Ten months ago I decided to reduce the amount of waste my family produced. Drastically.
Why did I do this? There were many reasons, but hugely motivating were the astounding statistics on WasteLess.ca. According to this site:
In 2013, Lethbridge produced 1150 kg (or 2,535 pounds) of waste per person each year.
[Source: Source from City of Lethbridge has been removed but I’ll contact the city to find it.]
By comparison…
Alberta: 977 kg/yr per capita
[Data from 2014, Source: Stats Can]
Canada: 706 kg kg/yr per capita
[Data from 2014, Source: Stats Can]
World: 578 kg/yr per capita
[Data from 2009, Source: Conference Board Of Canada]
That means as a citizen of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada I live in one of the most wasteful cities, in one of the most wasteful provinces, in one of the most wasteful countries on planet Earth.
Isn’t that incredible? And not in a good way.
I mean, I always had hopes and dreams of making my mark on the world, but strangely, going down in history as one of the most wasteful people on the planet isn’t something I want on my tombstone when I die. (Actually, instead of a tombstone I hope it’ll actually be a plaque next to the tree that is growing from my organically buried body…but that’s another post for another day. #hippiegoals)
I can just see it now, grandkids on my lap, asking me what it was like when I was younger…
“Well, sonny, it was a lot different than it is now. Back then, it was normal to buy things that we would use once and then throw away.”
“Really, Granny?!”
“Yes, dear. Paper towels, water bottles, cans of food, baby diapers—we bought ’em all…and then we dumped ’em in the landfill! Why, back in my day, I was one of the most wasteful people on the planet!”
“Whoa…”
Yeah…not exactly the legacy I want to brag about to future generations.
Thankfully, this blog and the Zero Waste community are helping me change this narrative. Instead, here’s the new legacy I hope to leave behind:
- I took part, however small, in raising awareness about reducing waste. Did you know that in my local community, I’ve partnered with Environment Lethbridge to host a workshop on Zero Waste? Within the first few days of the event’s posting, the tickets sold out and we had to find a new venue to double the capacity…which then sold out within just one more day! Keep in mind, this is in Lethbridge, a city of nearly 100,000 residents where we don’t even have a municipal curbside recycling program (yet)! Can you believe that? In fact, there is currently a wait list for my Zero Waste event. I’m so proud of my little city!
- I minimized my own personal waste to almost zero. If I’m able to reach my goal of reducing my waste to just one small jar per year (that’s what all the cool Zero Wasters do, ya know), and if I live to be 80 years old like my grandmother, that’s only 50 pints of trash I’ll make for the rest of my life. I’d be proud of that, considering the average life-waste expectancy for 80 year-olds in my area would be 202,800 pounds—that’s equivalent to about six garbage trucks!
- I passed my low-waste values on to my family. I am not a perfect Zero Waster yet. But I’m lucky that I keep getting asked to share my knowledge about Zero Waste with groups of people, because the more I share, the more inspired I am to improve on my Zero Waste efforts. It also means that I gradually share more of these values with my children. When my preschooler begs for cheap plastic toys that I know will break after only a few hours of play, that’s an excellent time to teach him about the value of buying quality non-plastic toys (or better yet, borrowing some from the toy library so we can try lots of different ones for free). I’ve lost count of the number of people who have told me they’ve changed their behaviour because of my willingness to share Zero Waste values—imagine how that number will grow when I send my boys out into the world with the same values and life skills!
Have you considered how crazy some of your current lifestyle choices might look to your grandchildren? Is there some part of your legacy you’d like to rewrite? Don’t wait until it’s too late! Make a change today.
: )