Recycling
 

Having just watched 'Dumped', a programme about recycling and how green we are or are not, on Channel 4 in the UK, I pose the following question:

How green (in the eco sense, not the Welsh valley sense) is Canada?
Do they recycle, where do they get power from etc etc.

Antrim4

Re: Recycling
 

We can recycle loads locally at the waste depot - way more than my UK council would take - plastics, polystyrene food trays, milk cartons, etc - and the bin men will only take away two bags per house so you are kind of encouraged to use the recycling place. You need to be pretty organised, and have a chunk of spare space to store some boxes. I'm happy to do it.

Bottles and cans, and tetra drink cartons can go to the bottle bank - and you'll get back a few dollars too (which you already paid as a deposit in your grocery shopping bill when you bought the stuff).

Okotoks, south of Calgary, likes to promote it's 'green' ethics, and use of solar panels on buildings for example - and their whole recycling depot, is in fact, recycled !

Ikea in Calgary, and the University also promote their green buildings with big hoardings advertising the fact.

What I don't understand is why more use of the solar energy (especially somewhere like the Prairies) is not encouraged more - I guess the developers are not interested as it is too expensive - subsidies maybe??

The opportunity to be green, recycle, compost, etc is readily available in Canada - and it may only go a tiny percentage towards the dreadful effect we are all having by driving our 'delicate' monster trucks and SUV's around !! :rofl:

Re: Recycling
 

Not to mention the energy used by tumble drying instead of being allowed to hang out your washing to dry - especially when it is such a dry climate! :unsure:

Re: Recycling
 

No washing out, why not?

Re: Recycling
 

Numerous city and town bylaws against the practice.:mad:

Re: Recycling
 

Depends where you are, but some places have bylaws against washing lines as they apparently look too unsightly :huh: Yet another benefit of living out in the sticks here :D

Re: Recycling
 

hello!!.....

in my experience here i find it very recycle friendly.......we have recycling that gets picked up every second monday....we put out a small pail of actual garbage about every 2 weeks aswell..........i also think it helps that there is the money return on bottles and cans etc too, people tend to not just toss them as much.

where i live some people do have clothes lines to hang their laundry out..i did not see any whilst i was living in Kelowna..but that doesnt' mean they aren't there.

i must admit to have a clothes line to hang out the washing in summer would be nice....not just for the environment etc..but also for that sunny summery aroma in your laundry.

another thing i am impressed with over here..is the low cost of organic produce.....by far it is much cheaper here than australia.......:thumbsup:

Re: Recycling
 

This is true Lisa :rofl:

Antrim4 - The reason is some silly bylaws that do not allow you to hang out your washing in many, many neighbourhoods. I don't really know the reason, but we can't have our drawers lowering the tone of the area now, can we :eek: (even our best M&S offerings! ;))

Re: Recycling
 

Did you know that if most of you lot had made the decision to move to Canada prior to 1999 we might still have Marks & Spencer here in Canada?;):):p:rofl::rofl:

From Wikipedia:

"M&S expanded into Canada in 1973, and at one point had 47 stores across Canada. Despite various efforts to improve its image, the chain was never able to move beyond its reputation in Canada as a stodgy retailer, one that catered primarily to senior citizens. The stores in Canada were smaller than British outlets, and did not carry the same selection. In the late 1990s, further efforts were made to modernize the stores and expand the customer base, and unprofitable locations were closed. Nonetheless, the Canadian operations continued to lose money, and the last 38 stores in Canada were closed in 1999."

My highlighting for emphasis. ;)

Re: Recycling
 

There's nowt stodgy about my M&S offerings ! :rofl::p

Re: Recycling
 

I know that and you know that, but apparently the average Canadian saw it that way.:confused:

It was nice to be able to buy clothes that fit at least for a while.:(

Re: Recycling
 

It depends on where you live. In the three municipalities of the North Shore (Vancouver) (3 - for pities sake - how many mayors do we need! but that is another thread) we have an EXCELLENT recycling programe. It saves us tax dollars too :)

http://www.nsrp.bc.ca/

It takes papers, cardboard, lots of platics, cans etc. And it is collected from our door once a week :)

Clare

Re: Recycling
 

I haven't got used to recycling yet, in the UK I used to throw away absolutely everything. Tins, plastics, paper, you name it, it all went to the dustman every Thursday.

Over here it's peel off the label, wash the tin, put it in a special box and then eventually take it to the recycle place. It's good to do, but takes some getting used to.

Re: Recycling
 

Where we are hoping to live in Saskatchewan, Indian Head, it has an excellent recycling facility, and you get money BACK for using it:eek:

In NI now they are bringing in a CHARGE for people who have too much weight in their bins:eek:

And in Indian Head you can hang out washing - thank goodness.

Re: Recycling
 

Our recycling is collected every two weeks. Paper etc goes in a blue box. Metal, plastic, glass etc goes in a blue bag. I'm not sure why that separation is still required. The collection used to be made by a dedicated truck, with different compartments; these days it's just a regular garbage truck.

Beer bottles have deposits. They normally go back to a supermarket. Plastic Coke bottles and drink cans go into a recycling machine at the supermarket. That provides you with a receipt that you take to the service desk for a refund or hand over when you buy groceries. Our deposit money goes into a box and it's getting heavy.

Apart from that, the garbage guys take more or less anything small enough to go in the truck (sofas, water tanks, tables etc). Scavenging is popular and anything remotely useful/valuable left by the roadside is unlikely to still be there in the morning (or for more than 2 minutes in this street).

Quebec is 95% supplied by hydro-electric power.