Yeah, Canada! We’re #1! We’re top dog! We’re the very best in the world. At what, you ask? Well, according to a recent study, Canadians produce more garbage per capita than any other country on earth. How’s that for a letdown? Despite all our efforts at building awareness of the environmental impact humans have, Canadians generate approximately 31 million tonnes of garbage year, ranking us at the top of the list. That’s not simply the garbage generated during a typical house demolition.
The Impact Waste Generation Has on Our Environment
Canadians produce 2.7 kilograms of garbage per person per day. Of all that different kind of garbage, only 30 percent of it gets recycled. Factor in renovations and demolitions to improve our homes, and the volume of waste continues to climb. When you look at the demolition cost of house renovations, you have to measure more than the financial impact; the environmental impact could be much higher. There’s more to the picture than what gets hauled off site by demolition services in Toronto hired to complete your house demolition. Transporting the material and disposing of the waste is in itself a process that creates more pollution; the combustion from engines and machinery that processes and handles the waste adds to the cumulative impact on the environment. Not only are we turning earth’s raw materials into products that eventually become garbage, we’re being buried in it. There has to be a solution, right?
Reducing Your Waste Creation Starts at Home
The best way to manage the creation of waste in your home is to be aware of what your consumption habits have become, and how quickly your consumptive nature provokes you into casting aside perfectly good items to purchase more. Mitigating your consumption requires an attitude change and a lifestyle change. When it comes to house demolition, for example, wanting new kitchen cupboards and needing new kitchen cupboards are two different things. Tossing out the old ones creates waste. Yes, our consumer culture is based on the fact that consumers with disposable incomes and buying power drive the economy with such unnecessary purchases. In truth, consumer culture is ultimately not sustainable if we consider it in relation to the impact it has on the environment. This isn’t scare-mongering or debatable science. It’s simply a fact. As population grows, as emerging economies in the Third World expand and grow, our impact on the planet is huge. We have to consider ways we can reduce that negative impact. Working with a company like Junk Out, which strives to recycle and reuse much of the junk picked up in garbage bins, is one way to help.
