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.

Waste Audit

A typical week of garbage at our house

I'll admit it, I get really girly when it comes to gross stuff. I'm very happy to have a wonderful husband who takes out the garbage, green bin and recycling most weeks. So when when it came to looking into the garbages this week to find out what exactly was in there, I held my breath, and used my pen to shift things around so that I could see everything.

This waste audit uncovered a few things we need to consider before beginning our journey.

• Every place we currently have a garbage can, we need to get a second container for recycling/green bin collection. Most of the waste we create in the bedroom and bathroom areas of our house can be green binned or recycled - tissues, paper towels, toilet paper tubes. Right now that stuff just goes into the one receptacle we have in these rooms, and while we often sort out the green bin/recycle items from the garbage upon collection, there are weeks that we are lazy and it all ends up in the garbage bag. A much smaller dedicated garbage can should then allow us to use the current bins as compost/recycle bins.
• Living completely garbage free in this day and age is next to impossible. The past week almost every time we've thrown something out we've said "Hmmmm... that's not recyclable or compostable. Can we live without this product?" Sometimes the answer is yes, like when the product in question is a cheese string wrapper or a chip bag, but sometimes the answer is no, like when it's an empty toothpaste tube or the top to a yogurt container. We will definitely make more conscious decisions when we are out shopping about the impact the product container will make on our garbage free challenge.

The following things are what we found in our garbage this week that our family will not be able to live without:

• Yogurt Tops - Maybe we will purchase in larger containers and then have fewer tops. The concern with this is then we might end up eating more yogurt as the portions aren't as easily controlled.
• Cereal Bag - We need to see if these are recyclable in another region.
• Cheese Packaging - This is going to end up in our one bag for the year. We will stop buying the more convenient cheese strings for the children's lunches, but our kids aren't going to let us give up cheese completely.
• Dryer Lint - Clothes need to be washed, and subsequently dried. During the warmer months, we won't have too much of this, but our house is fairly small, and we don't have room to hang all of our clothes inside come winter. This will end up in our one bag as well.
• Toothpaste Tube - Thankfully they don't get emptied very often, so we should be good for a few more months!
• Other Food Packaging - Plastic packaging that holds pasta needs to be looked in to. Hopefully it's recyclable somewhere outside Waterloo Region.

There are probably some other things that we won't be able to live without that will also need to be thrown in the garbage, but that's why we've got the one bag for the year. 

Our garbage free challenge will officially begin on July 1. The next week and a half will be dedicated to researching and creating garbage free alternatives, such as mesh bags for bulk produce.

Recycling Plastic in Waterloo Region

One of the biggest disappointments I had in my first day of research was the limits on the types of plastic bags that the Region of Waterloo recycles. This seemed like it could be the thing that derailed this challenge before it started. Plastic bags come into our house in the form of bread bags, milk bags, bags that hold produce, and bags that hold meat. As we purchase all of these things on a weekly basis, how are we going to deal with 52 weeks of them? Bread bags could be eliminated by baking our own bread. That's not a problem, as most components of bread come in recyclable or compostable containers. For bulk produce, it would be a case of finding or making mesh bags. Again, not a problem. Milk was going to be the biggest issue, along with bags that our meat comes in.

As milk cartons are recyclable in our Region, I checked out the price of carton milk versus bagged milk at the grocery store today. I was shocked to discover that a 2L carton of 1% Neilson milk was about double the price per litre as compared to a 4L bag. I personally don't drink milk, as I have a sensitivity to it, but my husband and two growing boys certainly do. We easily go through 4 litres of milk in a week, so doubling our milk bill is not an option. So, what to do with the milk bags?

My mother-in-law takes care of the outer bags for us, as she crochets them into mats to be sent overseas. Someone recommended reusing the inner milk bags for sandwich bags. That's a good idea, but for sandwiches we already use reusable containers. The bigger problem is that 52 weeks of milk bags will give us 156 milk bags in a year, and even if they are reused, they still need to be disposed of sometime! As I lamented this to Matt he said "What if we store up our bags and then take them to my parent's house? I wonder if their region recycles them". Good idea Matt! A quick look at the waste management page for Niagara Region and our plastic bag problem is solved! Not only will they recycle milk bags, but they'll also take "bread bags, dry cleaning bags, clean bubble wrap, and the plastic outer covering from items such as toilet tissue, paper towels and pop cases". Wow, I hope when the Region of Waterloo finishes revamping their Waste Management Master Plan that we too can recycle all that soft plastic!

We now seem to have a system in place for recycling most of the disposable items that we can think of. Our next step in the research process is a waste audit to find out what items we throw out that aren't recyclable or compostable at all. From there we need to figure out what can be eliminated, and then determine if the remaining could fit into a 30 gallon garbage bag for a whole year.

A Garbage Free Year

Last night my husband Matt presented me with an interesting challenge for our family. "Let's not throw anything into the garbage for a year. You could write a blog about it." My first reaction was to laugh. I'm a musician, not a writer. I've tried the blog thing before and was not very successful with it. But as the night went on and the idea percolated, I decided that it was a good idea after all.

