The participants maintained a single trash can for a year. At the end of the year, the participants had a little weigh-in to determine who’d generated the most waste.
A Single Trash Can Over Three Months
That’s pretty hardcore, so I started thinking about a less extreme challenge. What if we attempted to only generate a single trash can of garbage over three months? By ‘trash can’, I mean a largish indoor bin, like one of those free-standing, foot-pedal-operated ones you typically find in a kitchen.
That seems pretty achievable. We’ve got robust recycling here in BC, and an apartment composter that processes everything organic excepting bones and citrus fruit waste. The tricky bit would be not buying any big consumer items like, say, a new laptop, that’s accompanied by a lot of non-recyclable waste. We have no kids, which are, I gather, engines of consumer waste.
And we wouldn’t make it a challenge–I’m not a particularly competitive sort. I wouldn’t do it for the conservation alone. But it would be a good exercise in thinking more carefully about how much we consume, and how much ends up in a landfill. And maybe then I could convince a couple of friends, family members or readers to do the same thing.
In any case, our composter is on the fritz (the motor got all corroded), so we have to wait for replacement parts. If I can convince Julie, though, we might give it a try this winter.
Could you only fill one trash bin over three months?
This qualifies as a client plug, I suppose, but it’s a cause that’s really close to my heart.
We’re doing some work with Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club of BC and ForestEthics on the continuing campaign to save BC’s Great Bear rainforest.
The Great Bear Rainforest is a huge swath of the land–the size of Austria–on BC’s central coast. It’s home to three kinds of bears, six million migratory birds, 3000 genetically distinct salmon stocks and many species of plants unique to the region. Most importantly, it’s the largest tract of intact coastal temperate rainforest left on Earth.
As you may recall, there was a landmark agreement in 2006 among various stakeholders–the provincial government, logging companies, First Nations and environmentalists. They agreed to a new approach to resource planning developed by an independent team of scientists, and committed to its implementation by March 31, 2009. But we’re not (ahem) out of the woods yet. From the petition:
A couple of years ago, Premier Campbell made a very specific commitment to preserve this precious rainforest. The final countdown is on for the BC government to make their promise a reality by the March 31, 2009 deadline. Premier Campbell needs to hear from you.
We are down to the wire. Unless all elements of the promise are kept, the ecological health of the rainforest will be in jeopardy once again. We’ve come so far towards the rare success of having a vast unspoiled forest safeguarded, let’s not undermine all this good work by not reaching the finish line.
Give Me an Early Christmas Present: Sign This Petition
If you can spare 37 seconds, I’d really appreciate it if you would sign the petition urging the government of BC to keep their promises regarding this precious region. You don’t have to be from BC, either–support from other parts of the globe really helps.
If you’re keen to help beyond signing the petition, consider any of the following:
Blog, tweet, bookmark or otherwise spread the word on the campaign.
Watch, favourite and share this two-minute YouTube video about the project:
Thanks to Emily, Raul, Monique, Rebecca and everybody else who has written about the campaign thus far. We’re making good progress, but we’ve got a ways to go.
