The third week of October is Waste Reduction Week and is part of the Circular Economy month that has occurred every October since 2001, created by the Circular Innovation Council.
According to officials, the purpose of the campaign is “to educate and bring awareness on protecting our planet by creating solutions to the many environmental challenges we face including climate change, water pollution, and preservation of natural resources”.
John Watson is the Environmental Manager at Dysart et al and says the county and the four lower-tier municipalities are working together on promoting the circular economy. “The idea that instead of just extracting resources from the earth and then disposing them we could actually recover them by recycling, composting, or reusing them. That way we can keep materials conserved, renewed, and used again and again.” He adds each day of the week highlights a different tip on each municipality’s social media around the circular economy and waste reduction. “We’re talking about textiles, electronic and food waste, and the sharing economy. Our social media posts will give people a sense of how they can practice a circular economy.”
Watson said a good example is textiles where instead of throwing them in the garbage people could think of ways they could be donated to a local charity or to a recycling organization that could turn them into rags or fibers for new materials. “Even the sharing economy is a great idea. Instead of everyone buying large appliances or equipment perhaps working with neighbours to have one tall ladder that everyone can share. That’s going to conserve resources and get people working together towards the common good.”