Abolishing Waste was Ontario’s Focus at June Event
The Orillia waste reduction event that spanned the course of two days this June was a big deal for Ontario, seeing as the province’s environment and climate change minister was the event’s keynote speaker.
The minister’s speech commenced the Zero Waste Conference, which was held at the Orillia campus of Lakehead University, and served as the starting point for the many speakers that presented after him. Having been appointed to a position in Ontario’s governing system in 2010, he formerly served as the mayor of Winnipeg.
Passion and determination were certainly the focus of the event. The conference’s organizers are optimistic that the environmental awareness brought to light by the speakers and the spirit of the event will become the final push that leads to an environmentally-friendly economic system. It forced many leaders to think critically about new waste disposal methods, what waste is doing to the earth, and how the burden we’ve placed on it can be lessened.
Ideally, the economy will become zero-waste in the next decade. This implies that all materials are to be recycled after use, whether natural or fabricated, to save millions of dollars on waste collection and divert waste away from landfills, incinerators, and injection wells. This is no easy task, and the public must cooperate as well. Provincial governments, material producers, and frequent consumers must drastically change their ways to adapt to this policy if it is to be put into place.
The event’s many speakers created a strong community of believers in change, all of them contributing valuable information to the conference and provided insight to its attendees. Among these speakers were the executive director of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation and Compost Council of Canada and the chair of the national waste diversion and sustainability organization.
This conference also featured the owners of Shine Juice Bar and Cafe, who have made an enormous effort to keep their products out of waste bins and landfills by creating organic material takeout waste containers and putting almost all of their waste into compost bins or mini bins, which is enough to fill twenty of those bins. Close to 99% of what they produce goes back to the earth in a safe and helpful manner.
Surprisingly, this conference is one of only two zero-waste events that have occurred in the recent past, the first one having taken place in 2014. It was the perfect way for people of power and influence to share their ideas, teach their peers about certain facets of environmental protection, and learn from those in other areas of expertise.
Over the past few years, Orillia has begun to move towards a zero-waste future on its own. With all the manufacturers and residents they have, large metropolitan areas certainly need the most work. Everyone contributing to the waste problem must begin to break bad habits, create good behaviours, and work towards a cleaner planet that future generations would be happy to live on.
