I've been walking recently. A lot. I don't stop for rainy days, and unfortunately, I don't stop for garbage days either. Poor me. In high July, it reeks.
A couple of months ago I was appointed to a city committee charged with the duty of helping Toronto get to 70% waste diversion by 2010. That is, educate, berate, prod Torontonians through whatever (legal) means necessary to reduce, reuse and recycle vs buy and toss. Before being appointed I was moderately aware of what people pitched. Now, combined with my new morning walk routine, I'm hyper aware. It floors me every week. Especially when the generous citizens of Station Street in South Etobicoke put their garbage out a week in advance. I affectionately call it "garbage alley" and I navigate its resulting jumbo maggots by walking down the middle of the street pretty much daily. Thanks.
On any given day, people are throwing out so many things that can be recycled - boxes (and they don't break them down either), cans, bottles, paper, etc. They're pitching the stuff of compost gold - like rotting fruit and veggies, moldy bread, kitty litter, you name it - into (and more often in the general vicinity of) their garbage pails rather than their green bins. Most are unaware and can hopefully be enlightened. Unfortunately for us, and the planet, many others simply don't care.
So I'm on a mission. Though I haven't resorted to sorting garbage from recyclables on my morning rambles, I have spoken with people on said walks about what is recyclable and what isn't. It's staggering how many people think they should throw milk cartons in the garbage.
I've also secretly (so don't tell anybody) committed to relocating the garbage put out WAY TOO EARLY (we're talking several days here) by the local library and church to their respective front steps. For institutions so permanently attached to the public teat, they have a lot of nerve polluting my morning walk with their smelly shit. As Yosemite Sam used to say, "that'll learn 'em."
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