Canada’s Litter Problem Is Out of Control
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
5
sentences flagged
Toxicity
8
sentences flagged
Hate speech
6
sentences flagged
Summary
Jim and Paul discuss the growing problem of littering in Canada, and why we have to do something about it. Plus, Jim tells the story of how he became a garbage pick-up truck driver in the early days of his career.
Transcript
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They put trackers on the trucks, and they found that they only spent less than 20% of the time in the parks.
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They spent more time at Tim Horton's dog rug and shopping malls.
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So for those of you who think there's a bystander or a public service employee coming to pick up your garbage at the on-ramps, it's not going to happen.
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Now, I am a calm, peaceful, easygoing kind of guy, except when it comes to littering.
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Now, there are certain things in life that will make me upset.
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And the sight of people in Canada throwing their garbage out the window at the drive-thru
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or throwing it at an off-ramp on a highway really sends me over the edge.
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As a matter of fact, according to the U of T, I can't believe this.
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Over a nine-year period between 2012 and 2020, the equivalent of 15 billion plastic bottles and 14 billion plastic grocery bags became litter in the Canadian environment, and we have to stop it to talk more about it.
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Thrilled to be joined by a very clean man, Paul Micucci.
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I told you when you came up with it, I'm like, head peeve also.
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We were with the family a few weeks ago at a family event,
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It's a beautiful park right in the Scarborough Bluffs,
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and the landscaping is groomed, and, I mean, it's beautiful.
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and there's a nice brick building for family washrooms and everything.
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And we go by the fence, and for people who've never been seeing the Scarborough Bluffs,
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it's almost the Lake Ontario's version of the White Cliffs of Dover.
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and I look over the fence, and there's heaps of garbage.
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People walked up to the fence at the Scarborough Bluffs
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with Lake Ontario and all the stature and birds
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And that's why we had to talk about this, Paul,
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Well, there's a number of reasons which we're going to talk about today.
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But, you know, I wanted first, I'm an expert, by the way, on garbage.
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I got my Ph.D. in garbage in high school when I was actually taken over by my parents,
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and they made me apply for a job to be a sanitation engineer.
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So I was for three summers going into my first year of university.
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But, you know, it was interesting because I learned a lot.
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Number one, you know, I learned how to drive a garbage truck.
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it ain't easy and quite frankly i learned how to tolerate heinous smells but frankly when you go
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into the dumps you know they're they're awful the landfills it is brutal but i i was lucky enough
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because we used to work 10-hour shifts and so to get overtime i used to work the recycle days which
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in etobicoke in those days were on wednesdays and i always remember because recycling was a new
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concept and my mother you know was so proud we had her little blue bin in the kitchen with the
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paper and the cardboard and the bottles yeah she she went for it she was doing it she you know give
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us a hard time make us do it and we do it and so we go out fill up the blue bin put it at the curb
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you know in those days we had to pick up garbage so we didn't have the big forks that lift yes
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we'd uh run behind the trucks or right on the back and sling it into the back right sling it
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into the back so i had my own crew and i'm working away on the first wednesday i did recycle
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i get to noon and i get a uh i go call in because in those days you had to find a pay phone
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you had to call in so i call in to the dispatch and i said okay we're full where do we go now and
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he goes go back to the landfill he says we're full recycles done for the day right and i'm like
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so we're done i said so my mother's making me really say go all this and quite frankly it's
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probably not getting into the recycle plant we've had this problem and it exists today that a majority
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a large proportion of our garbage which we do recycle for those good people are good enough
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to put in their blue bin does not make it to the blue but okay that's people being responsible
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putting at the side of the road yeah the u of t did an in-depth study over years over decades
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and found that young adults in canada between the age of 18 and 24 are the demographic
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most likely to litter with 17 admitting to littering at least once a week that surprised me
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i thought the younger people were more apt to use the recycle bin when they're out or put it in the
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garbage but it's become more and more commonplace in canada people just throwing their garbage
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whether they're walking or driving yeah well you see uh you know in my business quite frankly or
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one of my businesses i see a ton of cigarette butts you know still on a smokers gum i see all
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those small debris items and quite frankly you know the reason is over the years that i've kind
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of noticed and people write about uh you know there's the bystander effect which i find very
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interesting so someone else will pick it up so you know i i it it's interesting if you have a
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business for hospitality it's interesting as soon as you have it people think that they have the
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right to litter so whether it's um entertainment entertainment movie you name it yeah so you know
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it's interesting people will leave a restaurant um and they'll just take something out of their
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pocket and they'll throw it on the ground thinking your staff who does cleaning will go pick it up
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I go into our bathrooms at one of our business, and after the event's over,
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Like, people unload their, the women, especially in the women's bathroom,
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the women's bathroom literally is like wall-to-wall garbage.
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You think they're, you know, taking care of their house.
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So as soon as people get outside, which I find interesting,
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and this is something that we never used to do.
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This is a new cultural issue that I've never thought about before,
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So as soon as they leave their living rooms, leave their homes,
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leave their personal properties, they start to discard things, which is weird.
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A lot of the off-ramps and highways in Canada have a little green space at the light,
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but I see garbage, people throwing it out all the time.
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Well, so here's a stat that, you know, you hit on.
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Our disposable containers over the last few decades have increased astronomically.
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So whether it be coffee cups, whether it be takeout containers,
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So as people are eating them in their cars, people are busier,
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You know, we know we talk about traffic all the time.
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so you know i know myself i always have to go food moving with me because i know i'm going to
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be on the road for an hour and a half i'm always nibbling on something unfortunately when those
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people stop the window goes open and and they're just like okay i don't so i don't have to go home
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and put it in my garbage at home and then take my garbage to the curb i'd rather throw it out
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because you know why the the the bystander effect which is basically someone else from the city is
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going to pick it up but guess what here's the interesting thing and this was they did a tracking
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study on the parks and rec people for the city of toronto last year i don't know if you followed
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this and for those of you you know you probably know who worked there they put trackers on the
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trucks oh yeah and they found that they only spent less than 20 of the time in the parks
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They spend more time at Tim Horton's dog lunch and shopping malls.
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So for those of you who think there's a bystander or a public service employee
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coming to pick up your garbage at the on-ramps, it's not going to happen.
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So the U of T to that end, further to your research there,
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they came up with something called the friction cost.
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So in their study, they did this over a number of years.
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they found if the garbage can was more than 30 steps away from you yeah it was too much effort
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to carry the trash and led to them dropping it more and more which is a messy sidewalks as you
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said the cigarette butts so i'm i was raised this way my father was in the royal canadian air force
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yeah and old air force freddie god rest his soul if he ever found out that i threw something at
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the window and i was in another part of the country he'd fly over it and grab me by the air
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like what are you doing yeah like and so i know and to this day is that like we're driving around
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i i keep the garbage in my car i park my car what a concept and i put it in my garbage can at home
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it's not that much it's just a simple thing but it makes a difference you know what i find
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interesting and it's the overflow effect so it's for convenience people nowadays if a garbage bin
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is overflowing so when you go to a festival or yeah yeah or arts and music and whatnot as soon
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as people see the garbage overflowing they don't think of okay how do we get someone to change the
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garbage they actually just throw it so now it's like they don't so it really is and it it is at
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concerts and events and festivals but it's de-individualizing the actual littering so as
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As soon as you see someone doing it or you see someone overflowing or something else,
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it seems people seem to think it gives them the carte blanche to actually just keep literally.