HOUSEHOLD WASTE

What happens to household waste after it gets collected at the curb? We're not just throwing it "away." Much of our garbage goes to landfills that use up valuable land and threaten our health and environment.

When garbage in a landfill decomposes, it releases methane, an extremely damaging greenhouse gas. Garbage also oozes liquids called leachate that can pollute our land and water.

Sometimes garbage piles up so quickly that the opposite happens - it doesn't decompose at all. That's because it's buried too deep for oxygen to circulate. When this happens, even materials like paper can just sit there for decades without breaking down.

As long as we throw out materials that cannot be reused or recycled, we will need more landfills. It costs a lot of money to maintain landfills because we must capture methane gas and contain and collect leachate.

Vehicles bringing waste to landfills are also an environmental consideration. Garbage trucks consume non-renewable resources and create exhaust emissions, dust and noise.

Reduce and reuse

The best thing you can do is to not produce so much waste in the first place. Sound simple? Well, it is!

There are many easy things you can do to cut the amount of waste you send to landfills.

For starters, don't buy more than you need. Buy durable products and extend their life with proper maintenance and repair. And borrow or even rent things you don't expect to use often.

Look for ways to avoid throwing out plastic - what you're really doing is wasting oil. Plastics are made of non-renewable oil and, when it's thrown out, it's effectively gone forever. So use plastic products more than once, especially plastic bags. And favour reusable food containers over plastic wrap.

The supermarket is one place where a lot of plastic gets needlessly wasted, so reusable shopping bags are a great idea.

Avoiding excess packaging is also important. Choose large containers instead of several small ones. Buy concentrates and bulk foods when you can. Compare the size of the package against the size of the product - if there appears to be far more package than product, you're wise to go with another brand.

While it's important to reduce excess packaging, some products don't even need a package. For example, fruits and vegetables come in their own wrappers. They made it all the way to the store protected by their own skins - they don't need a plastic bag just to get from the store to your house.

Reusable packaging is anything that can be reused for a different purpose. For example, a plastic container can be reused as a storage container.

Many containers, such as beer bottles, can be returned to the industry for redistribution and reuse. Refills are now available in many stores for an increasing number of cleaning products.

Did you know that some hair salons offer refills on shampoo and other hair-care products?

Even with all of these simple ways to reduce waste, the most familiar methods for keeping waste out of landfills are still recycling and, increasingly, composting.

Recycle

Recycling takes materials normally considered to be waste and turns them into new products. It's a great thing to do because it reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills.

Recycling also cuts down on the consumption of raw materials and the energy required to turn those materials into new products.

Recycling is something we all know at least a little about. In fact, we're recycling pioneers in Ontario, birthplace of the blue box - a program that has received international recognition and is the model for recycling programs in many countries.

It's safe to say that, with the blue box, recycling has become a part of daily life in Ontario.

If you live in a municipality with more than 5,000 residents, you should be filling your blue box with materials from the following five categories: newspapers, plastic bottles, aluminium and steel cans, and glass.

Many municipalities include an expanded range of wastes in their programs. Visit blueboxmore.ca to find out what can be recycled in your municipality.

Compost

Composting is literally as old as the hills. It's always gone on in nature.

Through composting, microorganisms like bacteria and fungi break down organic material into simpler substances. These substances are then used to enhance soil for gardens and crops.

Organic materials do NOT decompose in landfills; they don't provide a hospitable environment for microbes and other natural decomposers.

Composting has enormous potential to divert waste from landfills because organic material makes up more than one third of the waste we throw in the garbage.

Large scale composting of other organic wastes, including municipal sewage sludge, has been a component of some municipal waste management programs since the 1950s.

Making your own compost

The Composting Council of Canada provides these easy-to-follow instructions on the how's and what's of composting:

What's In the Mix?

Most household organic waste can be composted at home. For backyard or home composting to work best, it is important to use selected material including:

From the Garden...

leaves (chopped - to speed their breakdown)
Grass (not wet)
Plants & Weeds (without ripe seeds)
Old potting soil
Soft plant stems

From the Kitchen...

Fruit scraps
Vegetable trimmings
Egg shells (crushed)
Tea bags
Coffee grounds with filters
Shredded paper

DO NOT include...

Meat, fish and bones
Plastics
Metals
Fats and oils
Dairy products
Pet waste
Cheese, meat or other sauces

Home composting can be done with the use of a "build your own" or with a commercial unit, often available through your municpality.

An important first step to getting started is to place your composter in a sunny area with good drainage. Make sure that the location is convenient and accessible year round.

Getting started...

1. Turn the soil in the location where the composter will be.
2. After placing the composter, cover the floor of it with a layer of small branches. This will allow for air movement and drainage.
3. Alternate wet (e.g. kitchen scraps) and dry (e.g. yard material) waste.
4. If available, add some "finished" compost, garden soil or a compost starter (available at most garden centres) to the pile. This helps speed up the start of the composting process.

Clues on composting:

• The composting process works best when the organic pieces are small. Weeds and trimmings should be shredded.
• Don't add thick layers of any one kind of waste. Grass should not be more than 6 cm deep, leaves up to 15 cm deep (cut or chop or dry and crumble them). If you can, let grass dry first or mix it with dry, coarse material such as leaves to prevent compacting.
• The composter contents should be moist like a wrung-out sponge. If the contents are too dry, it will take overly long to compost; and if too wet, the contents may begin to smell.
• Turn or mix the compost every couple of weeks or each time you add new material. This keeps the compost well aerated.
• Composting can be done in the winter. You can add materials to your composter all winter long. The breakdown process slows down or stops when the pile is frozen, but it will start up again in the spring. Thorough turning in the spring will reactivate the pile. Empty the composter in the fall to make plenty of room.