Waste Reduction – Waste Free Edmonton

August 28, 2023August 28, 2023

SIX Ways to Make Back-to-School Less Wasteful

Have you started your back-to-school planning and shopping yet? It can be difficult to get ready for school while honoring your values around waste reduction or climate justice, but it’s not impossible! In fact, it might even save you some time and money. We put together six ways to make back-to-school less wasteful for families, educators, and students. Leave a comment with your favourite tip!

EVERYDAY ACTIONS

The “everyday stuff” is what we have most control over as families, educators, students, and broader community members. This includes what we buy, where we shop, and even how we get to school! Some of us have a greater ability – and more responsibility – to address our individual actions and behaviours.

1. REDUCE & REUSE (clothing, supplies)

The first years of school have a few things in common: nervous butterflies on the first day, learning a new teacher’s name, and crayons on the school supply list. You can save yourself the headache of back-to-school shopping, and some money, by keeping all of your supplies from the previous year in a safe space you will easily remember to check in August. Start your back-to-school shopping there, and reuse the items that are in good condition. This also helps once you have the supply list from the teacher or school. If you keep an inventory of your items, you won’t purchase duplicates. Finally, make use of places in your community where you can access used supplies, such as thrift stores, Edmonton’s Reuse Centre and Strathcona County’s Hodge Podge Lodge. They have a lot of options, which includes pens and pencils, as well as clothing and backpacks.

2. SHARE THE WEALTH

Sometimes we have to buy the new backpack or pencil crayons because last year’s is falling apart or never made it home! If you can afford to, consider buying extra supplies and donating them to your child’s school or classroom. A great way to ensure your gift won’t go to waste is by chatting with educators in your community school to see which supplies are in greatest demand in their classroom. Teachers often purchase extra supplies with their own money to ensure that their students are on equitable footing. All it takes is a quick email or phone call to help them out, and they already do so much for our kids and communities.

3. ELIMINATE PLASTIC BAGS (or other single-use items)

The volunteers within Waste Free Edmonton have hosted many litter cleanups in their lives, and one of the most common items we find in school yards are little plastic bags. Consider ways you can eliminate the use of these bags when packing snacks, sandwiches, muffins, and more, by replacing them with reusable alternatives. For example, a quick search through the blue bag turns up plenty of containers that can easily be repurposed. Remind your kids to bring those home in their lunch bag, and you have reusable containers for every season.

SYSTEMIC ACTIONS

The biggest impact we can make is by addressing the underlying system of how our society operates. This is the hard part! Individuals can often feel hopeless or confused when they take waste free actions within a system that has not changed. Thankfully, when individuals come together and form a community, we can change the system for the better and increase the impact of our narrow choices.

CONSIDER ACTIVE TRANSPORT

Take a moment to think about where you live in relation to your child’s school. Do you drive them back and forth? Do they take the school bus or public transit or carpool with a friend? Can they walk or ride their bike? Consider how you can improve access to school within your means. Some families may choose to move closer to their children’s school. Many families don’t have that option, but can look out for school bus service or public transit to minimize their impact. Community solutions can involve carpool – or bike pool – groups, for families who live in and travel to the same neighbourhoods.

With the expansion of our cities into more suburbs, and the fact that new school construction will probably never keep pace, active transportation might be difficult to achieve depending on where you live and where your children attend school. Addressing this system involves advocacy for more public transportation options, bike lanes, and increased density. Options to address this include writing to your city councilor or county representative, outlining your requests for bus rapid transit and bike lanes. If you organize your neighbours and other families in your community, this can have an even larger impact.

JOIN YOUR SCHOOL COUNCIL

School councils are mandated by the Alberta Government, so if there is a public school in your community, there is a school council that could use your help. There are a lot of everyday tasks required of a school council, but the major responsibility they have is fundraising for school amenities that are not otherwise covered in the provincial budget. Parents, educators, and community members are welcome members, and serve an important role to advocate for shared values within the school. This includes making suggestions about how the limited budget is spent, school lunch programs, and limiting waste in other areas of the school. An exciting example of a small group within a school advocating for change comes from an Edmonton highschool. Recently, the students of J Percy Page in Mill Woods advocated with their school and cafeteria to offer halal options as there is a large Muslim population who attends. They were successful, and the changes have been well received.

You can also use this role as a larger community to further advocate for increased budgets to our public school system so there is less burden on educators and families to equip the schools with much needed supplies.

HAVE DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS

One of the most important tools we have as families and community members is sharing our stories. Chatting with our neighbours, other families in the pick up line, educators and school volunteers about our values and why we have chosen to reduce our personal waste or take climate action can have a huge impact. We might not agree on 100% of our ideas, but we can at least start with the knowledge that we all care about our kids and want them to live fulfilling and safe lives.

And remember that our kids are watching us. The more we model climate-respectful behaviours, and talk about why these are in line with our values, the more equipped they will be to have these hard conversations with friends and educators as they move through their school life.

