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Zero
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Green
Cone à Annapolis Royal, N.É, Canada
Green
Cone in Annapolis Royal, NS, Canada
How one
town managed to eliminate the need for a new landfill.
Here's the story by Amanda Suutari:
It was an ambitious plan for the small town (population
600) of Annapolis Royal to achieve zero waste by the
year 2005. It was chosen to commemorate the 400-year
anniversary of nearby Port Royal, which is Canada's
oldest European settlement, and was modeled after the
low-waste lifestyles of the French settlers who arrived
there.
In 1996 an environmental coalition called the Annapolis
County Environment Protection Association (ACEPA) was
formed to oppose the siting of a large landfill in an
environmentally sensitive area. The plan for the project
began in 1997, where members researched various
alternatives to realize the goal, contacted experts and
read technical literature. Their challenge was to break
away from the provincially-mandated regional waste
management, where despite high fees to participate, a
small town like Annapolis Royal would have virtually no
input in decisions affecting them.
Curbside collection of recyclables had been in place in
Annapolis Royal since 1991, and after the province of
Nova Scotia banned organic material from its landfills,
many regional recycling/composting programs began, but
they involved hauling organic waste, sometimes great
distances, to central facilities.
Since the town had a small population (and small tax
base), it wanted to find a solution that did not rely on
fossil fuels to transport wastes long distances to a
central facility, and was cheap and easy to use,
particularly for the large population of elderly
residents. They realized that the curbside collection
and centralized composting was costly, so they found
there was potential to save on tax dollars which would
make up for any of its initial investments.
ACEPA formed a committee to handle the project, which
had a lot of support with the public and elected city
officials from the beginning. The whole project was
created municipally, the information meetings were open
to the public, and it still enjoys a high level of
support and participation from the community.
Some 30% of Annapolis Royal’s waste stream is organic.
Three low-tech systems were put in place:
-"Green Cones" for individual backyard composting;
these were cheap aerobic digesters which would
handle meat, bones, dairy and other kitchen waste
not composted.
-"Earth Tubs" which processed commercial volume up
to 200 lbs/day, for businesses that produced higher
levels of organic waste (supermarkets, restaurants).
The town exceeded its goal of diverting 50% of its waste
from the landfill by 2000, with 53% being diverted.
Before the start of the program 40% of its residents
were composting to some degree; by 1999, 82% were
composting. The wastes from neighborhood composters and
Earth Tubs are sold to farmers, gardeners and soil
blenders. Around Nova Scotia, other municipalities are
studying and copying the program, or adopting similar
programs after learning of Annapolis Royal.
This case is interesting because the purpose of the
project was to have a waste reduction program and
purchasing choices that would allow residents and
businesses to be "waste-free" by 2005 with a minimum of
personal effort. This is a good illustration of
redesigning a local system of purchasing, distribution
and waste management that makes it "cheap and easy" for
ordinary citizens to protect the environment rather than
the other way around, and proves that if these
conditions are put in place, people participate
willingly and enthusiastically.
The whole of Nova Scotia's waste-disposal program could
be seen as a larger tipping point. When a large landfill
was fast approaching capacity, and scheduled to close in
1996, with opposition to building a new one, a few
strong leaders in the provincial government and
municipalities began thinking of other solutions to the
waste problem, since the story of aging outdated waste
facilities was all over the province. This was the
initial decision to ban not only organic waste but
bottles, cans, cardboard, and other recyclable materials
from landfills. After initial opposition from
municipalities and citizens, the situation has evolved
to the point that Nova Scotia met the Canadian
government goal to divert 50% of its waste from
landfills, where no other province has come close. Now a
burgeoning recycling industry has evolved, with tires
and other "waste" being converted into car mats and
other products, which has created at least 600 new
jobs.
Services/benefits: Social relations, waste management,
saving money, sense of pride, cultural heritage values.
For more
information visit the Genuine
Progress Index for Atlantic Canada.
Source:
http://greenopolis.com/myopolis/blogs/rgregory/zero-waste-nova-scotia
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