Our office is in a recyclemania/waste free type of mood these days and it’s seriously affecting my mind. I went for a skate on the canal at lunch time to try to clear my head, but it all caught up to me. Just as I was thinking of how sustainable it would be to skate around town (if I lived in Ottawa), my skates got stuck in slush and then a beaver tail wrapper. One word would sum up what I felt at that moment: EW.
I can deal with the slush, the forgotten ice guards (I’m sure someone will eventually pick them up and use them) and the blood on the ice (it’s organic after all), but not trash. It seems that skating itself is sustainable (like walking or running), but not being a consumer on skates. Napkins, empty hot chocolate cups, beaver tail wrappers, lost mittens, a broken orange cone… it’s not the glorious Rideau Canal anymore, it’s 7.8 kilometres of dirtied ice!
So this is my plight to all merchants on the ice (oh and say hi to the lovely lady in the Stone Soup Truck, she’s cool). 1) Please stress the fact that trash should be put in the bin 2) how about some compostable wrappers? The napkins are compostable, I’m talking about the crinkly stuff.
Now to NCC, how about a little bit more emphasis on the environment, how the ice is melting in the North and we are fortunate enough to have some here, as well as make recycling bins more accessible. Honestly, I saw more promo for the sponsors than for toilets.
Yes, I love the canal, I think it’s fun with friends and romantic with a better half. But it’s my job to point out the trash lying around.
~katherine - campus sustainability coordinator
photo credit - jonathan rausseo