We hope you have a wonderful school year!
Your Partners in Waste Reduction,
Waste Free Edmonton

31 Days of Plastic Free Choices

Happy Plastic Free July!

In celebration of Plastic Free July, we are participating in the 31 Days of Plastic Free Choices challenge! Join in on the fun, together we can turn small steps into a big difference!

Save the graphic to your phone! 👇

June 28, 2023June 27, 2023

How to Travel with a Waste Free Focus

Our values don’t go on vacation when we do. And while it can be difficult to stay true to all of our waste free values when we leave home, travelling is a huge privilege and therefore an amazing opportunity to act upon those values. We can and should explore from a place of respect. How can we take our values on vacation and make a positive impact in a system where the cheap, easy, and wasteful is very accessible? Let’s explore a few ways we can travel with a waste free focus, and some of the consequences for not doing so.

TRAVEL TO EXPERIENCE A DIFFERENT CULTURE – WITH DIFFERENT WASTE PRACTICES

While people travel for many reasons, one of the top is to experience a city or culture unique to our own. What many travellers might not consider is that these differences include their waste practices and policies as well. Two easy examples for travellers from Edmonton are the bottle deposit system and residential organic waste collection that are not present or look a lot different in other areas of the world – and even within our own country. You might also find a difference in acceptance of reusables at local businesses or local cuisine with less vegan or vegetarian options. It’s important to be respectful of these local ways, and remain as flexible as possible. If it’s more important to you to adhere to your customs that cannot be accommodated in certain locations, then perhaps choosing a different location is appropriate.

Travelling to a location where the waste practices are different from your own is still rewarding and fun! All it takes is a bit of patience and preparation. Planning ahead, knowing the local customs and policies will allow you to be ready for whatever differences you encounter. “Plan ahead and prepare” is also the first tip in the very popular Leave No Trace Principles for waste free travelling.

LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLES FOR WASTE FREE TRAVEL

The seven Leave No Trace Principles offer guidance when enjoying the outdoors, or camping specifically. But this framework can easily be expanded to include other types of travel and recreation.

1. Plan ahead and prepare
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces
3. Dispose of waste properly
4. Leave what you find
5. Minimise campfire impacts
6. Respect wildlife
7. Be considerate of others

Add these seven principles to your notes app, or take a quick screenshot and save it in your travel folder. The next time you make plans to travel, or need a quick refresher in the airport, you can pull out the list and ensure your trip aligns with this framework.

BLACKOUT TRAVEL ZONES

There are of course consequences for not following these principles while travelling. In fact, there are some popular holiday destinations across the world that are asking tourists to stay away, or are downright banning them because of the negative impact of waste and disrespectful travel caused by tourism and tourists. Many of these locations were forced to experience a visitor-free year during the covid lockdowns and recognised that the benefit to their natural environment outweighed the lost income. Or are working on fine-tuning that balance. Two of the most publicised locations to have grappled with this are Hawaii and Thailand. In Hawaii, the Indigenous islanders have asked tourists to stay away due to water scarcity and rising costs of living for locals. (source) The Thailand government has mandated the closures of some very popular beaches during specific months of the year to allow the natural environment time to recover. (source) They have also implemented strategies to reduce the volume of visitors while still sustaining the tourist industry in these locations.

There was a lot of research and observations completed during the covid lockdowns where all tourist locations – big or small – were suddenly devoid of people for months at a time. Environmental degradation was obvious, extensive, and reversible. Local governments and residents obviously have the final say in what they do with that incredible knowledge, but travellers play an important role. We can each prepare accordingly for visiting locations where waste is a problem, and use the Leave No Trace principles as a framework for how we interact with a destination and its residents. Consider if your priority is to visit that beach, or ensure the flourishing of an ecosystem. Many folks will choose the latter. As for those locations across the globe that now “depend on tourism” it is important that we consider why and how that happened. Often the answer involves colonialism, economic racism, and corruption. These systems still have people at the heart, and while it might seem inconsequential, our travel decisions can have a lasting impact.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND TRAVEL

Considering the bigger picture can seem daunting when all we want is a relaxing time away from our day-to-day life. But thankfully our waste free habits and choices connect to a bigger web of actions and people working toward justice in and for their own communities. It’s exciting to think that making a choice to benefit our family and honour our values can have a positive effect on someone you haven’t even met!

This article offers a few ideas to consider for travelling with respect for the environment and for people at your destination. As well as applying your waste free values to the amazing opportunity to travel and experience cultures and locations different from our own. Travel continues to be a privilege, one that is impacted by economic and racial justice alongside environmental justice.

TAKE ACTION

No matter where you are in your waste free journey, applying your values to travel can become overwhelming. There are many levels of impact to consider, and with everything happening in our world, the impact of a stress relieving holiday has become even more relevant. But now that we know better, we can make better choices while still enjoying the basic need that travel fulfils: getting out of our regular routine and exploring new sites. Here is a short list of actions you can take while planning your next vacation, ranked from low to high effort. What would you add to our list? Leave it in the comments!

