Albertans, if you can believe this, generate more garbage than anyone else in the world. It’s true: per capita, we toss away more plastic burrito wrappers, old couches and soiled diapers than even our supposedly wasteful US neighbours. It boils down to this: Alberta is the most wasteful province in the most wasteful country in the world. In 1997, Canadians generated 490 kg of municipal waste per person per year, and ranked 19th among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. By 2002, we were throwing out 640 kg of waste per person per year. By 2005, we’d moved from 19th to first place, tossing away 791 kg—well above the OECD average of 610 kg and almost twice as much as Japan, the least-wasteful country in the OECD. Even more recent data from Statistics Canada pegs Canadians with what may be the highest levels of municipal waste generation ever—971 kg per person per year. Here’s where Alberta really stands out. Between 2004 and 2006, the amount of garbage we generated increased 18 per cent compared to an increase of 6 per cent in Canada. In 1998, Albertans threw out 870 kg per person. By 2004, we were up to 959 kg. By 2006, we’d broken through the magic one-tonne-per-person-per-year barrier, throwing out 1,133 kg of garbage annually. In contrast, British Columbians were throwing out half as much (675 kg) and Nova Scotians one third (430 kg). To put these numbers into context, the garbage thrown out by just one Albertan every year weighs as much as a car. Try lifting a Toyota Corolla, and you’ll get a small sense of how many bags you lug to the curb, alley or dumpster yearly, how many are heaved into the jaws of the garbage truck, driven to the landfill and squished under millions of others, how much energy and space they consume. All the garbage you generate counts; not just residential (which is typically a third to a half of your garbage), but also what you and your company generate at work, the waste created by Alberta’s hospitals, schools, construction sites et cetera. It’s amazing how it adds up: Clean Calgary Association estimates that an average school-age child generates 30 kg of waste per year just from non-renewable lunch materials.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 05:17:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015