Green Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia seems to be much more environmentally aware that here in Ontario.

While we were out there, we noticed there were just no old beaters on the road. In fact there were just no old vehicles at all on the road. Everything was newer than 10 years with the majority seeming to be less than 5 years old.

We did a little investigating and found out that in Nova Scotia you have to get your vehicle inspected EVERY year. It seems like what we have here for a safety inspection when we want to sell a vehicle. For a small fee, you have to get your vehicle inspected, including the tires removed for a brake inspection. If it doesn’t pass, you have ten days only to repair the problem or you are off the road!

Now we’ve looked up information for our county and the garbage handling is very different than here.

We will only be allowed to put out garbage in clear bags. That way they can be sure you aren’t throwing out something you aren’t allowed to. You can have one small bag inside that is white to hide your bathroom waste or anything else private you want to hide. No organic material is allowed to be thrown out in your garbage. You have to compost in your yard. Then you can put out two blue bags. One for your cans and bottles and containers and things. And the other one is for paper products like your newspapers, magazines, and cardboard. Then you have a green cart. That is where you put the organics that you shouldn’t compose in your yard – like meat and bones and cooking oil and also non-recyclable paper like dirty paper towels, wax paper, pizza boxes, fast food wrappers. You can’t put these in a plastic bag inside your cart, you have to line it with newspaper or something organically decompostable (not even those new so-called decomposing garbage bags). I’m sure this will all be a big pain in the ass to get used to, but I can see why. I didn’t realize that the problem with all the organic material going to the landfills is that this is what causes the leachate that pollutes the water and soil around landfills. The organic material they collect goes to a separate composing facility and not the landfill. They estimate that 1/3 of regular garbage is organic and could be composted.