Plastic Free Challenge - Day 9

Today's challenge is to "review the Island Waste Management (IWMC) sorting guide". Here is a link to the visual sorting guide, as well as the interactive sorting guide where you can search by item.

I dropped by the "Green Ideas at your Library" event on May 4th and met Marie at the IWMC booth. She shared a mind blowing stat with me that I had to have her repeat three times as the number was so large for our tiny Island I couldn't grasp it fully. She said that 30 million single-use plastic bags are used a year on PEI alone - 30 million! With our Island population of approximately 150 thousand people, if that stat was split up per person equally it would be 200 plastic bags each per year.

IWMC's tagline is to Reduce-Reuse-Rethink. The third R (formerly Recycle) has been changed to Rethink. Many times we think that if we recycle an item we are doing our part, but really only small percentages of those items get recycled. So it is a shift in mindset to rethink before we buy and consume - is there a way to buy the same thing with less plastic, can we make green choices to avoid the plastic (cloth bag over single use bag, reusable bottle over single-use bottle etc). Our 31 day challenge is definitely getting us rethinking about the choices we make and with each day we are making positive actions to reduce single use plastic and live a greener lifestyle.

Here is a look at the IWMC kiosk, they had activities for children, and their sorting guide is currently available in four languages (English, French, Arabic and Mandarin). They are grateful for their volunteers who help them maintain these guides when items are added to the list.

I reviewed the sorting guide and learned a few new things, as well paper bags are a new item that can now be bundled with corrugated cardboard and recycled on blue bag day.