Good ideas deserve to be shared. The reCYCLISTS in Victoria, B.C., cycle organic waste to a central facility, where the compost is eventually sold.
There is nothing like the internet for sharing good ideas. Every so often a good one that originated outside of the Middle East is too good not to share. Like buying and selling meals cooked in your own neighborhood, or this brilliant chamber pot/watering can. The value of composting is beginning to be understood in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi even plans to compost oil waste. But sometimes lacking are good systems for collecting neighborhood compost. British Columbia has come up with a genius solution to that very problem.
Residents in downtown Victoria now have the option of paying a tiny amount of money each month to have their compost collected – by someone on a bicycle!
A three-wheeled bicycle sporting a refuse container capable of carrying up to a whopping 136kg of onion peels and banana skins then transports the waste to a central facility. Eventually, the compost will be sold as fertilizer.
This is a win win situation. The person riding the bike (except in soggy weather) gets a great workout, the compost is transported and reused, and diverted from the landfill, but not a single drop of oil is used or pound of emissions released.
Sometimes – though this service, to my knowledge, is not yet available in the Middle East, it’s good enough to live in the realm of possibility. Someone else’s innovations or products can often inspire innovation in others.
For more information contact http://www.refuse.ca.
:: Springwise
More fun design ideas to stimulate your own:
Ride A Silhouette Horsey In An Ecotard
Paula Leven Handspins Wool For Off-The-Grid Etsy
A Nice Way To Stick It To The Eco-Deniers
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
It should be done, especially considering the mild (read: drought) weather we have here.
A bill has been passed here calling for more sorting of our trash, and making the manufacturers responsible for recycling the containers. Many places around are starting to sort their organic waste.
It warms my heart!