Dear Editor,

This time last year, COVID came to Canada. Just before that, coincidentally, we had stocked up on toilet paper. Then, suddenly, toilet paper was rationed (after irrational panic buying), and I began to worry that word would get out, and that we’d be home-invaded by toilet paper pirates. Okay, not really, but it did make for a . . .

domestic comedy routine, as we watched news reports about people staging mild riots over limited toilet paper supplies.

There are things that I hoard, thinking that they will someday be much more valuable than they are now. Glass jars with water-tight lids, as one example. Now, they come for free with tomato sauce or pickles. I can easily imagine a time when such an item will be difficult to find, just when you’re trying to put something away for safe keeping. Another is yogurt containers. I practically live on yogurt and as a result, I’ve accumulated a pile (literally) of 750 ml containers with snap-on water-tight lids. I have immediate uses for some of them, but I have many more than I will ever use for countertop food waste bins and tap water set aside for houseplants, after the chlorination has evaporated.

I know, I could rather easily recycle those containers, but recycling, as it is currently operating, is a poor compromise of waste management. Even if plastic items get placed into the system, plastic does not recycle well. Glass used to be a recognized valuable recycle material because it requires little energy to reuse or remake into new glass objects. But it has been replaced by plastic in most packaging, and that ‘glassy’ type of plastic is not even on the list of recyclable materials. Aluminum recycles efficiently, but pop/beer cans are lined with a plastic that diminishes the recyclability of the cans.

It’s better to recycle than to just toss the trash randomly about, but reusing, repairing and re-purposing are all much more frugal ways of dealing with the material world. The challenge remains, to find places to store the hoarded materials and how to make use of your hidden treasures.

With much human activity at a standstill, we find ourselves with time on our hands. Let’s think of more ways to reuse the things that are all around us, rather than continuing to tie up more and more of Earth’s spaces and resources, to create and use once, and then dispose of an item that came ‘free’ with something you actually wanted to buy and use.

Robert Wills,

Thorne and Shawville, Que.