Low effort:

Pack a reusable water bottle
If you need to buy supplies before you leave, choose second hand instead of buying new. Thrift stores and Buy Nothing groups are a great choice, as is borrowing from friends and family.

Mid effort:

Pack a reusable plate, bowl, and cutlery to avoid takeout containers or other unwanted single use items.
Don’t bring single use items with you, and remove any packaging from items in your suitcase to prevent putting strain on the waste system of your hosts.

High effort:

Use and buy local services at your destination, including transportation, restaurants, tour companies, etc.

Yard Waste or Yard Resource? Managing Yards in Edmonton

According to the calendar, spring began on March 20. According to our waste collection calendar, spring started on April 2, as food scraps carts can be set out every week. The next few months are busy for Edmontonians as we prepare our yards and gardens for the growing season. The City steps in to help you deal with your yard waste in a few different ways. But what do those solutions look like, and are there other options?

WHAT IS YARD WASTE AND WHAT HAPPENS TO IT?

Many people reading this article might argue that yard waste isn’t waste at all. It is a valuable resource that provides our yards and gardens with a source of nutrients.

The most basic definition of yard waste is the one that probably comes to the front of your mind when you hear the phrase. It includes such items as: branches, leaves, fallen fruit, grass, and other plant material from your garden. The City’s definition for collection does not include kitchen or animal waste, tree stumps or trunks. There are other means of disposing of those items, which we will get to later.

Yard waste is picked up twice in the spring (and twice in the fall) on a designated Monday. Download the WasteWise app or refer to your printed calendar for your neighbourhood’s dates. This separate collection of yard waste four times a year allows the city “to create clean, high-quality compost, while keeping more waste out of the landfill” (source). This compost is available for residents to pick up for free from the Ambleside and Kennedale Eco Stations starting in May.

If you choose to put your yard waste into your backyard compost bin, or have a dedicated area in your backyard to allow it to break down you can provide a welcome habitat to beneficial insects, birds, and other animals. It’s also important to remember to give those insects some extra time to wake up and embrace spring before you collect the leaves and branches for disposal (source).

WHY BOTHER SORTING OUR YARD WASTE?

Sorting our yard material into a separate stream allows for many benefits to be reaped by Edmontonians and our environment. “Landfills emit greenhouse gases from the anaerobic decomposition of biodegradable waste” (source). These greenhouse gases are a concern because they contribute to the overall warming of our planet, which in turn has a cascading effect on all of Earth’s systems, and can lead to “extreme weather, wildfires, droughts and food supply disruptions” (source) All of which has an outsized effect on us. Diverting food and yard waste prevents these harmful emissions, frees up landfill space for non-recyclable material, and extends the lifespan of our landfill.

There are added financial benefits of composting, such as reduced landfilling costs and generating income by selling the finished material (source). And when considered in the lens of a circular system, it makes no sense to throw away nutrient rich plant matter when we can compost it and continue to access those benefits, instead of locking them away in a landfill. For example, this high quality finished product is available to all Edmontonians free of charge. There are currently no size limitations on the amount of compost you can collect at the Ambleside and Kennedale Eco Stations. The financial incentive isn’t just for municipalities and businesses either. By using compost created by yard waste, you won’t have to buy expensive fertilizers or soil additives for your own yard or garden.

HOW TO SORT OUR YARD WASTE

Sorting your yard waste properly for collection takes a bit of time, but it’s well worth the effort. It’s important that we sort our yard waste appropriately because it is collected by hand. Safety of the great humans who do our waste collection must be kept top of mind. The City has a great list of tips here to help you sort your yard waste properly if you are putting it out for spring collection. See-through plastic or double-ply paper bags are the only types of bags accepted. For sticks and branches, they must be tied in bundles less than 1.2 metres and 0.75 metres in diameter. Please ensure that everything is secured tightly. There is no bag or bundle limit.

If you have some of those items mentioned above that cannot go in the yard waste collection – kitchen waste, tree stumps – there are still alternatives for safe disposal. Tree stumps and trunks can be disposed of at any Edmonton Eco Station throughout the season. And Eco Stations always accept residential yard waste if you don’t want to wait for your collection day – here is a list of locations. Animal waste and kitchen waste should go into your food scraps cart (unless otherwise indicated). And general yard waste items can go into your food scraps cart at any point during the season, as long as it fits those collection guidelines (size, for example). If placed in your food scraps cart, it will only be collected on normal collection days.

HOW DOES EDMONTON COMPARE TO OTHER MUNICIPALITIES

Edmonton’s current solution to yard waste works for us now. But are there better ideas out there? We looked at how other municipalities in Canada manage yard waste, and how Edmonton’s process compares. Our rival neighbour to the south has a similar system to ours, making use of both a food scraps cart and bags, however Calgary reserves the right to not collect all the bags you have left out if it is excessive (source). Red Deer once again has a similar system to Edmonton, however, they do not allow plastic bags as they are not compostable (source). The Government of Alberta Yard Waste Diversion Committee’s recommendations for reducing leaf and yard waste in Alberta might explain a lot of the similarities in the yard waste collection within Alberta municipalities. Size, climate, and current waste management systems also play a large role. Regina does not have curbside organics collection, so they instead operate a yard waste depot that is open spring through fall where residents can drop off leaves free of charge (source). Even farther east, we have Halifax where there are additional green cart pickup days starting in July (source). Residents can leave yard waste like leaves and branches out on collection day, but the City will not collect grass clippings and instead recommends you grasscycle those while mowing. Finally, we looked at Vancouver, whose “seasonal leaf collection program” runs from autumn into January. Otherwise you can put leaves into your Green Bin year round (source).

