PUBLIC EDUCATION
Fun Facts
- Each person in Newfoundland and Labrador generates 2 kg (4.5 lbs.) of waste per day.
- 400,000 tonnes of garbage is tossed to the curb each year in Newfoundland and Labrador - weighing as much as 80,000 elephants or 3 1/2 CN Towers.
- 30% of our daily waste in Newfoundland and Labrador is made up of organic material, much of which can be composted in a backyard or community compost.
- 60% of our garbage is generated at work and school.
- Paper-fibre products account for 37% of the waste we put out to the curb each week.
- If the world bought as many things as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we would need 3 earths to supply everyone in the world with everything they want and need.
- We throw away almost 200,000 beverage containers every single day in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Newfoundlanders and Labradorians produce 2 litres of household hazardous waste per year - just one drop can contaminate an entire drinking water source.
- Newfoundlanders and Labradorians use 2.3 million plastic bags each week. We can cut down on plastics by bringing a reusable shopping bag to the store.
- Landfill sites are responsible for 38% of Canada's methane gas emissions. Composting helps to reduce these emissions by mimicking natural processes to break down organic materials in the presence of oxygen.
- There are currently 170 dumps in Newfoundland; that's 90% of all dumps in Atlantic Canada.
- Canadians use more than 1.6 billion paper and polystyrene cups each year!
- By the age of 6 months, the average Canadian has consumed the same amount of resources as the average person in the developing world consumes in a life time.
- It takes 3 litres of water to make one 1-litre of bottled water.
- To create just one kilogram of consumer goods, manufacturers create five kilograms of waste. On average, for one tonne of waste at the consumer end of a manufactured article, there are 5 tonnes at the manufacturing stage and 20 tonnes at the site of initial resource extraction.
- A pop can takes 300 years to break down in a dump and a glass bottle takes more than 1,000,000 years to break down.
