Wildsight is launching the Clean Bin Project in Cranbrook, kicking off in April.

The challenge for Cranbrook residents is to reduce their waste as much as possible for the month of May.

Skye McDougall is the new Sustainability Coordinator for Wildsight in Cranbrook and her first job will be to help Cranbrook meet that challenge.

“The goal of the Clean Bin Project is to tackle the serious issue of waste reduction,” said McDougall. “We can do this by raising awareness and demonstrating how reducing waste can be do-able and easy.”

The Clean Bin Project, which will run through the month of May, is a one month challenge where participants strive to reduce their garbage production. When the challenge ran in Kimberley, some clean binners managed to fit all their garbage for an entire month in a single bread bag! “I’d like to challenge Cranbrook to do better than Kimberley,” said McDougall, “and I’m ready to help!”

The Clean Bin project started out in Vancouver, when a young couple challenged themselves to live consumer and waste-free for a year. They stopped buying “stuff”, and committed to reduce packaging whenever they could. Their motto: less stuff coming in (the house) means less stuff going out. The couple did what they set out to do, had a lot of fun, and then made a film about it, The Clean Bin Project. Wildsight will be showing the film on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the COTR lecture theatre to kick of the project.

McDougall is hoping to inspire some healthy community competition and fun by encouraging viewers to join the Cranbrook month-long challenge taking place in May. Elementary students will already be paving the way at week-long challenges in Cranbrook elementary schools in April.  Participants will be able to share their experiences on Facebook: Cranbrook Clean Bin Project, and anyone can follow the challenge and learn strategies to become waste-free at the same time! McDougall will stay in contact with participants and help answer those difficult waste questions, like where you can recycle your aluminum foil or bottle caps, and what you can and can’t compost.

Waste is a weighty issue

The average Cranbrook area resident produces more than six pounds of garbage every day – that’s more than one tonne per year! Packaging makes up 33 per cent of what we all throw away. Composting can reduce everyday waste by 50 per cent. And if you want to save a tree? Recycle 120 pounds of newspaper!

With big numbers like that, reducing our waste is not so hard. McDougall said if residents were aware of the simple things we all can do to help reduce what ends up in landfill, our efforts would make a big impact. “With the three Rs and one C – that’s composting” said McDougall, “we can make huge reductions in our garbage production.”

“As a consumer myself, I know that we all create a lot of garbage,” said McDougall. “The excess packaging used for most products means that tons and tons of garbage ends up in our landfill.”

Get involved

Introduction to composting workshops will be held on Earth Day weekend, which will help participants start composting to remove even more waste from their trash. The Regional District will be offering subsidized composters to early workshop registrants.

On Earth Day, April 22, Wildsight will host a launch party for the Clean Bin project where participants can meet and mingle with other challengers. Some of the Kimberley challenge participants will join in to show off their tiny bags of garbage.

Learn more and register for the challenge at Wildsight.ca/CleanBin. The first step for participants is to see the Clean Bin Project film on April 11. Admission is by donation.

Wildsight gratefully acknowledges the financial support for the Cranbrook Clean Bin Project from by Columbia Basin Trust. This project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Federal Department of the Environment.

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Above photo: Skye McDougall contemplates the three Rs and C – reduce, recycle, reuse and compost. Photos by James Farnan

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