With this cursory exploration, we see that Edmonton is not an outlier in how our city manages the yard waste generated by residential households. While there is probably more we could be doing – both as a city and as residents – we have at least taken the important step in addressing the importance of sorting and separately managing our yard waste. Who knows what the future will bring with new technologies, new knowledge, citizen-led action paving the way for better solutions.

LET’S KEEP TALKING

We have all seen the house with two dozen orange plastic bags at the end of their driveway in the spring. Or the black bin overflowing with grass clippings. Why might people not put their yard waste into their food scraps cart? It is often a lack of knowledge or information about the yard waste program in edmonton. Many people might experience other barriers to adding their yard waste to their food scraps cart, such as mobility or accessibility concerns while navigating heavy materials up into the bin. We must strive to understand the barriers to folks not composting their yard waste, or not leaving their grass clippings on their lawn after mowing so we can continue the education in the right direction and get more people on board with this valued program. Beyond the education component is a culture shift. People must not only understand the importance of composting these materials, but also buy into a market for designing lower waste yardscapes and purchasing the products that are the end result of a yard waste compost program (source).

It’s important that we all start thinking of yard waste not only as a part of a waste cycle, but as a resource as well. So that “the negative environmental impacts of its disposal in landfills will be reduced or eliminated” (source). The more we talk with our neighbours and community about our yard waste, the more we can normalize alternatives to lawns and monocultures.

TAKE ACTION

We can all do our parts in ensuring that natural materials from our yards are sorted properly for pickup from the City of Edmonton. But here are some ideas if you want to make better use of this excellent resource!

Low effort:

Leave your grass clippings in place after you mow (More info on grasscycling here)
Use the high quality compost produced by the City from our yard waste

Mid effort:

Add your yard waste to your own backyard compost bin or to a separate spot in your yard to break down on its own and provide habitat to birds and bugs

Max effort:

Build a hugelkultur bed using twigs and branches
Change the landscaping design of your yard to feature less grass and more native species

What To Know About The New Waste Bylaw

Edmonton’s City Council unanimously passed a bylaw in February 2023 that will have a large impact on how our city manages their waste. This post is going to focus on two main parts of that bylaw: communal collections and bin liners.

Many apartment dwellers have been asking for this since the first green cart hit the curb many years ago saying, “when will it be our turn?” Starting in fall 2023 and continuing until 2027 their turn is here. Impacting approximately 167,000 households, multi-family dwellings will now be included in the organics collection program that single family homes have been using since 2021. “Increasing the separate collection of food scraps and recyclables will help keep more waste out of the landfill and reduce emissions,” the city said in a news release. There was a 30% reduction of waste in the garbage stream after the City completed its switch to the current system for single-family residential. It is unclear what their estimates are for the drop once the multi-family program is in action, but we could see another significant drop in the non-organic waste stream. While the exact logistics of this collection strategy remain to be seen, the City promises to work with building owners to ensure the collection can be accommodated. Apartment and condo dwellers can look forward to their own food scraps collection in the months and years to come.

In terms of bin liners, the city previously required compostable liners labeled BPI or BNQ-certified. This bylaw now permits any type of bin liner to be used in the green cart, of any material. According to the City, the compostable bag liners folks may have previously been using were being thrown into the garbage after food scraps were emptied. Our facility in Edmonton cannot completely compost the certified compostable bags, so if the bags weren’t removed they would contaminate the finished compost material with microplastics and potentially toxic chemicals. Compostable plastics are largely a myth. Compostable plastics are also known as bio-plastics or biodegradable plastic. Each of these are composed of different base materials, or have different properties, and they are scientifically not interchangeable (source). The confusion between the three as far as the general public is concerned, and the “greenwashing” that comes into play in their existence creates problems for composting initiatives like ours in Edmonton. The false promises of compostable plastics also hide a heavy carbon footprint and toxic chemicals (source), both of which negate the benefit of an organics program. When makers of BPI compostable bags advertise that they can break down in municipal composting facilities, they don’t necessarily mean your municipality’s facility. Most of these types of plastics can only break down in a high heat industrial composting facility, far hotter than those which most cities or towns operate.

