Throwaway Society

May 1, 2014 – Currently we take those recyclables that can’t go into the blue bin to the recycle depot for proper disposal – cream cartons, tetra-paks, etc. I’ve been gardening like mad lately, and I haven’t known what to do with those plastic pots, they aren’t currently allowed into our recycling program. I am glad that those things will be accepted into the blue bins because there are far too many people who can’t be bothered to properly recycle items, they find it inconvenient in their lives.

Those are the same people complaining about the fact that there will be a cost associated with the new recycling program.

Yes, there may be an indirect cost, but it will mean less going to landfill, so I, for one, don’t mind that cost. It won’t be long before we our Municipality goes to garbage collection every other week and it won’t affect Kirk and I a bit. As it is, we often don’t really need to put the garbage can out since probably 70-80% of our waste is either in the recycle bins, goes to compost, or we take to the recycle depot.

There is a cost to having a throwaway society, it’s high time we shoulder that cost and think about our habits a little more closely.

Recycling regulations changing – Multi Material BC program comes into effect in May

We gripe when the gas prices rise, but if we take the time to look elsewhere we would realize that our fuel prices are low compared to many other developed countries. Yes, go ahead and complain that we produce the raw materials, but get beyond where it comes from and consider the environmental damage that results, regardless of the source. Until we own up to the fact that the bulk our our complaints really stem from the desire to not be inconvenienced and therefore exist with the expectation that we have a right to certain luxuries, we won’t be able to really value the true cost of our habits. If we slowed down a bit and thought about the repercussions of our choices, would we make better choices?

Or maybe we just don’t want to think about it.

I used to debate with my Mom about everything from plastic bags to gas prices. I gave her reusable produce bags for a gift once, I don’t think she ever used them, and when she died they were added back to our collection, used weekly instead of the thin plastic ones that end up in landfill every day. She was horrified when I said that I hoped plastic grocery bags would be banned soon. She wondered how she could take her garbage out and keep things clean. I reminded her that when I was growing up we used the paper ones and rolled the top over and put those under the sink. How quickly we forget that we did have other ways to do things, using less damaging materials…. they just weren’t convenient.

Some time ago, when Kirk and I decided to drop down to a single vehicle – the truck – and not buy a new car (to be fair we do have the motorcycles and the scooter), another family member asked how we did it. I answered that it just meant rethinking some things, and organizing ourselves a little differently. I also said that I thought that gas prices should probably rise so that more people thought more critically about how and where they drove and would do so a bit more conscientiously. She got mad at me and said that I didn’t understand, I didn’t have kids.

Wrong, I do understand. I was a kid once, and my parents did NOT drive me hither and yon on a whim. I got on my bicycle and rode where I needed to go. I didn’t expect to be chauffeured. If my parents enrolled me in sports and other events, I got there myself or carpooled, or whatever. But it wasn’t as inefficient as I see today.

It all comes down to convenience. We have become a society that doesn’t accept inconvenience well. Maybe if we learned to accept a bit of that, our habits would improve and the world would benefit.

Does it bug me that we will pay a little more, directly or indirectly, for recycling? No, because I think that’s part of the cost of purchasing items; it’s part of the cost of convenience and we should take more responsibility for our purchasing habits.