Holidays and Waste Reduction Fatigue

After almost four months away from the blogosphere, I figured it was time I actually got another post written and uploaded. I started writing a few during the Christmas season, but each one was more "ranty" than the last, and ultimately that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about sharing our journey into waste reduction, the strategies we've discovered and challenges we've faced. So hopefully this post won't devolve into a rant about consumerism, though I will probably still touch on that issue.

Still Getting the Word Out

Well, it seems as though this challenge is still interesting to people out there. Since I last posted I have had the privilege of sharing our challenge with a local church during their adult education time, had another chat with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, and was a guest on CBC Maritime Noon and participated in their call-in show. The call-in show with Maritime Noon was great, as it gave us more ideas to use in our own challenge. And, as always, it's amazing to hear how other people are reducing their household, and in some cases, their business waste.

Holidays and Waste Reduction

It seems that everyone I've talked to in the past little while has wanted to know how we did Christmas in our house. For us we did keep our challenge in mind when preparing for the holiday, but to be honest, our Christmas this year wasn't much different from how it's always been.

Gifts

Okay, this is where I may rant a bit. We have two primary school aged children, and they like "stuff". Heck, most people like "stuff". But honestly, how much stuff do we really need? Our children make long lists of things they would like for Christmas, and I am happy to let them do that. It works on their reading and writing skills, and it does give me ideas for gifts. However, when they hand the lists over they always hear something like this: "I know you want all these things, but please remember that you have lots of toys already, and you don't really need any of this. You will get presents for Christmas, but will probably only get one or two things off your list."

As a single income family we live comfortably, but don't have a lot of leftover money once the bills are paid. We made the decision early on that Santa wouldn't bring presents to our children, so they were never disappointed or wondered what they did wrong if a desired gift wasn't received. Instead Santa has brought stocking gifts, which usually include socks & underwear, a bit of candy and a small toy or craft project. All the bigger presents come from us, and are limited in number. This year each child got a book, a board game, and then a video game and a Lego set to share. This was enough. There was no "Awww, but I didn't get..." or "Mom, you didn't get me...". Don't get me wrong, they constantly tell me about things they want, like handheld video games, or the coolest thing in the book order that comes home from school, and all the things they will buy when they're grown up. But at the end of the day they understand (I hope!) that they are blessed to have the things they do have.

When shopping for their presents I did try to keep in mind the amount of waste the packaging would create. Board games have the cellophane wrapper, which is not recyclable in our region, and Lego has the inner bags which are also not recyclable here. The books were also wrapped in cellophane, as they were Lego books that contained Lego pieces. The video game was used, so it had no packaging. All in all, not too bad for packaging.

Wrapping

This also didn't change much from what has happened in the past. In our area wrapping paper is recyclable, as long as it is non-metallic, and you remove the tape. Large undamaged pieces can be trimmed and reused the next year. We also use gift bags, and reuse those year after year, as well as reuse the tissue paper that goes in the bags. We also reuse bows & ribbons, as well as gift tags. Everything gets stored in totes to be reused the next year. Very little waste here.

Waste Reduction Fatigue

We are just finishing up month eight, and I must admit that there are times I wish we didn't start this challenge. I'm getting frustrated that I can't buy any convenience foods when I go to the grocery store, because most have non-recyclable packaging. There's no crackers, cookies, frozen vegetables or granola bars in my grocery cart. There are weeks I'm so busy that I just don't have time to bake, and packing the kids' lunches becomes very challenging. And when I do cave a buy something with non-recyclable packaging, I feel guilty or frustrated. Guilty that I'm "cheating" on my pledge, or frustrated when I have to chose a higher priced product to get it packaged in boxboard rather than cellophane.

I find myself wondering why products are packaged the way they are. I wonder if petroleum based products are cheaper to make, and if so, why? I understand that in some cases plastics are needed to keep products fresh, but is there a more eco-friendly option that could be explored. Maybe this is a question for an environmental engineer, or an environmental studies student.

Anyways, we're almost two-thirds of the way finished our challenge, and we're probably a bit over where we should be for this time. We will keep going, trying to reduce the amount of waste we're bringing in to our house. And even when we're done, I know we've made changes that will stay with us throughout the rest of our lives.

It's Waste Reduction Week in Canada!

