Simple Suggestion #143... Give a thought to your garbage guys and gals

When we got home from Jasper on the weekend, I noticed a line of garbage bags along my neighbour's back fence... autumn leaves from her yard clean up, which I promptly "borrowed" for my compost pile. As I lugged six bags to my storage area beside our garage, I decided that this week would be a good time to post this suggestion, which, I admit, is mostly for city dwellers, or towns where garbage is collected by people in waste management services.

Our garbage collectors work really hard, and their work often takes serious tolls on their bodies. But if ordinary citizens like you and me think about what we can do to make their jobs safer, no one gets hurt and everyone wins. So here's a quick list of things to keep in mind that can make life a lot better for your garbage guys:

1. Ensure easy access to your garbage area. If in an alleyway, keep the path between truck and cans clear. If on a street, try to keep vehicles parked away from collection points.

2. Make sure your cans have fixed handles. Moving handles can wrench wrists.

3. Stationary cans (without wheels) are less likely to cause back injuries.

4. Keeping bags under 40 lbs (20 kg) also saves backs.

5. Sharp things should be packaged in a way that they can't cut collectors. Put broken glass and other sharp items into labelled, puncture-proof boxes or containers.

6. Grasscycle and compost if you can. The guys really don't mind picking up FEWER grass clippings and leaves.

Here's a great little 4 minute video that tells you everything your garbage collector wants you to know. And even if your area doesn't have garbage collectors, giving some thought to your garbage now and then is good for the planet... but that's another moodling for another day.

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!

Sometimes I'm just so proud of my city...

Edmonton, Alberta, is an interesting city. We're known globally for two things: West Edmonton Mall, which was once the world's largest shopping centre, and the Edmonton Oilers (well, we'd be known globally for that if everyone in the world was a hockey fan in the 80s. I suspect if you mentioned our city in Madagascar today, you'd get a lot of blank looks).

Since the late 80s, Edmonton has also become a world leader in something that a lot of people aren't aware of -- Waste Management. When it was discovered that our landfill was reaching capacity too quickly back in those days, the City decided to start a residential recycling program that has developed and grown into a waste management Centre of Excellence. It is now being studied by people from all over the planet who are realizing that if we're going to survive as a species, our garbage needs to be properly handled: reduced, reused, recycled, recovered, composted, and all that other good earth-friendly stuff we can do with it.

What I was less aware of was that the City has carried this idea even further by hiring people that aren't generally considered to have the potential to be good employees. I knew that people with intellectual disabilities have been involved in recycling programs from the beginning, but I didn't know about all the other "second chances" that Quality One, the staffing department, has been creating... putting into practice one of my favourite sayings, attributed to Audrey Hepburn: "People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone."

Sometimes, the people of my city just make me so proud. Watch this ten minute video about Quality One, and you'll see what I mean.

Simple Suggestion #111... Become a Master Composter/Recycler

Unfortunately, this suggestion applies only to people who live in my area. I've never heard of any other place that offers a course like this, though there are Master Gardener and Master of Permaculture courses out there. If you know of any in your area and want to share information, I'd be happy to post it!

Anyway, I've been planning to promote a wonderful program for a while... and today I got an email reminding me to do so because the application deadline is coming up. So, here goes...

This spring will mark my fifth anniversary as a City of Edmonton Master Composter/Recycler, and I can honestly say that the 35 hours I spent at the course were some of the best I've spent in class ever. I learned a lot, met some amazing people, and brought home all sorts of great ideas for my home, yard and garden, ideas that have improved my life, and the health of the planet, too! I feel confident in my composting efforts, my garden has thrived because of that, and I've had a lot of fun helping others to learn about composting and recycling in my own back yard and as a volunteer at city events. There's so much more to being an MC/R than what they've listed below, because what you learn can take you so many interesting places! I've also met a lot of great people during my hundred plus hours of volunteering.

If this sounds appealing to you, check out the information below, and consider taking the course. Tell them Maria K. sent you! And if you live too far away, there's lots of composting and recycling ideas on the internet, or at your local library...

Set a positive environmental example in your neighbourhood.

