One of the biggest differences in our move from Chicago to Victoria is the acceptance of recycling. I’ve noticed it in the Pacific Northwest, not just Canada, but this is my first time to live in a community that expects people to limit the amount of actual trash they produce. They’re pretty matter of fact about it.
Our host has multiple bins for plastics, paper, and aluminum. There’s also a dedicated bin for compost. Getting into the habit of sorting our trash has not been an issue. In fact, we feel better about having the option.
In Chicago condo buildings, you can contract with waste management companies to offer a mixed stream dumpster — which was great as long as your neighbors agree to share the surcharge. (Hint: they didn’t.) And compost? Forget about it. I tried for years to get people to use the composting bin I set up, but they couldn’t be bothered. There was also no place to put the reduced compost — another problem.
The culture here extends to small things like public trash cans that have a slot for recyclables, and to public service announcements that put people who don’t recycle on the outside of acceptable society. Adjacent to recycling messages is information about climate change and home energy audits. They’ve embraced the concept end-to-end and no one seems to have been economically impacted or otherwise damaged by it.
Seeing how easy it is here makes me wonder why it’s so hard to achieve on the same scale stateside. C’mon, America.
More on BC Recycling.
More on Climate Change Action Kits.
Yeah, I found a similar attitude toward waste management/ recycle / reuse in the Netherlands too. It’s just part and parcel of daily life. It isn’t that hard.
Then why is it so hard in the US? I totally don’t get it. Not just recycling, but composting, too!