WEBVTT - Should We Record Video of Public Recycling Bins? 0:00:00.009 --> 0:00:02.569 This episode of Earth Care Mini is a little bit 0:00:02.579 --> 0:00:06.320 about greenwashing. A little bit about not believing everything you 0:00:06.329 --> 0:00:08.408 see and just a kick in the pants reminder to 0:00:08.420 --> 0:00:11.109 ask for what you want. And it's all thanks to 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:15.090 a recycling bin at a very popular and very massive 0:00:15.100 --> 0:00:16.670 concert venue in Toronto. 0:00:17.829 --> 0:00:21.189 Hello, welcome to Earth Care. Mi. I'm your host, Sarah 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.808 Christie and I'm on a mission to make climate change 0:00:23.819 --> 0:00:28.299 an approachable and not so overwhelming conversation for everyone. Now, 0:00:28.309 --> 0:00:33.990 normally this is the podcast where we meet climate heroes, activists, experts, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.449 entrepreneurs and get their take on how we can help 0:00:37.459 --> 0:00:40.369 save the planet and that's still the case. But since 0:00:40.380 --> 0:00:42.930 we all need to be involved with climate action and 0:00:43.150 --> 0:00:46.979 the climate crisis is happening as we speak. I wanted 0:00:46.990 --> 0:00:50.769 to share some of the lessons that I'm learning unlearning 0:00:50.779 --> 0:00:53.528 and I'm still learning with respect to this planet and 0:00:53.540 --> 0:00:56.090 the people on it. The lessons are big, but the 0:00:56.099 --> 0:00:58.590 episodes are many think of them as two bite brownie 0:00:58.599 --> 0:01:01.200 sized episodes for the planet. So why am I gonna 0:01:01.209 --> 0:01:04.129 ask you to start gathering video footage of recycling bins 0:01:04.139 --> 0:01:06.870 in public places who doesn't want that on their phone. Right. 0:01:06.879 --> 0:01:11.449 Scrolling through cute pictures of your dogs, your cats, your family, bam, 0:01:11.540 --> 0:01:12.410 just trash. 0:01:12.879 --> 0:01:15.410 I'll paint the picture for you. Have you ever been 0:01:15.419 --> 0:01:17.050 out for a walk? And you see a bin that 0:01:17.059 --> 0:01:19.910 has an opening for trash and an opening for recycling 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.870 and it all filters down into one single bag. Maybe 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.610 the bags were in fact separated. Positive step. Yay. But 0:01:27.620 --> 0:01:29.269 then you see the cleaning staff throw it all into 0:01:29.279 --> 0:01:31.279 the same bag at the end of the night. What 0:01:31.290 --> 0:01:34.789 the heck? Maybe just, maybe the intention is for the 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.550 cleaning crew to separate it. But we humans are in 0:01:37.559 --> 0:01:37.830 too much 0:01:37.943 --> 0:01:39.633 a hurry that we didn't take a second to see 0:01:39.642 --> 0:01:42.013 which bin is for what. And we just threw our 0:01:42.023 --> 0:01:46.133 trash into the recycling and contaminated everything. If we're using 0:01:46.142 --> 0:01:48.133 a flow chart to see what the solution is here, 0:01:48.172 --> 0:01:50.962 it all leads us to waste reduction, right? Let's just 0:01:50.972 --> 0:01:54.093 eliminate the waste and this wouldn't be a problem. Recycling 0:01:54.102 --> 0:01:57.953 is obviously better than throwing everything into a landfill, but 0:01:57.962 --> 0:02:00.133 it's not the be all, end all and through conversations 0:02:00.142 --> 0:02:02.523 that we've had on earth care, you know, emails that 0:02:02.532 --> 0:02:02.883 I've 0:02:03.115 --> 0:02:05.835 personally sent to city staff in places that I've lived 0:02:05.846 --> 0:02:09.055 for clarity accounts that I now follow on social media. 0:02:09.305 --> 0:02:12.815 I'm learning that it's actually quite complicated. I'll give you 0:02:12.826 --> 0:02:16.666 some examples. Ok. So currently in Ontario, we have a 0:02:16.675 --> 0:02:19.585 province wide waste management system in place, right? We have 0:02:19.595 --> 0:02:22.065 a blue and green bin system. So what we do 0:02:22.076 --> 0:02:24.645 is we recycle and compost at home and then we 0:02:24.656 --> 0:02:26.535 put the bins out front for the city to collect 0:02:26.546 --> 0:02:28.175 them once a week. But 0:02:28.550 --> 0:02:31.809 it's up to bylaw to collect and sort which means 0:02:31.820 --> 0:02:34.690 that waste management systems are different from region to region. 