When I set up this blog to follow our challenge, the plan was to post something once a week. As you can see, that goal has not been met, so hopefully I can claim quality over quantity? September saw me return to work as well as to school, so my time available to write and research non school related things has been less than in the summer. Add in children's homework and activities, baking waste-free alternative for lunches, and I'm going longer and longer between posts. I've got some more ideas I've been thinking about and doing some research here and there when a have bits of time, so hopefully after midterms are finished I'll have a few more posts.

One Third of Our Year Has Passed!

We began our challenge July 1, so on November 1 our year will be one third finished. We took a peek at the garbage bag today, and it appears to be about one third full. Hooray! We seem to still be on target!

In doing some research, I discovered that all waste audits are done by weight. A 2008 report from Stats Canada says that the average Canadian produces 256 Kg of residential waste per year, about half of which gets diverted from landfill. Now, our challenge is to fit all of the waste we are unable to divert into one 75 L garbage bag. However, to be able to compare to a waste audit we weighed our garbage bag. If I were an "average" Canadian, I would have approximately 42 Kg after four months, and since there are four people in my household, our waste would be 168 Kg. After four months our garbage bag weighs approximately 3 Kg.

Rethinking the Challenge

When we started the challenge back in July, we were still figuring out how everything would work. As I have stated in multiple posts, the most challenging part of it is the prevalence of soft plastic, and the lack of recycling initiatives for this material in Waterloo Region. When we began the challenge our plan was to take our soft plastic to another region where we have family, and have them recycle it for us. Since we don't make the trip down to see our family too often, we've been gathering and storing all our soft plastic. We've decided that rather than take it with us on our next trip, we will collect it for the year, just like our trash. We want to be able show how much more our household could have recycled if our municipality offered recycling services for more soft plastics than just retail shopping bags.

Success Stories

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - we don't pretend to have all the answers when it comes to waste management. We are learning things as we go along, and love to have discussions with people, and hear their waste reduction tips. Our journey is just that - a journey. It's a personal challenge to see what we can do as a family. But having said that, I rejoice each time someone tells me about their waste reduction success.

A few weeks ago I met a couple in a coffee shop, and they were talking with the manager about recycling coffee bags. I chatted with the couple, and found out that they have a child who participates in an activity that uses Terracycle as a fundraising program, and one of the things they collect is coffee bags. Brilliant! Using "garbage" as a fundraising program for a not-for-profit organization, and diverting the waste from the landfill. Thanks to this couple for sharing this success story with me.

My neighbour has said to me a few times "You have to help me learn how to use the green bin". I shared some of the things we do in our house, and talked about eliminating the "yuck factor" by using the compostable plastic liners. When I walked out of our house on a garbage day and saw their green bin by the curb, I couldn't help but smile. When I talked to her that afternoon she seemed so excited to tell me that they had used their green bin. It made me happy to hear that they found a way to make the green bin work for their family.

I believe I have written before that these success stories are what make this entire challenge a success for me. Our bag of garbage is about where we want it to be at this point in the year. But even if we go over our one bag challenge, if we have inspired people to reduce their waste that goes to landfill, we have been successful. At the end of the day, it's the little things that add up to create big change.

Changing the way we shop

Many people have been asking us how we are doing with our challenge, and whether it's been difficult. I always tell people that we were very aware of our waste production, and were quite conscious about sorting our recyclables and compostables from our trash even before we began this challenge. We have found the biggest changes have come in our shopping habits.

Most of our shopping is in the form of groceries, so this is obviously where we have had to make the most change. Fortunately we already tried to eat mostly whole foods, but it's still amazing how much food comes in packaging that isn't recyclable. I'm going to try to go through a typical round of the grocery store for our family, and indicate how we've solved some of our problems.

 Produce

Most produce you can get in bulk. By using the mesh produce bags I made, this eliminates most of the plastic from this area that's not recyclable in our region. However, there are still some challenges. In our grocery store, sometimes the loose, bulk produce is more expensive, or shipped in from other countries while the same item prepackaged is cheaper and/or Canadian. I find this most obvious with apples and potatoes. It's easy to get 5 or 10 pound bags of Canadian potatoes all year long, but loose Canadian potatoes are often only found in the late summer and into the fall. The loose ones are also more expensive per pound. In the summer I usually buy our potatoes from local farmers. Come winter I plan to purchase 10 pounds bags, as most of the bag is a compostable material. You just need to remove the plastic window, and then you can use it to wrap compostable material like you would newspaper.

