The summer vacation period is conducive to increased use of single-use plastic, but it is possible to reduce the use of this material, which still too often ends up in landfills or in the environment. An initiative that combines the protection of natural environments and festive music should travel across Quebec this summer to raise public awareness of this issue.
Between a meal stop at a fast food chain, a trip to the grocery store before going camping or a break at a snack bar to enjoy a poutine, single-use plastic is omnipresent in our daily lives as vacationers. “Our entire system is made to use plastic and single-use packaging,” summarizes Amélie Côté, source reduction analyst at Équiterre.
She saw this when she tried, for the first time, to take up the “July without plastic” challenge, an international initiative born in 2011 to highlight its overabundance in our lives. “It takes some organization to reduce the use of plastic. We realize the quantity of materials that we generate, particularly when we are traveling or on vacation, because we consume a lot of food to take away,” underlines Ms.me Coast.
She adds that with a little planning, however, it is possible to do otherwise. “We can make a zero waste kit with a few containers that can be used, such as dishes, a cup, a water bottle, utensils, etc. These are things that we usually already have at home. »
A point of view shared by Anne-Marie Asselin, Executive Director of Blue Organization, an environmental awareness and popularization organization. She adds that recycling is not the solution to the problem, in particular because far too much plastic is never recycled.
According to Recyc-Québec’s most recent report, that of 2021, 378,000 tonnes of plastic were “eliminated” in the province that year, including 158,000 tonnes from municipal collection. Much of this plastic waste has thus found its way to landfill.
Nationally, barely 9% of the three million tonnes of plastic waste generated each year is recycled.
In this context, Amélie Côté is formal: “We have to get out of the single-use paradigm, which has become very popular in recent decades. We have replaced the reusable with the disposable, and what we see are the significant environmental impacts, particularly on ecosystems. We must therefore reduce at the source. »
Clean the banks
In addition to promoting “July without plastic”, Organization bleue hopes to raise awareness this summer among the population of different regions of Quebec of the importance of picking up waste, particularly plastic, which is frequently found in the environment, and especially in our waterways. “We want to highlight this problem, which is a reflection of our mores and our consumption habits. We must therefore look at the problem and ask ourselves how we can do to tackle it and better preserve our shores, ”explains Ms.me Asselin.
In order to combine environmental action and summer festivities, Organization bleue has chosen to join forces, for a third year, with members of the Valaire group (and Qualité Motel) as part of their festival tour. The objective is to invite the citizens of the various regions visited to participate in a cleanup of the banks of the St. Lawrence.
“The environmental need is there, but the community need is also there. The population must be able to feel challenged and invited to take action. And by combining this kind of initiative with the music of Valaire, we demonstrate that it is not a matter of militant action, but of a civic gesture for the environment. People are very motivated to take part,” argues Anne-Marie Asselin.
“It’s a bit of an amalgam between an uninhibited environmental movement and a reinvented festival. For us, environmental awareness has really grown over the years, and it’s important to give meaning to what we do in music with this kind of project,” adds France Basilic, member of Valaire and Qualité Motel.
For the group, which has traveled the St. Lawrence by sailboat over the past two summers, the river is a natural symbol. “The St. Lawrence is the backbone of Quebec, it crosses the territory and, along its entire length, there are several environments that deserve to be protected. All of this is beautiful and fragile at the same time. It is therefore important that we take care of it, because it is important. »
This summer, shoreline cleanups are planned in Quebec City, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Baie-Saint-Paul. “All the destinations have agreed, and we can feel the sensitivity of the festival organizers”, emphasizes France Basilic.
This is the case of the Festif de Baie-Saint-Paul, which has adopted a sustainable development policy since its first edition, in 2010. For example, food is served in compostable dishes that are collected on site. , and alcohol is only offered in returnable reusable glasses. And this year, festival-goers will be able to take part in a shoreline clean-up scheduled for July 21.
“I find it very noble that a group of artists uses its power of attraction to create a positive movement in the territories where it passes. It directly affects our mission and our values”, summarizes Anne-Marie Dufour, director of the eco-responsible section of the festival. She adds that the riverbanks in the area “need a lot of love this year”, due to major flooding that hit last May.