Durham residents encouraged to give away household items on Saturday

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.

Zero waste advocates say curbside giveaway days are a great way to get people thinking about circular economy practices, where products are reused and repurposed, minimizing the amount of waste that goes into landfills. (Cherie Wheeler/CBC)

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.

'One person's waste is another person's treasure' 

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.

"It helps us limit what we need to dispose of and manage our costs," he said.

"At the same time, we are recognizing … things are tough out there for a number of people. So one person's waste is another person's treasure."

Waste reduction doesn't need to be all or nothing, advocate says

Brianne Blackman, co-founder of the Durham Region Zero Waste Facebook group, hopes this event brings more awareness to the zero-waste movement.

"It's definitely not all or nothing," said Blackman, who co-owns 360 Eco Market with Ledesma.

"Any sort of method that you can use to reduce your waste is going to be beneficial," she said. "Whether it's reusing items... picking up something off the curb rather than purchasing something new, not using disposable coffee cups."

LISTEN | TNC columnist Brian Francis recommends three books on re-purposing and reducing your garbage:

Curbside giveaway days are a great way to minimize negative environmental impacts, said Emily Alfred, waste campaigner for the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

"This kind of thing helps reduce waste, reduces the amount of garbage that we're sending to landfill or to incinerators, and it gives useful goods a new life."

Government and corporate participation is needed

Alfred says having more consumers recycling and reusing won't make enough of a difference on its own.

"We also need to demand more from our governments and demand more from the companies that are making all of this disposable stuff and profiting off it," she said.

"Companies should have to make more reusable durable goods so that we don't have don't have things that break that we can't repair."

Alfred wants to see more governments pass regulations that will enable people to participate in circular economy practices.

She pointed to the federal government's regulations on prohibiting single-use plastics, which is currently being rolled out in a staggered timeline, as an example of the type of legislation she would like to see more of.

Similarly, Ledesma said she wants to see such practices incorporated into the Durham region's waste management program.

"A lot of the weight has been put on the residents' shoulders," she said. "It would be great for the region to start doing a bit more."

The region also holds environment days where residents can drop off items for reuse, recycling, and safe disposal.