Making a splash in Japan

Here I go, bragging again. Can't really help myself... Edmonton's Waste Management Branch is so fantastic, many places in the world are sitting up and taking notice. Not only do we have state of the art facilities when it comes to reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering valuable resources in our waste stream (some of which you'll see in the video below), but we also have a wonderful Reuse Centre, where people and groups can get recycled craft supplies and good reusable items for a small fee. Besides all this, there's a multitude of Master Composter/Recycler (MC/R) volunteers to help educate Edmontonians about the best ways to carry out those 4 Rs so that our city's residential waste has been reduced by over 85%. We've done a fair bit to help lighten the load on our planet, but there's always more to be done. This weekend, a new crop of MC/Rs will graduate, and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them on Saturday, hearing some of their final project presentations. Their enthusiasm for their new role always gets me fired up to initiate a few projects myself. At the moment I'm planning a Wine, Cheese and Composting Party in my backyard for the end of May for neighbours, friends, and anyone else who might be interested. Leave me a message if you want details.

The video below was posted to the MC/R Facebook page, and it reminded me that I haven't promoted Edmonton's Reuse Centre very much. So... here's a short video from Japan's "Good to Know" TV program that touts some of the great things the Edmonton Waste Management Branch has developed to make those 4 Rs work here. I've seen many videos about Edmonton's fine recycling programs, but never one in Japanese! If you want to learn more -- in English -- look here.

Enjoy! Have a good weekend, and congratulations to the MC/R Class of 2012!