Nine ambassadors of the Municipalité Régional du Comté (MRC) d’Argenteuil’s 3-2-1-0 campaign recently proved that it is possible to produce very little or no household waste.
The challenge took place from February 4 to March 3, 2019. The nine ambassadors had to weigh the materials they did not reuse, compost, or recycle.
According to the MRC, the amount of so-called residual waste was well below the Québec average.
The ambassadors, also known as “The Zeros” because of their achievement of zero waste were first named by the MRC in January. They are Fannie Tremblay of Brownsburg-Chatham, Tina Chagnon of Gore, the St-Denis Gareau of Grenville, the Châteauvert family of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, the MacTavish family of Harrington, Karène Guertin of Lachute, Christine McSween and Mathieu De Melo of Mille-Isles, Marylie Joubert of Saint-André-d’Argenteuil, and Pierre Pelletier of Wentworth.
The nine individuals or families agreed to keep a table of the weight of their waste so they would know the amount of material being generated and the benefits of sorting trash.
Consulting firm Cycle Environnement assisted the ambassadors by guiding them to better sort their materials.
Each week of the challenge, a tip on waste reduction was was presented to the ambassadors and mini challenges were issued.
The challenge experience allowed ambassadors to develop habits such as cooking more at home, bringing their own containers to stores, focusing on local produce, and packing lunches in more eco-friendly ways.
The MRC d’Argenteuil and its ambassadors invite other citizens to get involved and show there is “strength in numbers” by having as many residents as possible aiming for zero household waste. The hashtag for the campaign is #laforcedunombre and information about waste sorting practices can be found at 3-2-1-0.com.
In the fall of 2019, Argenteuil residents will be invited to take up the challenge themselves so they can become aware of just how much trash they create—and how they can reduce or eliminate it.
In the meantime, the MRC will be staging a summer communications campaign with the help of local municipalities to promote waste sorting.
