Canada Environment Week, held each year during the week of June 5, is a good time for everyone to rejig their consumer attitudes, said Chris Menard, an Environment Canada pollution prevention officer for the prairie provinces. Preventing pollution is like keeping your home or office clean, he said. If you stop the mess before it happens, you're ahead of the game. And with every Canadian family producing an average of a big bag of garbage every day, it's important to prevent as much waste as possible. But you can choose what you buy.
People just have to look at the options.
Buying products with recycled materials in them, avoiding over-packaged items and using your own cloth bags to carry groceries home are just some of the ways Canadian consumers can reduce waste. But consuming less is still an effective way to cut back on garbage production, Menard said. It's kind of front-end thinking. The same is true when it comes to water. Conserving water, especially during droughts, is important, said Greg MacCulloch, an Environment Canada water engineer.