0:02:34.699 --> 0:02:38.339 So when I lived in Waterloo region, according to the 0:02:38.350 --> 0:02:41.850 province wide recycling practices that we have in place, I 0:02:41.860 --> 0:02:45.279 can throw glass into a recycling bin. However, through chatting 0:02:45.288 --> 0:02:47.710 with locals, I learned that glass hadn't been recycled there 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:48.440 since 2000 0:02:48.494 --> 0:02:52.304 1011. Now I moved there 2016. So it was definitely 0:02:52.315 --> 0:02:55.913 sometime after then. Now I searched everywhere on the city's 0:02:55.925 --> 0:02:58.845 website for this information. And even after spending some time 0:02:58.854 --> 0:03:01.794 on the website, everything that I could find all told 0:03:01.804 --> 0:03:04.975 me to put glass in the blue bin. Now, if 0:03:04.985 --> 0:03:07.695 the city is telling me to do that, why would 0:03:07.705 --> 0:03:08.315 I question it? 0:03:08.740 --> 0:03:11.979 I as someone who cares about the environment have done 0:03:11.990 --> 0:03:14.449 my due diligence, I took time out of my busy 0:03:14.460 --> 0:03:18.000 day to sit down, go online thoroughly, search through the 0:03:18.008 --> 0:03:21.300 website to see how to properly recycle. According to the 0:03:21.309 --> 0:03:25.960 region's bylaws, why would that not be enough? Something didn't 0:03:25.970 --> 0:03:28.110 make sense though. Why on earth would the manager from 0:03:28.119 --> 0:03:31.509 my favorite local beauty shop just randomly tell me that 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.550 glass can't be recycled there if it isn't true. 0:03:33.729 --> 0:03:36.270 Well, in fact, the reason it was brought up is 0:03:36.279 --> 0:03:39.119 because she ethically sources all of the products she would 0:03:39.130 --> 0:03:41.339 use in her store. And she would run into this 0:03:41.350 --> 0:03:43.789 constant dilemma because the products that she would wanna bring 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.330 in were shipped there in glass. So how does she 0:03:46.339 --> 0:03:49.610 get rid of them? So I decided to do what 0:03:49.619 --> 0:03:52.759 this episode is all about. I asked, I just asked 0:03:52.770 --> 0:03:54.820 the city, I sent them a tweet saying, hey, is 0:03:54.830 --> 0:03:56.960 it true that glass hasn't been recycled in the region 0:03:56.970 --> 0:03:58.360 since 2011. 0:03:58.889 --> 0:04:01.369 And they got back to me, they replied with what 0:04:01.380 --> 0:04:05.320 looks like a press release from 11 years ago explaining 0:04:05.330 --> 0:04:07.520 that there wasn't enough demand for glass and it's actually 0:04:07.529 --> 0:04:10.479 quite expensive to recycle. So when they can, they do 0:04:10.490 --> 0:04:14.009 repurpose it into gravel for roads, but otherwise it's off 0:04:14.020 --> 0:04:17.219 to a landfill. Now, it's very possible that the press 0:04:17.230 --> 0:04:20.109 release is somewhere on this website and I just wasn't 0:04:20.119 --> 0:04:23.109 searching the right buzzwords. But the bigger issue is that 0:04:23.119 --> 0:04:26.450 the most accessible information still says that glass is a 0:04:26.459 --> 0:04:27.329 recyclable and 0:04:27.428 --> 0:04:30.589 who has time to do investigative journalism every time they 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.369 finish a jar salsa now, I don't have kids. I'm 0:04:33.380 --> 0:04:35.470 not part of a weekly activity. I'm assuming that I 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.450 have a bit more time than some to actually dedicate 0:04:38.459 --> 0:04:41.190 to finding this information. There's just no way that you 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.260 can inconvenience people like that and expect them to find 0:04:44.269 --> 0:04:47.350 the right information. Think of how many times you've watched 0:04:47.359 --> 0:04:49.790 the same show just because it's easier to put that 0:04:49.799 --> 0:04:50.169 on 0:04:50.380 --> 0:04:52.558 than to spend time trying to find a new one. Right? 