Would you like to help reduce the waste produced in Edmonton? Join other green-minded citizens for a 40 hour course in residential composting, recycling, and hazardous waste management. In return, take what you learn back to your community where you'll be a Master Composter/Recycler Volunteer.

A few examples of volunteer activities:

• Teach composting to kids and adults.
• Represent Waste Management Services at tradeshows and community events.
• Write articles for community newsletters.

For more information and to apply online at www.edmonton.ca/mcrp


P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.

Simple Suggestion #103... Avoid disposables

Four years ago during my Master Composter/Recycler course, you could say I got up close and personal with garbage, to the point where the already avid recycler within became almost manic. (I've since toned down some, you'll be happy to know.) Visiting Edmonton's World Class Waste Management Branch facilities woke me up to the humungous masses of garbage our city's population produces and all the effort it takes to deal with our waste. If you've never given it much thought, you might like to see this:

And most cities don't have this kind of stuff!

Today's suggestion comes out of the awareness that we can waste less. Our society has become far too reliant on disposable items, forgetting that single-use stuff, no matter how small, has to go somewhere. I remember being totally disgusted when Swiffer (the floor sweeper people) came out with single-use wet towelettes for the bottom of its little mops. What ever happened to the good old washable rag and a pail of hot, soapy water?

If you look around life these days, you'll see hundreds, if not thousands of disposable items that the big corporations want us to depend on (read: use without thinking), everything from cameras to make-up applicators to single serving restaurant jams and salad dressings, to LCD TV wipes (again, where's the rag?) Unfortunately, a lot of them have already become so ingrained in our lives that we never give them a second thought. Consider: plastic cutlery, paper cups and plates, soda cans and water bottles, paper-towels, etc. If all these things weren't so darned convenient, and if human beings weren't quite so -- dare I say it? -- lazy, these things would be outlawed because they use up the earth's resources, and send them directly to the dump.

There are many ways to avoid single-use items, but they all require a bit more effort on our parts most of the time. There can also be simple solutions... if we use our heads. 

Christmas wrap and gift wrap are often single use... not only that, but they're not easy on recycling programs, as they can jam up machines, or may have tinfoil in them that's impossible to extricate from the paper portion. Our family's solution? Using colourful newspaper comics saved through the year (which our girls tend to reread as they wrap gifts, enjoying the humour the second time around) or reusing gift bags from years gone by.

These are just waiting for use in 24 days or so.

One of my sisters-in-law sewed a few fabric bags that have made the rounds a few times, which is really great. Wrapping a gift in something useful, like a tea towel, is another way of ensuring less wasted paper.

What's the craziest single use item you've ever seen? And how do you avoid creating excess stuff for our landfills at Christmas time, or any time of the year? Leave me a comment if you like. I love to hear original (and not so original) ideas, because they give me hope, something we can all use during these dark days of the year!

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up."
- Anne Lamott  from Bird by Bird: Some instructions on writing and life


P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.

The joys of being a Master Composter/Recycler

This morning, I had the pleasure of spending some time with the new City of Edmonton Master Composter/Recycler graduates of 2011. They're a wonderful bunch, brimming with enthusiasm for their new role as volunteers who will educate more citizens of their communities about Edmonton's world class recycling facilities, and ways to reduce waste. I was able to sit in on presentations about their plans for sharing their new knowledge with the public, and was quite impressed by the breadth of ideas and activities they want to take on as new ambassadors for reducing, reusing, recycling, recovering and a plethora of other R words which our world needs to give more attention now that there are seven billion of us on it.

I was invited to give a little presentation about my own experiences as a Master Composter/Recycler in the last four years, and just the exercise of writing that little talk reminded me what a wonderful thing it is to be counted among the ranks of Edmonton's MCRs. I've met so many wonderful, environmentally-conscious people, and had many opportunities to encourage friends, neighbours and members of my community to become more conscious of ways to be kinder to the planet.

Since my MCR graduation day in May of 2007, lots of good things have happened for me. Not only is my yard composter a happier place, but I have become the proud owner of a four story red wiggler condo. This picture was taken last spring, before a fifth floor was added. I've learned that if you put a tablespoon of worm castings into a litre of water, stir it up, and water with that, houseplants absolutely love it.