A bit of background on me and my family. I grew up in the Waterloo Region, the home of the world's first residential recycling program. I still remember when our family got its first blue box. As a resident of one of the townships, we had to wait longer to receive this program than residents of the cities. As a member of the environmental club at my elementary school, this made me sad that I could recycle bottles, cans, and paper at school, but had to throw them out at home. The day that I came home from school and found the blue box sitting on our porch was a very happy day indeed. From then on our family recycled everything that we could. My parents also purchased a composter (this was before the Region gave them out for free) and we composted kitchen scraps. Recycling and composting, although sometimes inconvenient was a way of life.

When Matt and I got married, this way of life continued. In our apartment we stuffed our little blue bag full with recyclables and when we bought our first house we got a composter and happily composted everything we could. When our children arrived, we chose to use cloth diapers, even though disposables would have been more convenient. (I must confess that we did have disposables on hand, but very rarely used them) In our four person household with two children in diapers, we regularly put out only half a bag of garbage per week. We would look around at other people on our street who had fewer people in the house, and were amazed at how much garbage they would put out at the curb each week. Now that we are blessed with a green bin program, we regularly put out only a kitchen catcher sized bag of garbage each week.

Caring for the earth is part of who we are, and garbage reduction is but a part of that. We use our clothesline whenever we can. Laundry gets done on sunny days and hung outside whenever possible. We do have a dryer, and it is used during the winter, and if the weather is rotten and the laundry has piled up too high spring through fall. In the winter our thermostat is kept at 20ºC (68ºF), though we've discovered that since our thermostat shares an uninsulated wall with our refrigerator that the actually temperature within the house tends to be closer to to 18.8ºC (66ºF). It definitely is chilly, but sweaters and blankets help make that more bearable. In the evenings our thermostat is set to 17.5ºC (64ºF). In the summer we do use air conditioning, but try to use it sparingly. Midday it's set to 29.5ºC (85ºF), morning and evening to 26.5ºC (80ºF) and night to 24.5ºC (76ºF). The high midday setting is also due to the time of use electricity pricing, as our one income family looks to save money in many ways. We also try to grow some of our own food, which in the past has included tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and herbs. I make some of my own preserves (salsa, relish, jam, peaches, pears) using locally sourced ingredients, and shop at local producers whenever possible. There are times when practicality and monetary restrictions make this challenging, but we try hard to tread lightly upon the earth nonetheless.

We've been married for 11 years, live in a village without transit service, but have managed to survive for most of that time on one vehicle. We had a second vehicle for a short time when I was working part time, but gave it up when I decided to be at home full time again. This means some early mornings dropping Matt off at the nearest bus stop when I need a car for the day, or asking to borrow my mother's car if it's just a short errand. In the summer Matt also bikes the 15 km to work regularly. Our one car has made for some very wet and cold walks to school over the years, but I always feel guilty when I drive that one kilometre to the school.

Now that you know a bit more about where we're coming from, back to the garbage free challenge. Matt's idea came from the articles that have been written recently about the usage, or lack thereof, of the green bin program, and the projected timeline until our regional landfill is full. I know the region is tossing around ideas, including reducing the bag limit or even going to biweekly garbage collection, while keeping recycling and green bin collection every week. Before jumping into this idea of a garbage free year, I felt I needed to sit down and do some research into what the current practices are for recycling (to make sure I am following them correctly!) as well as other waste collection.

My first stop was the Region of Waterloo Waste Management website, specifically their Blue Box brochure. There has long been debate in our house as to what types of plastic bags are allowed in our recycling. The Blue Box brochure alluded to shopping bags being okay, and plastic wrap and baggies as unacceptable. But what about milk bags? We are in Canada after all, and that's the most affordable way to purchase milk for a family. I sent an email off to the Region's Waste Management department last night asking about the milk bags, as well as Ziplock bags and plastic packaging containing recycling symbols. First thing this morning I received this reply:

"Currently everything you ask about is recyclable, however,  it's not to that extent in our Region.  We need to have companies that will purchase certain grades of plastic from us.  We recycle retail bags because the company that buys them says they are consistent with what the content is made of and easily breaks down evenly for recycling.  Any other plastic bag, wrap, shrink wrap, bags with the triangle symbol (bread, salt softener, etc), ziplock and other clear plastic bags are not at this time taken in our region.

Plastic packaging such as those hard bubbles surrounded by cardboard are recyclable but the cardboard needs to be separated from it.   We like to suggest to residents to stick to household containers that are rigid plastic with a triangle symbol from 1 - 7 on it are all recyclable."

Thank you to the Region for their prompt reply to my question. It is a rather unfortunate reply, however, as this puts a wrench in our plans, and also means we've been "contaminating" our recycling by recycling milk bags, bread bags and other plastic bags when we shouldn't have been. 

When Matt brought up this idea, he went on to clarify it a bit more by indicating that it's likely impossible to live completely garbage free, but that we could "save up" our garbage by cleaning it and storing it for the year. This is where my idea of the "one bag, one year" comes in. Could we fit all of our garbage for a year into a 33 gallon garbage bag? Meat packages would have to be washed before being stored, and items like milk and bread may have to be procured in different ways. Bread could be made, and milk could be purchased in cartons, depending on the cost difference, as cartons are recyclable. 

The next few days at our house will bring about some more research and more discussions about whether or not this venture will work. If we decide it will work, I hope for a July 1 start date. I will then take the time to blog about our experiences about living as garbage free as possible, sharing our challenges and hopefully creative ways we've come up with to leave as small a footprint as possible on our earth.