Garbage

So,with the Toronto city workers strike close to an end, they're talking about clearing up the gargage on city streets and parks within the next few days.
I'm looking at pictures of the mounds and mounds of garbage piled up so high after five weeks of no curbside pick up.
It's unbelievable.
And I think back a few months to an open house I attended for a proposed Energy from Waste facility being proposed in my municipality. This facility proposes to incinerate waste while generating energy.
I took the time to speak with someone protesting outside who was clearly in opposition to the incinerator. I listened to his concerns, which included the dangers of incineration on the environment. As I listened, I recalled a recent trip I'd made to the dump.
I asked the man, 'if you are against incineration, what do you propose we do with all of our garbage?'
He said 'we should have zero waste'.
'Have you been to the dump lately'? I asked. He said he had...he's from Sudbury and apparently he says they don't have much in their dump. Wow, good for Sudbury...I'd like to see that dump.
I'm all for zero waste.
I compost and recycle everything I can. But what to do with that other stuff that can't go in those bins? It's gotta go in the garbage. Durham Region has a great recycle rate, but there's still a bunch of garbage. And unless manufacturers change the way they package, that's not going to change. And on that note, look at the way some things are packaged...just try to imagine a way that they could reduce their packaging while still being able to ship and market those goods safely. Yes, there is a great deal of waste. But some of those things just can't be shipped without serious packaging involved or the product we end up with would not be acceptable to us as consumers. So, what are manufacturers to do?
Bottom line, we've got a lot of garbage. And unless a lot of big things change, that's going to continue. We can compost, recycle and reuse to the highest possible degree, but we will still have garbage.
So, do we transport it to a dump in big trucks that spew yucky smoke into the air? A dump that grows ever larger taking up more and more space while also leaking toxins into our soil ?
Or do we burn it and generate power?
To that man I spoke to that day(or anyone else who feels the same)....look at the piles of garbage in Toronto and tell me when we'll have zero waste. Tell me why it's better to put it in a dump than burn it for energy.
And now, I've got to go and put out my compost and recycle bins....and that bag of garbage that I just can't seem to make go away!!!