0:04:52.570 --> 0:04:57.190 Inconvenience is a recipe for failure. So sometimes you just 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.089 have to ask, I shared that press release on all 0:05:00.100 --> 0:05:03.599 of my social media pages and received so many replies 0:05:03.609 --> 0:05:07.359 from flustered friends explaining how they've been recycling glass forever. 0:05:07.410 --> 0:05:10.209 They even properly clean it. They've been trying their best 0:05:10.220 --> 0:05:12.429 in doing what we as individuals are being told to 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.329 do and somehow that still isn't enough, which is 0:05:15.424 --> 0:05:17.625 frustrating and depending on what climate tragedy is in the 0:05:17.635 --> 0:05:20.964 news that day can be crippling. But if we've met, 0:05:21.174 --> 0:05:23.664 if you've been following Earth care, you know, I'm all 0:05:23.674 --> 0:05:26.325 about finding the positivity. So this is the beautiful thing 0:05:26.334 --> 0:05:29.924 about social media when used properly. It brings us together 0:05:29.934 --> 0:05:32.684 on a larger scale, right? It connects us with people 0:05:32.695 --> 0:05:35.565 we would have otherwise never connected with and can hold 0:05:35.575 --> 0:05:39.354 large industries accountable. This is no longer a private email 0:05:39.363 --> 0:05:40.404 that you can ignore. 0:05:40.619 --> 0:05:43.428 I actually can't tell you how many times I politely 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.220 emailed companies with questions or concerns and it was crickets 0:05:47.230 --> 0:05:49.820 took it to Twitter, got a response the next day. 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.040 So now I'm in the GT A the Toronto area 0:05:53.049 --> 0:05:55.920 where as far as I can tell glass is recycled 0:05:55.928 --> 0:05:58.480 until I receive a message after this is released telling 0:05:58.488 --> 0:05:59.000 me it's not 0:05:59.105 --> 0:06:02.174 and I'll just stress eat spoonfuls of peanut butter. So 0:06:02.184 --> 0:06:04.915 here's where some of that greenwashing comes into play and 0:06:04.924 --> 0:06:08.934 that whole talk about videotaping recycling bins. This Scotia Bank 0:06:08.945 --> 0:06:11.863 Arena is our big arena event venue in Toronto. And 0:06:11.875 --> 0:06:16.493 according to Google, it seats 19,800 people. Now, before I 0:06:16.505 --> 0:06:17.524 go to a concert, 0:06:17.829 --> 0:06:19.739 I always check their website to see if I'm allowed 0:06:19.750 --> 0:06:22.399 to bring a reusable water bottle. Not only does that 0:06:22.410 --> 0:06:23.940 sea of plastic at the end of a show, Kill 0:06:23.950 --> 0:06:26.469 My soul, but inflation is wild. You have to win 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.140 the lottery to comfortably afford drinks at a concert now. 0:06:29.359 --> 0:06:32.440 So I checked the Scotia Bank Arenas website and water 0:06:32.450 --> 0:06:36.010 bottles were listed under prohibited items. But what was frustrating 0:06:36.019 --> 0:06:38.450 about that was they have a green section on 0:06:38.524 --> 0:06:42.183 website that lists all of their neat sustainable initiatives that 0:06:42.195 --> 0:06:44.644 they currently have in place. And one of them was 0:06:44.654 --> 0:06:48.545 to divert 100% of their waste materials from landfills and 0:06:48.553 --> 0:06:52.505 to maximize organic and recycling streams. Ok. So if I 0:06:52.515 --> 0:06:54.225 can't bring in my own bottle, at least I know 0:06:54.234 --> 0:06:57.743 if I buy one, it's then being sorted and recycled, right? 0:06:57.795 --> 0:06:59.065 That's what we're going with. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.880 So when I got to the concert venue, I like 0:07:01.890 --> 0:07:04.309 you do at concerts, especially a harry styles. One just 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.078 bee lined for the waste bins. I wanted to check 0:07:07.089 --> 0:07:09.609 out this revolutionary set up that I was reading about 0:07:09.619 --> 0:07:12.079 on their website. Now they do have new bins that 0:07:12.089 --> 0:07:16.489 are labeled landfill and recycling. However, when I looked into 0:07:16.500 --> 0:07:18.970 the recycling, I had a moment of silence for my joy. 0:07:18.980 --> 0:07:22.579 There was p pe in there, gloves, pizza crust, napkins, 0:07:22.589 --> 0:07:25.420 literally everything that can't be recycled. 0:07:25.709 --> 0:07:28.399 And then right beside it in the trash, so many 0:07:28.410 --> 0:07:31.690 water bottles, just so many water bottles. So I decided 0:07:31.700 --> 0:07:32.489 to videotape it. 0:07:33.029 --> 0:07:36.170 I thought this can't be a revolutionary idea to minimize waste. 0:07:36.179 --> 0:07:38.630 There's just no way that this is the final solution. 0:07:38.750 --> 0:07:41.790 Imagine if you allowed and encourage guests to bring in 0:07:41.799 --> 0:07:45.910 their own reasonable water bottle, you advertised your green initiatives 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.290 and got people on board with it. Maybe, ok, benefit 0:07:49.299 --> 0:07:52.339 of the doubt, maybe they do have a groundbreaking system 0:07:52.350 --> 0:07:55.839 in place that properly sorts those bags puts the pizza 0:07:55.850 --> 0:07:56.929 crust where it needs to go. 0:07:57.015 --> 0:07:59.114 But I mean, come on, that's and I'll believe it 0:07:59.125 --> 0:08:02.135 when I see it situation for sure. After the Harry 0:08:02.144 --> 0:08:05.154 Styles concert, I did what thousands of other screaming fans 0:08:05.165 --> 0:08:07.515 were doing and I shared my videos on social media 0:08:07.595 --> 0:08:11.054 except mine was of gross trash bins. I tweeted the 0:08:11.065 --> 0:08:13.834 video and tagged Scotia Bank Arena and asked them, hey, 0:08:13.845 --> 0:08:15.855 when will you start allowing guests to bring in their 0:08:15.864 --> 0:08:18.855 own reusable water bottles? Now, I got a response almost 0:08:18.864 --> 0:08:22.404 immediately which was very much appreciated saying that we are 0:08:22.415 --> 0:08:24.635 in fact allowed to bring one in. What 0:08:25.179 --> 0:08:27.070 I've tried though and I was told to get rid 0:08:27.079 --> 0:08:29.149 of it. So I asked a follow up. I said, 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.369 is this information on your website. I looked and I 0:08:31.380 --> 0:08:34.409 couldn't locate it. They informed me then that they'll be 0:08:34.419 --> 0:08:38.520 updating their Fa Qs to make sure it's on there. Fun. Nito. 0:08:38.530 --> 0:08:41.320 That was super easy. But about a week went by 0:08:41.460 --> 0:08:43.320 and I kept looking and I didn't see it on there. 0:08:43.330 --> 0:08:45.419 So I followed up, I said, hey, do you know 0:08:45.429 --> 0:08:48.679 when your Fa Qs are gonna be updated? Drum roll, please. 0:08:48.690 --> 0:08:53.960 Their Fa Qs now include a blurb about reusable water bottles. Now, 0:08:54.090 --> 0:08:56.289 this means a couple of things. First of all, it 0:08:56.299 --> 0:08:59.590 means saving money inflation. It's nuts. Why do you want 0:08:59.599 --> 0:09:02.789 to pay $8.04 dollars even for a water bottle? It 0:09:02.799 --> 0:09:06.630 means alleviating some of the plastic pollution that would otherwise 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.710 take place because you couldn't bring in your own water bottle, 0:09:10.030 --> 0:09:12.929 that's huge. And if a security guard now tells me 0:09:12.940 --> 0:09:15.380 to ditch my bottle because they aren't caught up to speed, 0:09:15.710 --> 0:09:17.989 I can now just pull up the website and show 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.460 them that official blurb. Cheers to that sometimes all you 0:09:22.469 --> 0:09:25.210 have to do is ask right now. So many major 0:09:25.219 --> 0:09:28.130 companies are heading back to the drawing board to implement 0:09:28.219 --> 0:09:31.809 sustainable initiatives into their business plans, right? Great, better late 0:09:31.820 --> 0:09:35.450 than never. So asking about a reusable water bottle kind 0:09:35.460 --> 0:09:37.449 of seems like we're all fighting the same fight here. 0:09:37.460 --> 0:09:40.210 Let's work together on it. I showed you a problem. 