surprised that people also knew to bring propane tanks, mercury-containing thermometers, expired medication, cleaning supplies, and motor oil for safe disposal. I think the entire contents of my dad's old garage could have been dropped off at this station!

To sum up my feelings about the Community Environment Day, I'll say this: it offers the second-best solution to one-stop-shopping (besides not doing it in the first place). Everyone seemed so happy to be able to purge carloads of stuff from their homes, and to do so all in one place! Hardly anyone had to go home with items that were not accepted, and the staff on hand were able to direct residents as to where those things would be taken. This was a well-organized event at a location with ample space for all of the stations, cars, cyclists, pedestrians, and pets that showed up. Well done, City of Toronto.

• Community Environment Days occur all over the place within the city (I believe there is one per ward). To find one in your area (there are two more this year, then the program will run again as of April 2011), check out the schedule. 
• To read a full list of what is accepted at the E-Days, check out the details here.

Happy waste diversion!

Biodegradable materials are sitting in landfills, and that sucks.

Only two posts in and already there's a recurring theme in my blog: when people don't buy reusable water bottles and travel mugs, they often justify their consumption by proclaiming that plastic bottles are recyclable and (some) paper cups are biodegradable. "I'm doing my part", they say while complimenting the local corporate coffee house for bringing in those new recycling stations (don't get me wrong, I'm glad they've taken that step). We need to work harder at educating each other about what works and what doesn't when it comes to waste diversion initiatives, and make sure certain issues are being properly addressed.

Let's think about those fancy new biodegradable paper and plastic cups that can be found popping up at the office, often for catered meetings. My first concern is that the shiny green "biodegradable" label may only suggest that some fraction of the material can break down (which also makes me wonder if they used vegetable-based ink?), or worse yet, that the item could take centuries to decompose. I'd rather not even consider the possibility that some products marketed as biodegradable could break down only to release harmful toxins. As far as I know, there is no official definition for the term, no standards for making a biodegradable claim, and no regulatory body to separate the good from the bad and the ugly.

Another issue with these feel-good cups is what happens to them after the water and coffee has been consumed and the meeting is over. Off the top of your head, how many compost bins have you spotted scattered around your office building? I'm willing to bet the number is smaller than one for most of you. I'm also willing to bet that a lot of people out there think this is a non-issue, ignorant of the fact that the fate of a biodegradable cup is not so glorious when mixed with plain old garbage. Trash is compacted so tightly that biodegradation, if it occurs at all, takes place very slowly because of the anaerobic conditions of the landfill it ends up on. Add to that a relative lack of light and water in the middle of the heap, and a definite lack of the microorganisms that actually perform the biodegrading magic, and what we're left with is lettuce from the 1960's that has not decomposed. Ew.

The alternative? Bring biodegradable items home for municipal curbside green bin pick-up, which, unfortunately, is not without its share of problems. This program was designed with two important facts in mind: (1) people are prone to laziness, and (2) people can be easily motivated by money. I happen to believe in the universal application of these tenets - because I'm often one of those people! There are lots of communities where residents now have to pay if they set out too many garbage bags for collection (threat of losing money), which encourages waste diversion actions like separating compostables from inert trash. So, in the absence of a burning desire to get dirty in the backyard with a garden compost bin and so many possible uses for healthy soil (threat of physical activity - let's face it, we all like getting sweaty at the gym and only at the gym), people happily fill their little curbside green bins. Out of sight, out of mind, as is so often the case. Let's pretend there haven't been issues with organics sent to landfills because they were held in non-biodegradable plastic bags and simply because workers have been mixing them with regular trash.

But once again I'm letting my cynicism get the better of me. Every new program, green or otherwise, is implemented with lots of kinks that need to be ironed out, and eventually they will be. In the meantime, talk to your employer about setting up a composting program at work, or approach your condo board about getting in on the municipal organics collection program. If you're really keen, show up at the management office of your local mall and demand that they commit to setting up green bins alongside the recycling bins in the food court.


As for me, in September I look forward to moving out of my overpriced high-rise apartment and into a walk-up with a friendlier landlord in a quieter neighbourhood. There are many reasons for making this change, including the prospect of setting up a composter on the property and encouraging my new neighbours to help me turn vegetable scraps - and the occasional biodegradable cup - into rich soil. Next summer, get ready for backyard tomatoes!

Learn the 3Rs again, for the first time.

You know what sucks? There are people out there who feel good about themselves for recycling only a fraction of the items they bring into their homes, and stop there. Recycling was never meant to be used as an easy way to be environmentally-friendly. Technically speaking, it's the second worst thing to do with garbage besides dumping it on a landfill (with the exception of burning it, I guess). But I guess it's appealing to take the relatively easy step of separating paper, glass, (some) plastics, and (some) metals from the rest of the trash. For many people, once it's in a blue bin, it's out of mind, and it's "job well done".

But the well-done job has unsavoury side-effects. How much water is used to turn paper back into pulp? Or to clean a glass bottle well enough to be refilled? How much energy is used to melt down plastics and metals? How clean is the energy powering the plant? There are different reports out there, some claiming recycling is more energy-efficient than manufacturing products from raw materials, but there are so many factors that need to be taken into account (type of material, process used, fuel efficiency of vehicles used in weekly curbside pickups, etc.) that it's almost impossible to decide which option is better. The bottom line is that both are wasteful compared to reducing consumption and reusing items within the home.

I'm sure this is all old hat to everyone. What really prompted me to write about the downsides of recycling is the unsettling news that the city I live in sells a significant amount of its recycling to China, where the local cheap labour force sorts and recycles it into things like shoes, which are then shipped back across the ocean and sold to us (because last year's styles are so... last year). What a convenient little system that supports poverty halfway across the world - perhaps I need to start a second blog that comments on the intersection of environmental issues and social injustice? Back to my point: I realize building a brand new recycling plant here is no small matter and probably quite expensive, but I tend to be the kind of person who hopes that creating jobs and supporting the local economy is more important. There I go being idealistic again...

My hope is that we can educate each other on recycling and realize that it's not the solution. I hate hearing people say, "at least I can recycle it" when they buy a bottle of water, as though that makes everything better. Of course, at the end of the day, I'd rather see an empty soft drink can in a blue bin than a trash can! But that's mainly because we know conclusively that recycling aluminum is much less energy-intensive that refining it from scratch. Not so for many other products. I'm just hoping we continually remind ourselves that recycling is the last and least beneficial of the 3Rs. It's a good starting point, but that's all it is.

So, to recap: first, reduce consumption. Buy less, and when you do buy, choose products with less packaging and carry them home in reusable bags (preferably not the ones made in China). Second, reuse items, whether for the same function (travel mug) or a new one (repurposing clothing as rags for cleaning). You can also regift and even upcycle useless scraps of material into higher quality products. Then, once you run out of clever and creative ideas, by all means, recycle instead of trashing your stuff!