Learning about the landfill

Meike Woehlert at the meeting

Environment Action, again.

Last Monday, January 17th, two very cooperative ("outreach") representatives of the City of Ottawa's waste management services, Ashley Cheslock and Meike Woehlert, gave us the latest news of the Master Plan For Solid Waste and answered our questions about garbage disposal and recycling. 51 people attended this meeting, a record for the Environment Action group; nearly half of the audience were people from outside of our Club. As part of the presentation we watched two well-made videos, What Happens To My Garbage? and What Happens To My Recycling? This was at my request, perhaps too ambitious an idea, because there were a couple of embarrassing technical hitches while we were trying to get the videos to work. I had practised without any problems, but on the day, the audio settings let me down. No matter, we kept going as a team, and the meeting was well received.

One worrying takeaway was that if we carry on disposing of non-recyclable rubbish at the present rate our landfill will be full by 2038 or thereabouts. So between now and then we ought to give more thought to what we throw away.

The speakers encouraged us citizens to engage with the city on its plans for the future because our opinions count, so they say. A public survey on how waste should be managed in Ottawa starts next month; by the way, there's a nice photo of Ashley on that page.

Since then, many a follow-up email to send, read or reply to, so it has been a busy week. I compiled a reference list of places that will accept the stuff we want to dispose of, and this morning I heard that my counterpart at the CFUW-Nepean Club has been doing exactly the same thing for her group and received her list. Rather than put it all in our bins destined for the landfill there are numerous "take it back" options in the city and better yet, worthy organizations that will either hand things over to people in need or re-purpose them for a good cause. My contacts keep contacting me to tell me of more such opportunities. Once the spring cleaning season starts, and with decluttering a trendy pastime these days, especially for our generation, such lists will be a great help, both for us and for the environment.