Articles

On May 24, 2023, CTV had an interesting article - 'There's no excuse': An expert's tips for the garbage Canadians get wrong.

I used to lament about what to put where when I would visit Nova Scotia from Ontario, I literally threw up my hands and eventually delegated the chore to my husband. I simply couldn’t figure it out. Now of course, several years later I work very hard at ensuring the right thing goes in the right spot. Fortunately, Pictou County Waste has an app for that. It’s so easy, you just key in the item and it comes back and tells you where it goes. If it doesn’t have the item, it asks you if you would like to add it. Now – I ask you, could it get any better or easier than that?

According to the CTV article, it advises us how easy it is to mess up the system. If you throw in a dirty package with all your clean recycles it could very well all end up as garbage because many facilities do not have the staff nor the infrastructure to sift through every single bit of what hits their conveyor belt.

Do we all know about glass – it would normally get recycled but if it’s broken it has to go in the garbage.

One of my frustrations was in Ontario you could line your green bin with a nice snug biodegradable bag and when it was full you simply tied it up and threw it in the big green bin for pick up. No muss, no fuss, no bugs, no need to get somebody to clean your bin. Much to my dismay, I moved home and discovered that you can’t use them. However, once I immersed myself in Going Green, I learned that it could take months and/or years for those bags to actually break down. So as much as I loved the convenience I have learned to accept, not necessarily embrace, the paper or cardboard boxes! And if your green bin gets stinky google The Bin Butler; and arrange a cleanup!

Another biggie is if you are using toxic chemicals on your paper towel, throw the used paper towel in the garbage; it is not recyclable. If you can try using vinegar, water and baking soda for some of your cleaning then you can!

Sometimes it seems like it is so hard but as ‘they’ say - I guess anything worth doing is doing right!

So Green Beans, until next time…..

'Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world'.~ Harriet Tubman