Recall the 5 R’s of the waste management hierarchy:
Reducing can mean many things. Reducing is minimizing the amount of waste generated at the source i.e. the front-end process. Another term, refuse, would fit in nicely with the reduce element of the waste management hierarchy because refusing a product, waste material, or substance would perhaps reduce the amount of the waste being produced and eventually being sent to some facility to be re-purposed into a low-grade product or simply to the landfill.
Here are some of the ways we as consumers can refuse:
- Decline "free samples" at festivals, events, conferences etc.
- Avoid going to all-you-can-eat restaurants (as much as I love sushi, this is not acceptable!)
- Refuse to have offspring
- Refuse to get a new phone when your 2-3 year contract ends when your phone is still useful (this is considered waste generation people!)
It is important that we start making this a new trend. Yes, recycling is great - however, in most cases, we are not preventing pollution. Consider how energy intensive recycling is! Are we doing any good by discarding that pizza box into the recycling bin? The left-over food particles may contaminate the recycling stream, which would eventually be sent to the landfill anyways! Not to mention the coffee cups that consumers recycle. Did you know that that majority of the recycling facilities in Canada cannot even recycle these bad boys due to the thin plastic lining inside of the cups?
---------------------------------------------------
More on P2!
P2 is the minimization or avoidance of waste material being produced i.e. it can also be effective in reducing waste generated and often less costly than recycling or cleaning-up after the waste is produced. In other words, it is "source reduction".
P2 is NOT treating the waste or diverting the waste.
---------------------------------------------------
There are a myriad of ways we can prevent or minimize pollution. Throughout the duration of this term, I've gained a greater awareness and a broad sense of the increased pressure on industry, producers, manufacturers, the government, and the consumers role in minimizing their environmental impacts on the ecosystem. It is important that we utilize the methods and techniques available to us to eliminate the pollution problem we have all contributed to. Going forward, we cannot simply be comfortable and complacent with how we live and use resources on this earth. It is NOT in abundance and we should always ask ourselves what good are we doing to earth by pursuing this waste path. We must move away from the "me, here, now" mentality and move towards the "community, regional, and inter-generational" mental attitude (Brad Stelfox). It is important to make compromises now so that we do not make larger sacrifices or damages to the environment in the long-run.