I’ve also discovered that being an MCR is a lot of fun through lots of different activities, like talking up Edmonton's world class Recycling Program with any interested person, esp. new neighbours and the Simplicity Study Circles I facilitate. Somehow, that leads to conversations about grass cycling, and rain barrel water conservation and lasagna gardening, and the benefits of the Reuse Centre, and EcoStations and a lot of other good stuff.

Helping friends and family with their composters has been fun, as has encouraging people I know to compost, and being a “leaf thief” from neighbours who don’t compost. My garden is admired by those neighbours, and they are sometimes a little puzzled when I thank them for their contributions.

Facilitating Recycling displays for the city is easier than you’d expect. I took one to a Green Fair in Millwoods (invited by someone from the Green Party), and I’ve helped with displays at the home reno and home and garden shows at the Agricom. Being an introvert, it didn't come naturally at first, but I’ve learned how much fun it can be to stop people in their tracks by offering them a free blue bag or composting brochure.

Doing backyard composting workshops has been a great way to build community. Who knew wine, neighbours, and red wigglers would be the recipe for a fun evening? I’m hoping to host another one this spring through my community league. Last year I also helped my daughter’s Grade Four class set up a vermicomposter that did quite well on the Grade Fours' apple cores and other organic lunch leftovers (that's where our red wiggler condo got its fifth level of occupants).

Helping at the reuse tree display at City Hall has been a great way to get into the spirit of the season. I spent my time there showing off crafty tree ornaments made of recycled items and promoting the city's ReUse Centre across the street, and the bonus was that I got to hear some school choirs sing carols the entire time I was there.

One of my sidelines is facilitating what’s called a Simplicity Study Circle. It’s all about ways to live more simply, with less of an impact on the earth, and bits and pieces of my MCR training is always creeping into workshops. For one event, I actually got a group together to tour the Waste Management Branch. All I can say is that it's an amazing place. Edmonton's recycling success rate is 90%, and visiting the Materials Recycling Facility and seeing the conveyor belts moving recyclables from our blue bags past workers who sort them at incredible speeds is an unforgettable experience.

Two weeks from today, I will be speaking at a Social Justice Symposium that will be dealing with the wastefulness of our economy. When you really think about it, wastefulness is a justice issue, and recycling and composting and doing whatever we can to make it easier for our planet's species to cope with human existence is critically important. My MCR training will come into play at the Symposium as I remind people of the importance of all those R words and share with them the wonders of our city’s recycling programs and facilities as part of their way to take responsibility for each other and the Earth.

In one month’s time, my workplace will be moving to a new facility that will require someone to set up a new recycling program for it. That would be me.

But the bulk of my volunteer time these past four years has been spent out at the Food Bank Plant-a-Row, Grow-a-Row garden at the Edmonton Waste Management Branch during the summers. My girls and I had a lot of fun, mainly hacking out weeds, doing away with potato bugs, and watering. I’m hearing rumours about a new PARGAR in the neighbourhood of the Muttart Conservatory, which is just down the hill from where I live, so we're looking forward to helping out there if we can.

Over the past two years, I’ve become an avid MCR blog reader, just to catch Mark’s wacky humour and spelling mistakes. No, of course I'm just teasing Mark. It's more than that -- I love the information posted on the blog because it brings me up to date on recycling and composting information that may have changed since my course. It has also made me aware of some very interesting events. Thanks to the blog and Mark's invitation, in September, I attended a luncheon at the Westin and heard Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a northern activist, speak about how Climate change is affecting our brothers and sisters in Canada’s northern communities. I suspect that in the future I may be re-moodling a few things from the MCR blog for my moodling friends.

Like many things in life, what you get out of being a Master Composter/Recycler depends upon what you put into it. When I graduated, I thought I’d put in my 35 hours of service to pay back the program and call it good. But volunteering has turned me into a bit of an activist, and it’s been so much fun, they can’t get rid of me that easily. Being at the graduation events today has gotten me re-enthused about my status as an MCR volunteer, and put a few new ideas into my head. I met a new grad named Rahul, and in our five minute conversation, was inspired toward opportunities to connect my workplace with Reuse fairs and the ReUse Centre downtown. Why didn't I think of it before? I guess I just needed to be inspired by the MCR class of 2011.