Waste isn’t exciting but plastic waste is leading to big problems. Just in the past few weeks, CBC found microplastic in Canadian bottled water, China doesn’t want our materials for recycling, and Canadians create a lot of garbage. Combating our reliance on plastic and getting away from the idea we can just throw things ‘away’ is getting more important every day.
We had three KSA staffers audit their homes for a week to look at the waste they generate. All of our auditors are recent graduates or current students living with a roommate in Metro Vancouver and have municipal or building wide recycling services available to them. As a comparison, we’ve included the USA average figures from the EPA (they’re newer), but in 2013 Canadians generate waste at the same, or higher rates!
Now, let’s talk numbers. (Or at least, read the nice chart).
The average American creates 1.9kg (about four pounds of butter) of waste each day. Of this, 0.68 kilograms (about 1.5 pounds of butter) is recycled or composted and the rest is sent to landfill. For a duo, as in our auditors case, this would be doubled to nearer 4 kilograms a day with 1.37 kilograms going to recycling and compost. Our auditors calculated over one week and we included everything even if it wasn’t typical of their weekly waste.
- Nicki’s household generated an average of 1.07kg of waste each day. Over the week their waste broke down as 25% for the organics bin, 19% for paper recycling, 47% for their recycling bin and most of that was heavy glass bottles. Nicki’s landfill amount was very small at only 0.77 kgs. They’re looking for ways to reduce plastic food wrapping.
- Steph’s household generated more landfill bound waste, about 84% of their weeks waste, though they acknowledge that they had some things this week that wouldn't be in their usual week’s waste. Steph found the biggest challenge knowing what went where and has set out to set up a recycling station at her place to make sure what can get recycled does.
- Tonya’s household generated 7kg of waste, but 65% of this was recyclable glass containers and more than 80% of their weekly waste was recycled or composted. One of their biggest changes is eliminating single-use coffee cups.
If you haven’t done an audit yet check out our last post to find out how to do your own!
Okay, math over. Now, what can you do?
Don’t stress or panic! Making changes towards reducing the waste you create shouldn’t make your life miserable. Some things might happen easily and others might take some trial and error. Still, other things you might decide not to change and that’s okay. What works for you and your roomates or family is where you should start. Our auditors sat down and we talked through their burning questions.
1. What can I do without changing how I shop or eat?
- Make sure you’re properly sorting what waste you do generate and recycling as much as possible by looking at your Municipality’s website, using tools like Metro Vancouver Recycles.
- When you go out, stop and make sure you’re sorting you waste correctly. If there’s no compost bin, take your compost home to your bin.
- What small changes can I make when I grocery shop:
- Purchase whole fruit and veggies without plastic wrapping, and reduce your reliance on processed (pre-packaged) foods.
- Bag your groceries (and any other shopping) in a reusable tote bag.
- As you run out of things, look for a lower waste alternative like a bar of unwrapped soap instead of a plastic pump.
- What else can I do?
- Drink tap water and use a refillable bottle. On campus, the Waterfillz machines filter the water so it’s cool, clean and tastes great. Metro Vancouver has good tap water.
- Avoid purchasing items wrapped in plastic.
- Eat your leftovers and store them in reusable containers.
- Get in the habit of carrying a reusable bag.
- Ask for no straw when you’re out for drinks or getting a smoothie.
There are loads of folks on social media sharing the changes they’re making to reduce their waste. They share about making DIY cleaning products and makeup, tricks for eating out, and making a paper sack for your compost bin. To find resources that work with you, find someone whose voice resonates with you, who has a similar lifestyle, or whose advice meets your needs most.
- Ree’s candid blog has tons of advice about reducing waste when going to events, festivals, making your own body products and even videos with tips for ways to use cloth napkins. https://www.fortnegrita.com/pages/start-here
- Gitte Mary is a young woman living in Denmark. She blogs about her zero waste challenges and goals. http://www.gittemary.com/
- Cassie Vee makes videos about zero waste living and fighting racism. She’s got great videos on make up remover and hair care. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCznqMUWYyOVwJ04x8tPLOQ/featured
- Megean is a mom with a young family and her 30 day challenge is a great way to get started if you love challenges where you can tick things off the list or have a different task everyday https://zerowastenerd.com/beginners-guide
- Plastic Manners started as a year long project to live without plastic and has great ideas for reducing plastic in your life: https://plasticmanners.wordpress.com/tips/
- The Clean Bin project was based in Vancouver so the film is both interesting and useful as they created a list of local resources. It’s not perfect but it can be useful. https://cleanbinproject.com/takeaction/resources/
You’re going to have loads of questions so look for groups on Facebook, ask the companies you buy things from if they can reduce the waste they create or for solutions like makeup or grocery shopping. There are also quite a few good books that most libraries have that can help you out. Find us on Twitter (@sustainableksa) or comment on the blog to ask questions or share things you find help reduce your waste at home!
--Mairi
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