0:09:40.219 --> 0:09:40.819 You helped me 0:09:40.916 --> 0:09:43.245 with the solution. High five to that. What I found 0:09:43.255 --> 0:09:45.406 so far is that most venues that allow bottles in, 0:09:45.416 --> 0:09:47.306 want them to be small, they want them to be soft. 0:09:47.315 --> 0:09:50.276 Which kind of sounds like a plastic water bottle to me. 0:09:50.346 --> 0:09:52.834 But if you have one of these bottles or come 0:09:52.846 --> 0:09:55.375 across one, I'm in no way affiliated with the company 0:09:55.385 --> 0:09:58.645 that makes these, I just genuinely love mine. I bring 0:09:58.655 --> 0:10:01.976 my collapsible coffee mug so it just collapses down into 0:10:01.986 --> 0:10:04.545 what looks like a little mini tupperware that fits into 0:10:04.556 --> 0:10:05.954 your purse that you can bring into 0:10:06.202 --> 0:10:09.231 shows, right? Because now most venues don't allow big bags. 0:10:09.461 --> 0:10:11.761 And in the event, you go to a concert venue 0:10:11.771 --> 0:10:14.801 that doesn't let bottles in security doesn't really know what 0:10:14.812 --> 0:10:17.822 it is. So knock on wood, it won't get taken away. 0:10:17.831 --> 0:10:20.351 Climate change is happening and it will get worse if 0:10:20.361 --> 0:10:23.910 we let it. So when big companies or people in 0:10:23.921 --> 0:10:26.981 power come up with solutions, it's important for us as 0:10:26.992 --> 0:10:30.651 individuals to hold them accountable, question everything. If a city 0:10:30.660 --> 0:10:31.221 tells you 0:10:31.570 --> 0:10:34.718 that something can be recycled, but you still are unsure, 0:10:34.729 --> 0:10:36.929 tweet them and ask if one of the biggest venues 0:10:36.940 --> 0:10:39.719 in your city has neat new recycling bins. Ask what 0:10:39.729 --> 0:10:43.280 more they can do. Just ask, they can not answer 0:10:43.289 --> 0:10:45.809 you but that's not great customer service or you get 0:10:45.820 --> 0:10:48.609 the answers that you're trying to find. I totally understand 0:10:48.619 --> 0:10:51.520 that spotting greenwashing isn't always easy, right? You might not 0:10:51.530 --> 0:10:53.909 have time to question everything that you see, and 0:10:54.075 --> 0:10:57.574 basically every company now has green buzzwords on their website 0:10:57.585 --> 0:11:01.534 or includes words like plant based and sustainable in their commercials. 0:11:01.544 --> 0:11:05.854 And I've now taken that it's greenwashing until proven otherwise approach. 0:11:05.864 --> 0:11:09.465 So question everything and hey, videotape recycling bins in public 0:11:09.474 --> 0:11:13.354 places because as we've heard so many times before we 0:11:13.364 --> 0:11:16.534 can't recycle our way to sustainability, big company 0:11:16.609 --> 0:11:20.549 is have the money for bigger and better solutions in place. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.239 Thank you so much for letting Earth Care be a 0:11:23.250 --> 0:11:24.718 part of your day today. It really does mean the 0:11:24.729 --> 0:11:27.710 world to me. Don't forget to hit follow, subscribe to 0:11:27.719 --> 0:11:30.130 this podcast, whatever it says on the device that you're 0:11:30.140 --> 0:11:32.840 listening to. And if you have time, hey, please write 0:11:32.849 --> 0:11:34.289 a review. I would love to hear from you. I 0:11:34.299 --> 0:11:36.368 would love to hear what's clicking with you, what you 0:11:36.380 --> 0:11:38.859 wanna chat about next. And as I'm behind the scenes, 0:11:38.869 --> 0:11:39.039 gather 0:11:39.684 --> 0:11:43.944 the next group of heroes, activists, entrepreneurs, you know, Earth 0:11:43.955 --> 0:11:47.395 Care guests. It really does help secure that line up. 0:11:47.405 --> 0:11:50.234 So thank you. I really do appreciate that as well. 0:11:50.244 --> 0:11:54.065 And hey, Earth Care Show on Instagram, Tik Tok. If 0:11:54.075 --> 0:11:57.294 you wanna connect and chat there and Earth Care show.com, 0:11:57.304 --> 0:12:00.705 if you want more information, otherwise I appreciate you and 0:12:00.715 --> 0:12:01.565 we'll chat soon.