Joel Carcone

It’s estimated that 97% of households with access to recycling programs recycle. This is a good thing right? Well, kind of. The truth is, almost everyone now a-days has been conditioned to recycle. And in a way, we now feel like we are doing our part when we place our used newspapers, papers, cardboard, and plastics and glass into the blue bin. But to be truly environmentally conscious, we need to start thinking beyond simply recycling. It’s great that we are trying to keep re-usable materials out of our landfills, but “recycling” in itself is big business. It too is responsible for the production of green house gases and pollutants. Reusable material still needs to be collected, sorted and re-directed – and often re-directed overseas where it is stripped down (frequently with dangerous and harsh chemicals) before it is remanufactured into something new.

By starting to think about packaging as a whole from a beginning to end and beyond we can begin making necessary shifts in our purchasing habits. In North Vancouver, the recycling program is currently encouraging residents to be aware of the plastics they purchase. Simply put – some plastics are more valuable than others. Plastics with the numbers 1 and 2 on the bottom are the most valuable: there is a large market for these plastics. Plastics with numbers 3, 6 and 7, meanwhile, are useless. While knowing which reusable materials are most valuable to your local recycling program is worthwhile, going one step further is even better. Instead of purchasing cleaning products over and over again and throwing the old plastics containers out to the curb each time the product runs out, why not try making your own cleaning product at home? This way, you don’t have to purchase a new container each time you run out. Or, if you have the yard space, why not try your hand at creating a vegetable garden? You’ll reap the rewards of eating what you sow, while also reducing the amount of waste associated with purchasing your daily food from a grocery store.

Recycling programs are necessary and they are responsible for keeping large amount reusable waste out of our landfills. However, there is so much more that we can be doing to eliminate our waster rather than simply reducing, reusing and recycling.

For more information on recycling in British Columbia visit: www.rcbc.bc.ca