Under the previous bylaw, and continuing under the new one, liners made from paper are composted alongside the contents of the green bin. Moving forward, liners made of any other material of bag will be removed from the organics waste stream and put in with the general landfill waste. The best solution is to skip liners completely, but if you feel you must use one, try and reuse a bag you already have – in paper if possible – before buying new, single-use plastic bags. The City of Edmonton has already demonstrated their focus on reducing single-use plastics in food service with Bylaw 20117, set to take effect this July (source). It would be a significant step for them to amend the Single-Use Item Reduction Bylaw to require residents to forgo plastic liners, but we know that Edmontonians are still adjusting to the green carts program. Perhaps we can look forward to that addition in the future. For now, we can continue educating friends and family on the merits of going bagless, or help them find creative ways to use (limited) paper or cardboard to line their bins!

Many articles that present this new bylaw mention the City of Edmonton’s climate goals, but what are those goals specifically and how do these new measures – bin liners, communal composting, and single use item reduction – fit into those goals? For one, the City aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, and yet is already set to blow past that timeline (source). A variety of environmental programs are guided by EcoVision “the city’s vision for environmental sustainability” (source) and The Way We Green, which is Edmonton’s environmental strategic plan. Specifically, the new bylaw focuses on the concern that the “residential sector is responsible for about 40% of all solid waste generated in Edmonton” (source), and addresses how to reduce waste and also divert it from going to landfill.

The city declared a climate emergency 3 years ago (source), and has set ambitious goals and targets to reflect this status. How do you see these changes to our waste collection impacting our mitigation or adaptation to the climate emergency? How are these actions going to help Edmonton and Edmontonians get through this emergency? We may not have the answers to these questions today, but they provide some “food for thought”, and can guide our response to the new bylaw and its impact on our day-to-day lives.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

Food scraps collection coming to Edmonton apartments and condos (Global News)

Edmonton apartments and condos to have separate food scraps collection (CTV News)

Food waste: what, why and how to stop it (Waste Free Edmonton)

City of Edmonton:

Bylaw 20363

Edmonton’s Strategic Vision – 2019 to 2028

Community Energy Transition Strategy

Single Use Items

Change for Climate

The Way We Green Speaker Series

Biodegradable Plastic Problems (BioPak)The False Promise Of Bioplastics and Compostable Plastics (Beyond Plastics)

December 14, 2022December 14, 2022

Five Tips to Make Your Holiday Dinner Waste Free

‘Tis the season to make merry with friends and family. And food is such an important part of many holidays this time of year. Perhaps your holiday plans include hosting or co-hosting a festive meal at your home. It can be difficult to have a perfect waste-free event, but we can try with these five tips to make your holiday dinner waste free.

Say NO to plastic cutlery and disposable plates and YES to a “Party Pack”. What is a ”Party Pack” you ask? It’s a separate set of proper dishes – including cutlery, cups, and fabric napkins – you can use when you’re serving more than the usual number of folks. This avoids the need to use disposable tableware, and it looks better as well!
Don’t be afraid to send leftovers home with your guests! Ask them to bring reusable food containers to the party, or dig through your recyclables bin and reuse those peanut butter jars you’ve been saving for collection day.
If your guests insist on bringing a “host gift”, ask for an ingredient in the evening’s meal. Dessert or buns is always an easy one. But if the guest is a whiz in the kitchen, you could also ask them to arrive early and help you with the cooking or setting the table. Spending a little extra time together is a bonus, and it’s always appreciated to get extra help in the kitchen.
When grocery shopping for ingredients, try to minimize single use plastics and food waste. If you make a plan – including choosing recipes – and write a list before you head out shopping, there is a smaller chance that you will waste ingredients either because you purchased too much or you purchased something you don’t need. This also gives you a chance to choose ingredients with less packaging, like fresh produce or refillable items.
Serve a vegetarian or vegan meal. Eating less meat is one of the top ways a change in your diet can help combat the climate crisis (source). There are a lot of really popular and delicious – and easy – vegan recipes online these days that will please all of your guests.

A birthday party kit including plates, utensils, and napkins – all waste free!

If holiday values for you means gathering with friends and family, you can impart some of your climate and waste free values to them at the same time. With a little creativity and time you can ensure the meal is low waste, or waste free. It’s the time spent together that is the most important part anyway.

November 16, 2022November 16, 2022

Single-Use Plastics In The Fashion Industry

The recent approval of the Single-Use Item Reduction Bylaw in Edmonton got us thinking about single-use plastics in the fashion industry. This topic certainly applies to textiles, from the little plastic on garment hang tags, plastic packaging of items bought online, to garments thrown out after one use.

That’s right – even our clothing can be considered single-use. A report from Censuswide stated that UK residents bought an estimated 50 million clothing items for one-time use at festivals, holidays, and weddings in summer 2019 [1]. While this may not mean that the item was sent to landfill after one wear, many fast fashion items are of such poor quality that they aren’t meant to withstand multiple wears or laundering cycles.

In addition, Fibre2Fashion states on their website that plastic packaging used in shipping garments from manufacturers to retailers is sometimes forgotten when talking about sustainable fashion [2]. Considering over 100 billion garments are made annually, we can assume that billions of plastic bags are being used to transport these items, often individually wrapped, from factory to store.

