CMM wants to reduce garbage
The urban agglomeration is planning to consult on how to reduce garbage at the source. One of the things mentioned is to “encadrer” advertising flyers, something the city has already tried to do, and already been thwarted in.
Reducing packaging and single-use plastic is already under consideration – easy to say, not so easy to do. Most food for sale is protected by a film of plastic, and it would be hard to convince people to buy food that’s not presented in that way, and might not even be legal in some cases.
Lots of habits need to be changed, and it’s possible, but it’s not easy. I remember before recycling it was a credo that you couldn’t get Quebecers to recycle. But here we are. (It was also a credo that you’d never get us to obey laws about smoking indoors – and yet, here we are.) The CMM needs to choose its priorities.
Despite this, the city has been declared the most environmentally responsible destination in North America for visitors. Who would, most likely, fly here…
Blork 10:45 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
It should be fairly easy to reduce some of the single-use plastic; we’ve already made significant strides in that direction, and younger people (in general) seem to be on board with it. (Think reusable water bottles, take-out coffee cups, shopping bags, etc.) Much harder will be things like food packaging. You cannot overstate the extent to which food waste is reduced by simply wrapping it in plastic.
Bulk sales can help, but it’s not practical for everything or everyone or in all locations. Think frozen seafood, for example. Sure, some stores have bulk self-serve frozen shrimp or whatever, but that only works in high turnover places, and it eliminates any branding or specific suppliers. (E.g., I only buy wild-caught shrimp, but if I’m buying out of a bulk bin I don’t know where it comes from or who the supplier is.)
Let’s also not forget medical supplies, which is a huge industry. Sterile products such as syringes, bandages, infusion devices, etc. are all individually wrapped in plastic, and there aren’t really any alternatives that I know of. Possibly for institutional use they can be bulk-packaged, but there is a huge industry for medical supplies for home use by people with diabetes, cancer, and other ailments.
Which leads me to my next thought: what we need is a plastic-like substance that is biodegradable on demand. Something that has the air- and water-tightness of plastic, and the SHELF STABILITY of plastic, but is derived from something other than petroleum and when you’re done with it, can be decomposed/composed by exposing it to… something. Heat? Some kind of organic gas? A particular wavelength of light?
I’ll bet Elon Musk could have invented such a thing if he wasn’t such a dick and hadn’t let his ego blow $44 billion on Twitter.
walkerp 12:53 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
The amount of unnecessary plastic wrapping on food is just insane and has increase massively in the last 10 years. There is no health reason to individually wrap heads of lettuce, for instance and that has gone from saran wrap to hard plastic shells. All that can be reduced and removed. The only resistance is the plastic lobby. We could also make selling water illegal, another massive and wasteful increase in plastic use (and consumer stupidity; where people actually believe the tap water they are drinking in a bottle is somehow healthier and safer than that same tap water from a tap).
Kate 15:21 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
I’d like to see a PR campaign talking about how our tap water is safe, but recent moves by the city to test for lead and advise people to use a filter is not going to build confidence.
azrhey 18:25 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
@Blork : I’m with you on the meds! I live with my dad (turning 70 next week!), between the two of us and our assorted issues, it’s over 20 different little plastic medication box per month, and not small ones either. I don’t know what the solution would be? specially for people who have script meds for years and years. Could be a small metal pill box, glass box, that you return at the end of the month and they power wash it or autoclave or whatever it and then use for the next patient?
At least most of Europe gives you the meds in the original cardboard box and blister pack…but those aren’t recyclable either. It’s just an annoyance every month so much plastic (the plastic wasted in insulin needles is a rant for another day).
Alex 19:05 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
There is a pharmacy on the corner of De Lorimier and Rosemont that offers reusable pill bottles with their prescriptions for a small fee
Blork 19:51 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
Regarding medical stuff, I’m not just talking about pill bottles. Any home treatments that involve jabbing yourself involves a tremendous amount of single-use apparatus, all individually wrapped to keep sterile.
MarcG 20:19 on 2022-11-11 Permalink
When paramedics leave a scene there is a ton of plastic debris in their wake.
shawn 10:27 on 2022-11-12 Permalink
I can’t speak to the medical packaging issue but I think most SQDC clients here know that those similar child-proof cannabis containers can be returned to the dispensaries where they are returned to manufacturers (I think). Recycled if not reused.
ottawaowl 11:56 on 2022-11-12 Permalink
Like Montreal, Ottawa has a HUGE problem with landfills quickly reaching capacity. The city is furiously consulting the public for ways to reduce garbage. A “pay-as-you-throw” (PAYT) system seems inevitable but there are no easy solutions to overconsumption. Ottawa’s diversion rate is only 43% and much of that ends up in the landfill anyway. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/proposed-waste-management-system-could-force-residents-to-think-twice-about-what-they-toss