The environment and protecting it is something I’ve always been interested in, and while I’m not an uber-green person, I like to consider myself an environmentally conscious person. I’m always thinking about ways I can help out the environment.

So for the first installment of Green Mondays, I’d like to talk about greening your kitchen.

Green Bins

Here in Toronto we’ve got a recycling program that allows us to recycle organic waste. Colloquially known as the green bin program, it’s been in place in various parts of the city since 2002. Single family homes can recycle all sorts of items like:

• Fruits and vegetable scraps
• Meat, shellfish & fish products
• Pasta, bread & cereal
• Dairy products & egg shells
• Coffee grounds, filters & tea bags
• Soiled paper towels
• Soiled paper packaging: fast food packaging, ice cream boxes, muffin paper, flour & sugar bags
• and so much more!

(This partial list was taken from the City of Toronto website.) If you want to find out the whole list of items you can put in your green bin, go check out the site.)

The Green Bin program takes a bit of work, but even with a small effort, you can divert a lot of waste from going to our landfills. I found that even as a single person, I reduced my garbage by quite a bit, so I would imagine that an entire family of 4 using the Green Bin would make an even bigger difference.

The next phase in Green Bin usage in Toronto would be to get all the multi-family dwellings involved in the program. That means that anyone living in a house has a Green Bin, but not anyone living in an apartment building or in a condominium. There are health and safety considerations for these buildings, as it’s unsanitary to have that much composting, organic waste sitting around waiting for collection. Hopefully the city will come up with a solution that works for everyone, as I think we’re missing out getting everyone involved in something that will help out the planet.

Recycle Jars & Cans

Another easy way for you to green your kitchen is to recycle your jars and cans. Just rinse them out before putting them in your blue box, and you’re good to go.

Crush Your Boxes

Collect all of the empty boxes from your kitchen, flatten them down, and put them in your blue bin too. All of your cereal boxes, cracker boxes, cookie boxes, even the package from your plastic wrap. Just remove the metal tearing edge and recycle the rest! It’s that simple.

How do you green your kitchen? Is there anything else your city recycles that can help out the environment? Leave me a comment and let me know. I’m always interested to hear how different cities handle their recycling.