Fortunately, some brands are turning to plastic free garment tags and packaging to reduce the amount of plastic waste going to landfill after purchasing an item in store or online. As Good On You explains on their website [3], options such as compostable, recyclable or returnable packaging are being used at companies like Maggie Marilyn, Lanius, and Mud Jeans, respectively.

We look forward to seeing how future bylaws in Edmonton and beyond can address the single-use mindset of the fashion industry.

October 17, 2022October 18, 2022

A Straight Line to a Circular Economy

“Climate change is not the problem. Climate change is the most horrible symptom of an economic system that has been built for a few to extract every precious ounce of value out of this planet and its people, from our natural resources to the fruits of our human labour. This system has created this crisis.”
Colette Pichon Battle. “An Offering the From the Bayou.” All We Can Save: Truth Courage And Solutions For The Climate Crisis. Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson.

Waste Reduction Week Canada has extended from one week in October to the entire month, with a dedicated focus on the circular economy. The concept of a circular economy has been around for over 10 years, but the vocabulary is just starting to make its way into the general public. There are many governments and businesses advocating for a turn to the circular economy. But there are also many climate justice workers and academics that are sounding the alarm about the pitfalls and problems associated with it. In this article we will define the circular economy and then explore some of its benefits, barriers to implementation, and problems identified with it. Then list some actions you can take in your communities to help work toward a just transition.

Even if you have never heard the term “circular economy”, you can probably start to imagine a basic definition, especially when applied to the climate crisis. As defined by Waste Reduction Week Canada, circularity “incorporates better design that consumes less raw material during production, maximizes value during use, and improves products and services that are intended to eliminate wastes.” (Source) At its core, the circular economy is an economic framework that is meant to be overlaid with our current economic system. It replaces the linear model of product generation which creates products that have a limited lifespan before becoming waste. Recognizing that there are limited resources on our planet, a circular economy attempts to make the best use of those resources, while positively impacting business growth. It aims to do so with a focus placed on sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products. (Source)

In a circular economy more attention is paid to everything that goes into the cycle (like materials and energy), to ensure that as little as possible comes out as waste. As advertised, some of its benefits would include:

Manufactured items will last longer
Eliminating planned obsolescence
Prioritizing access over ownership
Creating items that are easier to repair
Less greenhouse gas production and less waste in general

Of course this is only a short list, and there are as many advertised benefits as there are cities and companies working toward full implementation of a circular economy! As with any economic based solution to humanity’s current crisis, there are also strong voices addressing the barriers and speaking out against the implementation of a circular economy as it is currently defined.

Libraries and book exchanges are familiar examples of circular economies.

CRITICISMS OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

As politicians, business, and researchers advocate for moving to a circular economy, there are other voices engaging in critical discourse around these purported benefits. Concerns raised include barriers to a full implementation of a circular economy, missed opportunities, and holes that could prevent us from reaching our full potential as humans and not just as consumers.

A core building block of the CE is the recyclability and reuse of products and materials. Unfortunately, some recycled materials degrade faster the more times they are recycled and many hazardous materials cannot be safely recycled or reused at all. (Source) How can we balance our goals of sustainability with the reality of the products we rely on to achieve those goals?

Reuse and recycle is a subject that is easy to simplify for regular folks to understand, while remaining complex at its root. The same can be said for jobs. We hear news everyday about job losses and gains, and we have seen first hand during the pandemic how unstable many of our traditional jobs are. The reason for job losses is always blamed on “the economy”. But how can we use a new economic framework to ensure that we have quality, local jobs. The circular economy does mention job creation, but unfortunately fails to demand good jobs, or mandate that they be created locally using culturally appropriate technologies (Source). In fact, there are many opportunities for job creation while transitioning to a circular economy. Much of the technology and infrastructure we will require to recycle and repurpose materials has not reached the scale demanded of the speed we must be moving to reach our climate goals. The current lack of infrastructure in many communities poses a problem to full implementation of a circular economy (source), but offers great opportunities to create long-term, good, local jobs. This must be addressed head on when building out the circular economy standards. In fact, there is not yet any international recognized standardisation with regards to circularity performance (source), another point made by critics.

These standards must include social justice and social equity, and the writing on circular economy implementation does not reflect that. In fact, many examples of the ways governments can enact a circular economy do not mention social equity or social justice at all. They are primarily focused on environmental and business outcomes. If we want there to be social equity in our new economic system we must name it, and demand it. We cannot assume that it will just materialize while we work on our waste reduction goals. Failing this, we will continue to see “abuses of power, unhealthy or unfair labour and living conditions or a disrespect of human rights” (Source)

Doughnut Economics offers an alternative to a circular economy that has those social factors built directly into the framework. Where the circular economy focused on the lifecycle of products, Kate Rawroth’s playful Doughnut directly names social and planetary boundaries, and “acts as a compass for human progress this century”. (Source) This framework is already in play in many municipalities around the world to the great benefit of those citizens and residents.

