What’s stopping you from being greener?
Most people acknowlege the value to themselves and the planet of the three Rs of modern life – reduce, reuse and recycle.
There’s lots of local initiatives but are they well enough known and more importantly used?
There’s tools to help if people want them.
Metro Vancouver, with its Zero Waste Challenge, offers its recycling website (http://www.metrovancouverrecycles.org/) where people enter what they are recycling and it shows where to take it.
Love Food Hate Waste has a website and social media outlets that offer menus and recipes to use food instead of tossing it, food storage tips and more. The Metro Vancouver initiative is to reduce avoidable food waste. In B.C. people throw away 55,000 apples per day, for instance.
There’s also the Recycling Council of BC (www.rcbc.ca/) which even has a phone app to help people find the region’s recycling and reuse options.
Multi Material BC (recyclinginbc.ca) has more than 200 depots to accept items for recycling, namely packaging.
There are various events to mark Earth Day April 22 but Langley hosts a novel competition that stresses reuse.
From April 19 to May 1 at Willowbrook Shopping Centre, there’s the Upcycle Challenge, a display of creations that use at least 75 waste material that would normally end up in the landfill. It’s a good chance to see how to repurpose items.
This year’s Earth Day will see the signing of the Paris climate change agreement by countries all over the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For far too long, everyone has pointed the finger at others, saying ‘they are bigger polluters than I’. Paris is an acknowledgement everyone has to make changes.
– H.C.