Durham residents encouraged to give away household items on Saturday
CBC
This Saturday, residents in the Region of Durham are encouraged to place items in good condition, and clearly marked "free," on their curb as part of a Curbside Giveaway Day pilot.
Irania Ledesma, a zero-waste advocate who lives in Oshawa, applauded the initiative. She told CBC Toronto it's a great way to get people thinking about circular economy practices.
"Right now, most practices and the culture that we live [in], a culture of convenience, is a linear economy," she said. "So you buy and you discard, and that's the end of it."
In a circular economy, products are reused, recycled, repurposed, or regifted, Ledesma said, which extends their use and reduces the amount of waste going to landfills.
The Curbside Giveaway Day is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16. If it rains, the event will be bumped to Sept. 23.
Participating municipalities include Ajax, Brock, Clarington, Pickering, Scugog, Uxbridge, and Whitby. Oshawa opted not to participate in the pilot.
The general sense was, per a May 15 council meeting agenda, that the day was a moot point given many residents already use various online forums, such as Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, to give away unwanted items.
"Those avenues they mentioned… are sometimes prohibitive for people who have challenges with transportation or who don't have computer access and such, and most of those avenues are not free," said Ledesma.
She says it goes against the whole concept of a circular economy because the person posting an item is usually selling it. "It doesn't encourage a collective effort and it doesn't foster community," she said.
Before setting out any items, residents are asked to make sure they are safe and meet regulatory requirements.
The region's website includes a full list of rules and guidelines, as well as information about what types of items are acceptable to leave out. Mattresses and baby care items are among those not considered acceptable.
Unclaimed items are to be returned inside by owners when the day concludes at 7 p.m.
The region's pilot was spurred by similar efforts in other Ontario municipalities, including York Region, Barrie, and Niagara Falls.
It was developed for environmental reasons and in response to the rising cost of living, said Andrew Evans, Durham Region's director of waste management.
The City of Charlottetown is attempting to mend its relationship with Elections P.E.I.
The owner of a Hamilton restaurant says he "can't be more thankful" to the community for the response he received after an incident that police say they are investigating as a hate crime.
It was Windsor's Ward 10 councillor who gave his constituents the "Please Slow Down" sign sitting on the law outside the home where a woman died this week after a driver crashed through the building. Now, Coun. Jim Morrison says he's going to look into new traffic calming measures for the area.
When new immigrants arrive in Calgary without strong English, they often look for clearing jobs or warehouse work. But with unemployment rates among newcomers soaring, even these entry-level jobs are in short supply.
Laura Petit moved into her current rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., because she wanted to live somewhere quiet and accessible while recovering from open-heart surgery.
Before tiny French bulldog Clementine was brought to the Toronto Humane Society, she was found abandoned and bleeding inside a chip box in a park.
Canada's premiers are meeting virtually Wednesday with the prime minister to discuss the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he hopes to talk about the country's approach to negotiations.
A man from Pelly Crossing, Yukon, wants the Whitehorse General Hospital to do better when discharging rural patients who arrive by medevac.
A prominent Canadian novelist is speaking out after a local high school teacher was ordered to stop teaching one of his award-winning novels in class because of its use of the N-word.
A 29-year-old Canadian woman is facing charges in New Zealand after customs authorities say she was caught with 10.2 kilograms of methamphetamine inside her carry-on baggage at an Auckland airport, with the contraband wrapped as if it belonged under a Christmas tree.
A day after a judicial recount confirmed the loss of his seat and two weeks after his party was nearly wiped out in the provincial election, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has stepped down from the helm of the party.