In the summer and early fall I try to frequent farms close to our house. This helps to cut down on the excess packaging, as well as the kilometres our food has to travel. Come winter I miss my local produce!

 Bakery

This is one area where we find ourselves forced to purchase items in plastic bags. Bread and tortilla shells are a staple in our house. I have baked some of my own bread this summer, but as I find myself having to return to work as well as being a mom to two active young children, this will not happen too often from here on out. Bread bags are a type of plastic that is recycled in other communities, and I hope that our region might some day follow suit.

 Fresh Meat

This is the area where we have had to make some of the most change. Neither styrofoam nor plastic wrap are recyclable, so we no longer purchase meat at the grocery store. I go to a local butcher to purchase beef and pork. While they normally wrap their fresh cuts in butcher paper (which is compostable!) ground meats are usually packaged in plastic bags. I have found, however, that if I request the ground meats in butcher paper, they are happy to do it. Our chicken comes from a local poultry shop, and I purchase it in bulk quantities. It comes in a plastic bag, so another non recyclable piece, but much less than if I were to purchase a tray of 3-4 chicken breasts at the grocery store.

 Dairy

Here is another place where we have not found a good solution. As I have lamented before, milk bags are not recyclable in our region. Milk cartons are twice as much money as bagged milk. I know that it is possible to purchase 4 litre jugs of milk for comparable cost to bagged, but unfortunately we do not have a store near to us that carries this. Our solution to this problem has been to reuse our milk bags as storage bags, and to seal them with reusable bag clips. These bags work well to store waffles that we make in bulk and freeze for quick, easy breakfast foods.

Cheese is also a pain in terms of packaging. My kids love cheese, and I'm happy to give it to them, as it's an easy snack and helps to boost their calcium intake. The packaging, however, does not seem to be recyclable in any municipal recycling program that I am aware of. This is one place where we find we have no choice but to produce garbage.

 Frozen Foods

Our family does not purchase too many items in the frozen food section. Notable exceptions are waffles and frozen vegetable. We have stopped purchasing frozen waffles, and instead are making our own waffles and freezing them, as I stated above. As for vegetables, since we are in harvest season I have not had the need to purchase any frozen ones recently. We actually froze 17 dozen cobs of local corn a few weeks ago, so we won't be purchasing any frozen corn this winter! As for the other vegetables I would normally purchase, like cauliflower and broccoli for stir fry, I will just have to forgo the convenience of the frozen and use fresh all the time.

 Other Items

I have read more than one comment from people that when you're shopping you should stick to the outside of the grocery store, as that's where the healthier, less processed food tends to be placed. Even without consciously doing so, we find that most of our shopping does happen around the outside. I would like to touch on the things we like to purchase from the aisles, and how we have made different choices as of late.

Cereal

Both Matt and our youngest child love cereal for breakfast. The outer boxboard is easily recyclable, but the inner bag poses a problem. I have discovered a company called Terracycle, which reuses and recycles hard to recycle materials, has a cereal bag recycling program. Since this discovery we have been collecting our cereal bags, and I hope to set up a collection station for more people to recycle their inner cereal bags too.

Baking Supplies

Not too difficult here. Both flour and white sugar come in paper bags which we use as liners for our small compost bin. Things which present more of a challenge are brown sugar and chocolate chips. Both of these I now try to purchase at a bulk food store. The store bags are not recyclable in our region, but I choose to put my purchases in rigid plastic containers they have for purchasing things like peanut butter and honey, which are recyclable here, but also easily reusable.

Oil and Sauces

This area is not a problem, as our olive oil comes in recyclable plastic containers, and our tomato sauce comes in Mason jars, which we reuse and fill with canning such as pickles, peaches or salsa. Most of our other condiments come in recyclable plastic containers, and some in glass. I mention the glass specifically because I am aware of an article that has just come out in The Record that talks about how glass is not being recycled. I will be honest and say that I haven't read this article yet, as I've had a stressful few days, and don't need to add any more stress right now! I also wanted to get this post finished before I get distracted with any other issues!

Crackers, Cookies & Chips...

