Waste Reduction Week - October 21 - 27, 2013

Overview
How Much Waste are Londoners Reducing?
Reduce - Avoid Making Garbage in the First Place
Reuse Options in London
Contact Us
Waste Reduction Week Contest Winners

Globe reduce, reuse, recycle image

Overview

Waste Reduction Week in Canada's origins can be traced back to the mid 1980s when a number of environmental organizations, recycling organizations and municipalities began holding recycling and waste reduction days or weeks. Many of these events were provincial in nature. In Ontario, the efforts were led by the Recycling Council of Ontario which London has been a long standing member. In 2001, these provincial organizations decided to pool their resources and expand their efforts into a national event called Waste Reduction Week (WRW) in Canada.

Waste Reduction Week in Canada aims to inform and engage Canadians about the environmental and social ramifications of wasteful practices. It strives to educate, engage and empower Canadians to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost materials before they become garbage. These same messages are key for London residents and businesses.

The City of London supports the need for a "week" that focuses on waste reduction. However, it should be fully recognized that waste reduction must occur every week. The 3Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle - have become part of everyday life. Reduce is the most important of the 3Rs. If we can reduce the amount of waste produced, we are conserving resources and limiting the need to reuse and recycle. Reducing waste will directly affect the amount of landfill space required, natural resources required, greenhouse gases produced and will save a municipality money in disposal costs.

How Much Waste are Londoners Reducing?

The citizens of London have done a very good job in reducing the amount of waste generated. Currently, 42.3% of the amount of materials produced by householders are managed through initiatives such as home composting and grass cycling, curbside collection, composting of yard materials and leaves, and using the Community EnviroDepots. These activities represent about 65,986 tonnes of materials per year no longer destined for waste disposal (Table 1).

Table 1: Residential Waste Diversion in London - 2011

Waste Diversion Program	Estimated Tonnes	Percentage
1. Organics (Compostables) - includes home composting, grasscycling, and Centralized Composting (curbside leaf and yard program materials delivered to Community EnviroDepots, Christmas tree recycling, and grass clippings)	28,730	18%
2. Recycling - includes curbside program, multi-residential program, materials delivered to the Community EnviroDepots, public space bins and electronics	26,165	17%
3. Other Programs - various programs for wood waste, scrap metal, white goods, used tires, renovation materials, LCBO containers through deposits, etc.	11,091	7%
Total Waste Diverted	65,986	42%
Total Waste Delivered Directly to Landfill	89,871	58%
Total Waste Managed	155,857	100%

Reduce - Avoid making garbage in the first place

We would like to highlight some suggestions to help you reduce waste every day:

Shopping
- Purchase products that are returnable, reusable or refillable
- Bring your own reusable shopping bags
- Buy in bulk
- Avoid single use products
Work
- Double side your printing and copying
- Reuse old paper for notepads. It can be cut to custom sizes and simply bound with a staple.
Home
- Compost. Over 30% of household waste is organic materials. Composters can be purchased at the City's Community EnviroDepots, at local hardware stores or you can make your own. For more information about composting, visit the Composting Council of Canada, or the Composting information on the city website.