While there are many concerns to implementing a circular economy worldwide – or even in our communities – there are many benefits offered as well. Currently, the circular economy offers an interesting framework for improving environmental and business sustainability, but lacks strength in the social field. If governments around the world continue to push for a circular economy, we will need to overcome the barriers to implementation, balance the environmental and business objectives, and more clearly define the social demands. And prioritize those. There are sustainable solutions offered within other frameworks – like the Doughnut Economy – and many researchers working on balancing the circular economy. While we work toward reducing humanity’s negative impact toward our continued survival, we will need to take advantage of all the tools available. Perhaps the final solution will involve the great parts of the circular economy working alongside other ideas. And will facilitate all of humanity working together to ensure we achieve sustainable – and equitable – futures for everyone.

Thrifting is a great example or circularity – does the world need more spoons?

TAKE ACTION

Here at Waste Free Edmonton, we have focused our attention on local waste reduction efforts. And lately, the City of Edmonton has taken some steps toward implementing a circular economy (Single Use Item Bylaw). Here are some actions you can take at home and as a citizen, keeping in mind that choices aren’t easy to make for some families. The symptoms of climate change cannot be fixed on the individual level, which is why we need systems change to make sure everyone has equal access to those choices.

SHARE this pdf explaining Edmonton’s Single Use Item Bylaw with friends, family and coworkers in Edmonton. Discuss why you are excited about the bylaw, and which aspects might be difficult for others in our community.

SEND an email to your Member of Parliament sharing why you are in favour of going beyond a “plastics ban” and implementing a nation wide single use item ban.

ASK your manager what your company is doing to eliminate waste throughout all internal processes. (Or maybe you are the decision maker and can address this directly!)

BORROW a tool the next time you need one from the Edmonton Tool Library, buy a refurbished phone, or check out the Reuse Centre for craft or party supplies.

SIGN this petition hosted by Open Media to demand the federal government stop stalling on broad Right to Repair legislation.

If you have any ideas for our readers on other actions they can take at home or in their communities, please leave them in the Comments!

Single-Use Items Go Beyond Plastic

“Every single-use item, regardless of what it is made of, carries an environmental cost.” (Source). According to the City itself, this is one of the main reasons they are not specifically singling out plastics in the SUI bylaw. Simply replacing plastic with other items – such as paper, bamboo, or metal – ignores the very serious amount of waste generated in our city every year. According to the City’s estimates, Edmontonians throw out 450 million single use items every year (Source). By expanding the scope of the bylaw beyond plastics, we also have the opportunity to expand the creative long-term solutions.

It is understandable why folks have questions about including non-plastic items, or are skeptical about the ability of a bylaw such as this to table our waste problem. Business owners are concerned about their bottom line, their employees safety, and their customers’ satisfaction. City dwellers wonder how this will impact their trips to the grocery store, meeting friends for lunch, and their already tight monthly budget. Single-use plastic is something many of us recognize and understand already, but adding in all single-use items can feel overwhelming. Looking at the big picture – why the City is pursuing this – can help place ourselves within that big picture. And help us work on pursuing those goals as a community.

The City of Edmonton offers three reasons it is moving beyond plastics: (Source)

Greenhouse gas emissions throughout the items’ lifecycles
Landfill space
Degrading natural habitat if these items become litter

By looking at the larger impacts of single-use items on the climate crisis, and how the City fits into the global system as a whole, they could easily add the following:

Garbage is garbage, no matter the material
Waste of resources
Help to create a circular economy

Let’s examine each in turn, and explore not only the importance of a more holistic approach, but the positive opportunities offered thanks to these efforts.

Most folks understand that we live on a finite planet, with finite resources. But it is perhaps less common knowledge that we can put a number on that. Humans use 73% more resources per year than the Earth produces. (source) The way our modern lives have been structured often favour ease over consideration. All single-use items carry an energy price tag. This includes greenhouse gas emissions, which often show up throughout their life cycles. In order to cut out those greenhouse gases, or at least dramatically reduce them, we must make (and be offered) better choices.

Take reusables for example. These single-use item stand-ins still take resources to produce and distribute, but they are designed to have a longer life span. And many are also designed to be easier to recycle or repurpose as well, a metal or glass food container for example. Single-use item bylaws can encourage swaps to those items, and if the restrictions are limited to plastic only, a lot of innovative products – and waste reduction – would be missed.

If we look at all single-use items as a waste of resources, a holistic bylaw encourages use of our finite resources in a way that best serves everyone in the long-run.

While looking at these items as a waste of resources, we must also zoom out and consider our land a resource as well. Landfill space is at a premium. (read more on that here) An item that is designed to be, or at least perceived to be used only once (regardless of the material), automatically takes up this valuable space as soon as it is produced. Replacing plastic waste with bamboo, paper, or bio-plastics without addressing the single-use aspect of those items ignores this reality.

When it comes to taking up space in a landfill or degrading natural habits as litter, all single-use items are created equal. We often hear that plastic is “bad” and are encouraged to focus our attention on reducing plastic waste to the exclusion of other waste. It gets the most press! While this is absolutely true, plastic is also a really useful material. It’s when we treat it as “cheap” and disposable that we run into trouble.

