People are creatures of habits. Convincing them to change takes time.
Reality requires a lot of patience and understanding that every small gain is a positive step in the bigger picture.
Sometimes, I would just like to have a genie in a bottle I could call forth to make things happen right away.
My genie would make:
1. Everyone recycle all they can at home and at work.
2. All recycling go in clear bags and garbage in dark ones.
3. All waste containers placed in pairs, one for recycling and one for garbage.
4. Everyone put their waste in garbage or recycling bins so there is no litter.
5. Everyone take their garbage to the landfill not the bush.
6. A community depot available year round for hazardous waste.
7. A community compost for all plant waste and everyone could have compost for lawns and gardens.
8. All beverage containers stay here and not go to Saskatchewan.
Since I haven’t found the right bottle with the genie yet, I have to be patient.
The good news is we are making progress on many of these items.
Recycling continues to grow. We are looking at ways to make it grow faster. Curbside every week is one.
There is a project in the works for side by side garbage/recycling bins on Main St. Many bins in the parks are paired.
There are discussions about a year round hazardous waste collection depot and potential for composting.
We are sponsoring a litter clean-up campaign with some nice prizes. We hope to coordinate a project to clean up some of the garbage in the bush next summer.
The genie is people working together.