This is the area of the grocery store that we now bypass completely. I used to purchase a box of crackers once every couple of weeks, and a bag of tortilla chips each week. Our kids also like arrowroot cookies, and we used to purchase those every couple of weeks. Now we bring none of this into the house. I love to bake, so store bought arrowroot cookies have been replaced by homemade oatmeal chocolate chip. We're beginning to miss crackers in our school lunches, and I do intend to try baking some, so if anyone has any recipes to share, I'd love to hear them. It's the tortilla chips that I miss the most, though. I tried to bake up some corn tortilla shells I had sitting in my freezer, but they just didn't cut it. If anyone has any tried and true recipes, I would really appreciate them!

 Other Shopping

We haven't done much shopping besides groceries in the past few months. No one in our family has had birthdays, Christmas is still a few months off, and back to school shopping was limited to running shoes, a ruler and a calculator. New clothes have come out of the hand-me-down boxes we've been blessed with, and clothes that are too small have been put in boxes destined for other children. As a one income family we don't have much extra money outside of our standard monthly expenses, and recent circumstances which have forced me to find part time work mean that our budget is even tighter than ever. Perhaps that's the best way to make sure you don't buy something that's going to end up in the garbage...

Success Stories

We've made it through almost eight weeks of our challenge now. Things have been going quite well for us, and we've been encouraged by the response to this project. Following my interview with CBC in mid-July, I had opportunity to speak with Canada AM about our challenge. It was nice to be able to share our project with more people outside our region. While it was a few weeks ago, I haven't had the opportunity to post it until now. If you would like to see the interview you can find it on the Canada AM website.

My favourite part of this challenge so far has been to hear about how other people are challenging themselves to reduce the amount of trash they set out at the curb. One friend found and purchased reusable mesh produce bags at Zehrs. This is a great way to reduce some of the soft plastic coming into your house. I've also had a number of people tell me that they've started using their green bins because they were inspired by our project. One person even wrote that she doesn't have roadside pick up because of the layout of her townhouse complex, but after speaking with the Region and a neighbour that she's now setting out a green bin at that neighbour's house who does get roadside pick up. Wow, that's amazing commitment to waste reduction! 

For me, these stories are ultimately what make our challenge a success. While we still believe we can succeed at our one bag challenge, we may not. And at the end of the day, keeping 51 small bags of garbage from one family out of the landfill for one year will only make a small impact. However, if we can inspire 10 families to work to reduce their waste to one bag every other week, then we've kept 260 bags out of the landfill. And if those families can inspire 10 families... well, you get the idea. 

Thank you to everyone who has shared their waste reduction strategies with us. We love to hear your ideas, and I will share some more of our waste reduction ideas in a future post. 

Reflections on the Green Bin

In the past few weeks there has been a number of articles and opinion pieces published about the green bin program in the Waterloo Region Record. The reported statistics of the usage of the green bin are disappointing - only 15-35%, lower in the cities, higher in the townships. And I'm sure there are many disgruntled taxpayers complaining about the cost of the program. An article in The Record on July 27 estimates that our green bin costs will be $654 per tonne based on the new contract the Region made with the City of Guelph, which was based on an estimated 20 000 tonnes composted per year, as opposed to the approximately 9 000 tonnes we composted last year. And the biggest problem is that we pay for 20 000 tonnes per year whether we produce it or not.

Yikes. I get it. I get why people are angry about our green bin program. The contract the Region made with Guelph was very ambitious. I applaud their optimism for the program, but it seems they may have jumped in without fully testing the waters first. I don't know if this optimism and commitment was based on the current usage of the blue box program, and they just assumed that residents would embrace the green bin to the same degree that they have with our recycling program, which most have not.

So my biggest question is "why are people opposed to using the green bin?" From the articles I've read, and some comments from friends and acquaintances, here are some of the reasons people seem to use.

We should be using backyard composters

To me, I see this as a valid discussion point. Backyard composting is great way to dispose of some of your organic waste, and in turn you get nutrient rich fertilizer for your gardens. We used a backyard composter up until we received our green bin. When we received our green bin, we stopped using our composter for the following reasons:

• we have a tiny backyard, and appreciate every square inch for our children to play in
• our yard connects to a field, and our compost pile became a home/feast for mice (they actually chewed their way through the plastic of the composter)
• we weren't great at taking care of our compost pile in terms of keeping it wet, turning it, etc.
• we can compost so much more through the green bin program

The sheer amount of items that can go into the green bin that can't or shouldn't go into a backyard composter is why we switched to using the green bin. If we had more space, and were better at taking care of the compost pile, we might try to divert organic waste in two directions, but using only the green bin is much easier for us. The fact that we can compost things like tissues, meat and dairy products, which we couldn't do in our composter, is the main reason why we can embark on our one garbage bag for the year challenge. 