Many companies have been replacing their unrecyclable, non-reusable to-go containers with other materials, and there is merit to this. This represents only some of the amazing creativity being used to build smarter SUI in terms of materials, energy usage, means of production, local sourcing, etc. We need that creativity, especially as it offers opportunities for wider solutions, and used in concert with a SUI Bylaw, it can have a huge impact. A bylaw targeting all SUI encourages consumers and producers of these items to refocus on mindset toward what we need, and what we will actually use. It can empower us to say “no” and gives consumers and businesses a chance to examine their “garbage shadow”. (Click here for info on a climate shadow).

So we have finite resources, plus we’re using up those precious resources to make and store more garbage. An obvious solution is at hand: the circular economy! A Circular Economy is a systems solution framework that looks to eliminate waste, circulate materials, and regenerate nature. A Circular Economy must look at all areas of output and input, not only plastic. Will Edmonton be creating a Circular Economy with this bylaw? No. But it is taking an important step in this direction and helping to ensure we are more climate resilient in the process.

TAKE ACTION

It can be difficult to know the challenges folks might face once this bylaw comes into effect. But we can try to anticipate some common ones, and make plans today to ensure success in our communities.

Talk about the bylaw with friends, family, and neighbours. The City of Edmonton has created a single page PDF that has a lot of easy to digest information packed into it. Share this, but also share your personal hopes about the bylaw and also what has you worried. “Talking about climate change is the best way to combat it.” (Katherine Hayhoe)
Evaluate where your family unit might struggle with the new bylaw, and start preparing now. For example, by purchasing reusables now as you can afford them and leaving them in the spaces where they will get used most (the trunk of your car, your bicycle basket, etc.).

Maybe you are an entrepreneur who sees the vast opportunities with this type of holistic bylaw targeting our single use waste. There are many places in the world that offer reusable programs at restaurants (in Victoria, B.C. for example) or coffee shops. Imagine the possibilities in Edmonton and start planning!

April 12, 2022April 11, 2022

Talking To Edmonton About Single-Use Items

Single-use items. This is an issue that Waste Free Edmonton has been working on since our inception. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons our founders started the non-profit organization. We have come so far in the past 4 years. It makes sense to celebrate the wins as we get them.

Celebrating wins also entails explaining them to folks in our lives who don’t have the same level of knowledge about climate change and climate actions. The vast majority of Canadians are worried about the effects of climate change, but only half of us self-report understanding of climate change, and what needs to be done to combat it (Source).

If you are reading this, we can assume that you are interested in waste and climate change. And we assume that you talk to your friends and family about those topics. We know that it can be difficult having those conversations, especially with folks who don’t have the same level of knowledge as you. We hope this short guide helps you discuss our latest local climate win: the Plan to Reduce Single-use Items and its bylaw.

Leave Space

Nobody wants to hear a lecture, unless they are paying to go to school! Come informed and ready to listen. This looks like leaving space for the other person to talk and ask questions. And make sure that you are asking questions to understand and clarify, not to respond. And especially not to denigrate their knowledge.

That being said, it’s critically important to discourage climate change denial, fossil fuel company talking points, and racism, which can often come up when discussing current (and historic) climate actions. These are healthy boundaries to set and reinforce. You might not change anyone’s mind, but you can get them thinking about single-use items and the impact they have.

Speak from personal experience

Yes, it’s important to get your facts in about the single-use item plan, but it will be more meaningful – and memorable – if you speak about your personal experience. For example, tell your friend what you are excited about, or nervous about in the new plan. Explain to your Dad how you think this plan will impact your daily life and a trick you’ll use to remember to bring your reusables from home. Share with coworkers why you believe we need a single-use item plan and what this will mean for your weekly team lunch. Connecting the single-use item plan to your daily life will encourage your friends and family to do the same. Chatting in this way allows everyone to explore how the plan will impact them, their community, or their local business, and encourages people to get ready for the bylaw to take effect. And in a larger sense, this gets everyone to start evaluating the impact their actions have on waste in our community.

Since you’re keeping it personal, don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” in response to a question or comment. Remember that you can always refer back to the City’s resources and encourage your friend to email their Councillor directly with questions.

Keep a cool head

Encouraging your friends and family to get curious about how this bylaw might affect them might bring out some strong feelings. Remember, this isn’t your plan so try not to take feedback personally. Recommend they reach out to their Councillor and Mayor if they have tough questions or comments. And if you come up against denialism, politely explain that you are not debating the proven existence of climate change.

Follow Up!

Once it’s had a few days to sink in, follow up after your conversation. Ask if they had any further questions or comments, and list any that you thought of. Send them an email including the link to the plan and a list of emails for City Councillors. Think of your own waste free journey. It probably took awhile for you to learn about waste reduction, and how to translate your knowledge into action. Patience and many conversations within our community are the keys to the success of Edmonton’s single-use item bylaw.

Happy Plastic Free July!

CRITICISMS OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

TAKE ACTION

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

TAKE ACTION