Interesting Garbage Facts Every Canadian Should Know

How much do you really know about garbage? If you are like most people throughout Ottawa, as well as across Canada, it’s probably not much at all. Sure, you know that you have some, and that it gets taken out each week to the curb. But after that, most people don’t give it much thought. And that can be a huge, stinking problem!

For starters, did you know that Canada has some 10,000 landfills? It’s true! Each landfill takes up space and is, in all likelihood, near someone’s home. Nobody wants to live near a landfill, but if we keep filling them up at the rate we are going, we will need to create new landfills, which means finding new spaces to create them. And it has to go somewhere, so all you can do is hope it won’t be in your neighborhood.

Garbage is something that we can’t escape. It’s going to be there, no matter how hard we try to completely do away with it. Part of the problem lies not only in what is being produced, but in what is being done with it. The average Canadian creates about 2.7 kg of garbage each day, adding up to a combined total for the population of around 31 million tonnes of garbage per year. However, only 30 percent of that is recycled! That’s right, it is estimated that 67 percent of it ends up in landfills, both around Ottawa and all over Canada.

We can help change this, starting by doing our part to recycle. The more we keep out of area landfills, the better off the whole country, and ultimately planet, will be. Make it a goal this year to reduce, reuse, and recycle! The planet, and your neighbors, thank you for it.