As we are increasingly becoming aware, better waste-management systems are crucial to society today. The Halifax Regional Municipal Council (HRM) in Canada, is working on a proposal to convert to a bag-free cart waste system. Yet even this is not a solution, more a bid to slow the volume of harmful plastic impact.

How many people really take it upon themselves to question what it is they throw away, where it goes, and what impact it has? HRM has compared the impact of using plastic trash bags against using carts for trash, and there is no easy fix. But their analytics suggest that in the long run, carts create less plastic waste than trash bags; still there is plastic waste.

Municipal staff reported it would take about 8.3 to 12.2 years to achieve a net reduction of plastic when comparing the weight of the plastic carts to the annual estimated weight of plastic bags used per household.

That’s a long time. It is time to get talking, put our thinking hats on and find a more sustainable solution.

Read article by Katie Hartai:
Halifax council to consider bag-free garbage and recycling system »