For those people who use a backyard composter, good for you, keep it up! But think about putting the organic waste that's not good for your backyard pile into the green bin. The great work you already do diverting waste from the landfill can be enhanced with the green bin program.

The cost

Curb side garbage pickup costs us money, no matter how we do it. As it stands today, it is true that disposing of trash is cheaper per tonne than using the green bin. However, if more people use the green bin, the cost per tonne goes down. But cost per tonne is only one of the cost complaints of the green bin. The other is bin liners. Those paper bags are expensive, especially the ones with the cellulose lining to help reduce leakage. I've heard this complaint from many people, and completely agree with them. However, paper bag liners are only one option for the green bin. As of July 1, the Region now accepts certified compostable plastic liners in their green bins. I have yet to do the research on these, but I'm guessing this might bring the cost down. But there are still other ways you can line the green bin at even lower cost. We use flour and sugar bags to line our small bin, or any type of paper bag that comes into our house (fast food, LCBO, etc). Newspaper makes great "packages" for vegetable and fruit peels, and now that I know butcher paper is compostable, it too will be used in that manner. So yes, the green bin can have some cost, but with a little effort the cost doesn't have to be too high.

The "yuck" factor

When it comes to garbage, I'm a girly girl. I don't like icky things. I'm very blessed to have a wonderful husband who takes out the garbage, blue boxes, and green bin most of the time. So yes, I totally understand when people say that don't like the green bin because it's yucky. People complain of fruit flies and maggots in their green bin. I get it - seeing maggots would have me running from the bin as fast as I could. BUT maggots can occur in your garbage can too. With the new allowance of the plastic compostable liners in the green bin, hopefully the "yuck" factor can be reduced. If you line your large green bin the same way you would line your garbage can, this will hopefully reduce or eliminate leftover organic waste from remaining in your bin. The Region also has some other helpful tips on using your green bin:

• Layer your food scraps with paper waste (such as facial tissues or shredded paper) to help absorb liquids and keep your bin cleaner.
• Naturally control any bugs. Cover maggots with lime, salt, vinegar or Diatomaceous Earth, a natural fossil product. Try hanging some bruised leaves of mint or bay in clusters on your Green Bin. Apply dabs of vinegar to the outside of your bin rim. Please do not use chemical pesticides.
• Freeze meat, leftovers and any wet waste. This means that all you have in your containers is dry waste. Drop your frozen stuff in on your collection day.
• Set your Green Bin out every week, even if it is not full.

More tips on using the green bin in both hot and cold weather can be found on the Region of Waterloo Waste website.

As for the smaller, indoor green bin, we personally line it with flour or sugar bags as I indicated above, or if we don't have any of those, we line the bottom with newspaper or paper towels. When the bin gets emptied into the large bin, we put the small bin into the dishwasher, and it comes out clean and fresh. In our house the "yuck" factor is not completely eliminated, but it can be reduced with a little effort.

Moving Forward

I know that our green bin program isn't perfect. It's not perfect to drive our organic waste to a neighbouring city to be processed, putting more carbon dioxide in the air with its transport. And yes, the cost of the green bin program seems overwhelming at this point, but how does it compare to the cost of creating a new landfill in twenty years time? And creating a new landfill not only has a monetary cost, but a social cost as well, as no one wants to have it in their backyard. 

No matter how we do it, we need to get rid of the garbage our households produce. We need to remember, however, that just because we put something into the garbage bag doesn't mean that it disappears. It still has to go somewhere. If we can divert our organic waste to the green bin or a backyard composter, at least that waste can be transformed into something that will nourish a farmer's fields or our own gardens. Just as I'm sure it took time and effort in the 1980s for people to adapt to using blue boxes, it will take time and effort to adapt to using the green bin. I hope with education and encouragement people can embrace the green bin program just as they have the blue box program.

