A visit of a different kind

In autumn we visited the Waste Management Centre in Edmonton  which claims to be the most sophisticated in North America. At the facility they recover 6 out of 10 garbage bags through recycling and composting, the rest still goes to landfill. Additional facilities to recycle more materials are under construction with the goal to recover 9 out of 10 garbage bags. I never really thought about the ratio of garbage that gets recovered but I was honestly a bit shocked by the small ratio of recovery that apparently is a big one. I mean, other cities seem to stuff even more garbage right away into landfills and don't further think or care about it. Urgh. 

Edmonton’s Centre has been a huge investment that lots of communities are not willing to take, but that’s desirable. Coastal cities that dump waste into the ocean, incinerators that produce the most toxic man-made substance on Earth (Dioxin), and exporting waste to places like India because countries like the USA create so much waste they can’t cope with it are not good for our future. Getting industry to design products that last would be a huge progress but we also need to remind ourselves that everything that gets dumped stays on the planet, no matter what. In order to keep this fact in people's minds it should be part of every school's curriculum to take the kids to a waste management facility ... and make the facility an operating exhibit. Just like in Edmonton, only that here they do it with proud which cities with incinerators will not do.   

http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/edmonton-waste-management-centre.aspx