First we need the blue bags. Then we need the will to do it.
Curbside recycling is now beginning in the Placentia-St. Mary’s areas. It may be a foreign concept to many of us but it is an easy one to get your head around, really.
As you go to throw something in the garbage as usual, stop, take a look at what the item is, and put it in the appropriate container. Easy enough for all those handy people around here to rig up some three-holed container of sorts to put in the garage or shed, or even in the porch, so tossing those items is easy.
There will be three streams for your household waste.
First is the garbage, which won’t really change at all, except with what is considered garbage.
The recycling part is easy. Sort the recyclable waste according to what it is - paper products or containers.
Paper products includes newspapers, flyers, magazines, catalogues, envelopes, writing and computer paper, books (with hard covers removed), boxboard, cardboard egg cartons, paper bags, toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls and corrugated cardboard.
Containers includes aluminum, plastic bottles, plastic containers, tin cans, gable tops and tetra packs (which will include milk containers.)
Some things that CANNOT be recycled include glass, plastic bags, aerosol and paint cans, styrofoam, tissues, kitty litter, coffee and drink cups, gift wrap paper, plastic wrap and syringes.
All recyclables MUST go in recyclable clear blue bags, which can be purchased at many stores.
While this is a simple process that will make a huge difference to our environment and to the future, it takes people actually doing this for it to work.
Who can argue that recycling is a waste of time (pardon the pun)? There is a video on the “Curb It” website (the St. John’s recycling program) that shows just what happens to your recycling when it gets picked up, and it is nothing short of amazing how much waste gets diverted from permanent landfills, and turned back into usable products, just like those blue bags we need to put our recycling in.
Some people may think it is just too much trouble to do it, that it will take too much effort. That’s just the wrong way to think about this. We need to rethink how we see the world if we don’t understand the benefits of reusing items and recycling them into other items. And it is a small change that can be made by each individual that will have an immediate and permanent effect on our communities and our planet.
As well, the town benefits by having less waste to go to the Robin Hood Bay dump. Whatever gets trucked there is weighed and charged accordingly, so if we bring less, we pay less. Simple, really.
So, it is recommended that everyone who is having to deal with these changes learn more about what is happening and how they can best adapt to the changing face of waste management in this province.
Visit www.mmsb.nl.ca, or easternwaste.ca or visit the City of St. John’s website mentioned above, the Curb It site to learn more, and read the information mailed out in the past week.
There is no getting away from recycling in this province and it is about time. The more of us who embrace it, the easier it will be, and the cheaper it will become. Who can argue with that?
Elizabeth MacDonald, Editor, The Charter
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