Waste Management - A Hot Topic in Waterloo Region

Waste management seems to be a hot topic in Waterloo Region right now - the concern about the quickly filling landfill site, the apparent lack of use of the green bins, and the revamping of the Region's Waste Management Master Plan. CBC KW 89.1 has been exploring these topics on their morning show, and through the power of social media they found out about our challenge. I was invited to chat with them on their show this morning. Thank you to Craig Norris and the rest of the CBC KW team for having me in to talk about our family's goal of having only one bag of garbage for the year. If you want to hear the interview you can find it on the CBC Radio Website.

Alternatives to Disposables

As we were preparing for this challenge, and in our first few weeks of garbage reduction, we have been doing research on alternatives to disposables. We definitely did not go into this challenge with everything figured out, and we are learning as we go. Throughout the year my hope is to share with you the alternatives to disposable packaging and products that we are researching and using.

Produce Bags

Since this type of plastic is not recyclable in Waterloo Region, we want to begin using a reusable alternative. I went to the internet to research mesh produce bags. I found multiple different types, but most were more than I wanted to spend. Part of the point of this experiment is to show that it's possible to produce very little garbage without spending too much extra money. So, I took a trip to a local fabric store to look for mesh fabric. I've got a sewing machine, and a few straight lines is definitely not out of my sewing comfort zone. Well, this was all fine and dandy until my sewing machine stopped working. I managed to get one bag finished, and a second one started, but now I need to use someone else's sewing machine to get these bags done before our next grocery trip!

When looking online for bags I found some made with finer mesh, almost a sheer drape material, as well as some made with the type of mesh they use for lingerie laundry bags. I was only able to find the sheer material when I went out, so I'm working with that at this point. One DIY tutorial commented that the sheer mesh doesn't stand up as well, so I'm making my bags double thickness in hopes that they will stand up to repeated use. I'm also going to keep my eyes open for a more durable mesh, and will make a few bags with that too if I can find it.

Granola Bars

We don't purchase too much in terms of prepackaged foods in our house that we won't be able to live without. The one thing that will be a challenge is granola bars. Matt loves them. He takes them to work every day, and that's his go to snack if he's hungry between meals. I think losing his granola bars was his biggest concern when we decided to do this challenge. My first thought was "What can I substitute his granola bars with... cookies?" But then I realized that I could probably make granola bars. So, I went online and began searching for granola bar recipes. I found one that looked similar to those we purchase (remember, I have children who need consistency in their food) and I tried it. They were easy to make, and in my opinion, taste better than those that come from the store. I store them in the fridge in an air tight container with parchment paper between them so they don't stick together. In the winter I'm sure they'll be able to sit out on the counter in their container, but when it's 30°C outside, they get a little soft on the counter!

One week down, fifty-one to go!

We have completed week one of our "garbage free" challenge! The photo below shows how much garbage we accumulated this week. Not bad for a family of four for seven days. To put this into a better context, this is a deli bag, which is similar in size to a milk bag, so approximately 1.5 litres. And this is by no means compacted in any way. So we figure if we are able to produce this much garbage, or less each week for the next year, we should easily fit it all into one 75 L garbage bag. (And yes, this deli bag could have been added to our soft plastics recycling which will be taken to another region, but it was the easiest thing we had to put our garbage in!)

Our challenge didn't start out as smoothly as we had hoped. Between the last week of school, trying to finish up the renovation in our basement, and Canada Day celebrations, some of our garbage free alternatives didn't happen for this week like we had hoped. Both Matt and I also got sick this week, which resulted in some extra purchases and a few meals that were not well thought out in terms of garbage content. Even still, we managed to do okay.

Some of the things we found in our garbage this week:

• tops to yogurt containers - I will be looking for foil topped yogurt when grocery shopping this week
• cheese packaging - a necessary evil, but we don't finish a large block each week
• plastic seal around frozen juice can - I'm going to look into the cost difference between plastic bottles or large tetra packs versus frozen concentrate
• Swiffer dusters - not something I usually use, but I wanted to be able to throw away the dust left on the basement floor from the renovation
• fast food drink cups and apple slices packages - sometimes when mom and dad are both sick, you have to cave and buy fast food :)

I also did some more research about what is and is not compostable in Waterloo Region. I was very excited to find out that both parchment and butcher paper, as well as cotton balls can go into the green bin! The Region's Waste Managment has an in-depth list posted on their website. It's also exciting that this week marks the beginning of the use of compostable plastic bags in the Region's Green Bin program. Our family will personally continue to use paper products in our green bin, but I'm hoping this new initiative will encourage more people to use their green bins.