Waste Diversion and You: Remember the four R's!

Part one in a three-part series

In a lifetime, the average North American will throw away 600 times their adult weight in garbage. For a fighting-fit, 150-pound person, that’s a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash.

In Canada, it’s estimated that 80 percent of our municipal and industrial solid waste heads to the landfill. Paper and cardboard make up a third of our waste, while another third consists of yard and kitchen scraps.

Not only does that spell trouble on the greenhouse gas front—landfills account for about 20 percent of U.S. methane emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) —but it’s also a big-time waste of energy.

Depending on the product—glass, paper, cardboard, plastics, aluminum—we can save anywhere from 25 to 95 percent of the energy it would take to produce more of the same from virgin materials, just by recycling.

In many municipalities, businesses will soon face mandatory composting rules as waste diversion legislation takes effect.

How can your household do its part? Simple—by applying common sense, maintaining a concerted effort, and keeping in mind the four R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle, respond). By using some of the tips and tricks below, you can help out by creating less waste to begin with.

Read on to find out how you can make a difference on the waste diversion front—and watch for future instalments in our Waste Diversion and You series!

Reduce

• Choose long-lasting items rather than disposable products
• Avoid excess packaging by purchasing large containers instead of multiple small ones, buying concentrates, and buying in bulk
• Make a habit of “litterless lunches” by packing your lunch with reusable containers and bottles
• Use rechargeable batteries, rather than alkaline batteries, for your high-drain electronic devices

Reuse

• Mend broken items when possible, rather than tossing them in the trash
• Use the opportunity to reuse household items around the home
• Find new life for unwanted reusable household items such as clothing (thrift shops, your local church), toys (hospitals, kindergartens) and reading materials (schools, doctor’s waiting rooms)
• A growing number of containers can be refilled or returned to the industry for redistribution and reuse

Recycle

• The energy saved per tonne of recycled plastic bottles is enough to fill a 20-gallon gas tank every week for 10 years
• Recycling old corrugated cardboard cuts the sulfur dioxide emissions involved in its production by half
• Recycling one tonne of paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water

Respond

• This fourth ‘R’ is often lost in the shuffle, but it may be the most important of all
• It’s your choice, as a consumer, to refuse buying products with excessive packaging, with packaging that’s not locally recyclable, or harmful to the environment

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