Location: Toronto
& Montréal,
Canada
Since my travel schedule for the past two months was
crammed with exciting places to visit (Canada,
Japan
and China), I just didn’t have a chance to sit down and post something on online my travel
diary. Please bear with me. Today though I managed to make some time and of
course I don’t want to keep all the things I’ve seen and learned to myself. You
know me, I’m happy to share some information. In case you are interested in
taking me places, just let me know (email to info@aut-chemnitz.de).
At the end of June I made my way to Canada,
more precisely to Toronto
and Montréal. In Toronto
there were at least two things I’ve learned: Firstly, I figured out that either
my sense of orientation isn’t as bad after all or the infrastructure and ways
to get around in Toronto
are easy to grasp. I assume the latter is probably more likely. ;-) This
insight was actually down to the fact that the car I had rented didn’t have SAT
NAV which required me to follow road signs and pixelated maps from the internet
but which gave me the chance to take notice of my environment and to see where
I’m actually going. Secondly, and more importantly, I found out that there is
not one general rule on waste treatment set out by the federal government in
Canada. In fact, the ways rubbish and scrap are handled differ both across and
within the different states of Canada
and are down to state governments and individual municipalities.
Arguably, this way of dealing with waste management
has one crucial advantage. Since states and local authorities do not depend
upon national guidelines stringently telling them how to deal with their waste,
space is made for the development and realisation of creative and
environmentally-friendly ideas for waste management. On this note, the
likelihood (and willingness) to try out new things increases, which raises the chances
of those in charge to turn to more innovative and progressive solutions and
technologies. On the other hand, the lack of a standard legislation on waste disposal
and recycling that applies to all states of Canada
may cause the development of significant contrasts across and within the
states. For instance, whereas one municipality may ambitiously separate
collected residential waste according to material type for the purpose of
recycling and a closed substance waste management, another municipality may not
see a need for removing valuable resources from the mix and, therefore, has its
waste piles shipped to landfill sites based in a different country.
Which waste management strategies will turn out to be
the most effective, financially viable and environmentally-friendly remains to
be seen. Though, at the end of the day, the issue of waste production and
disposal is the same for every municipality and state in Canada
(and the world for that matter). If there ever is one optimal solution for this
issue that further meets all the attributes listed above, perhaps there is a
chance to spread the word across the borders of municipalities, states,
countries and continents.
See you next month!
Yours, August