Saving the World- One Plate at a Time!

The food court in Oakville Place, in downtown Toronto, has taken on a great initiative, called The Plate Program, which is estimated to reduce the food court garbage by 50% in the coming year.

The new, eco-friendly initiative enhances the experience of eating in a Food Court and contributes to waste management and reduction at the same time. Customers of the Oakville Place food court, “have the option to select their own restaurant quality plate and have their meal served without generating the waste from a disposable plate.”

“At Oakville Place, we want to treat our customers to a more sophisticated shopping experience, and the first step in the Food Court is to enjoy a meal on real dishes. Once customers are finished their meal, we will remove their plates and tray – and we do the dishes!” says Jenny Jovanovic, Marketing Coordinator for Oakville Place.

The Trashbusters have contacted Jenny and hope to learn more about this fantastic initiative!

For further information visit www.oakvilleplace.com.

Urban Binners in Vancouver

Trashbusters took a visit to our local United We Can to check out what goes on at their Recycling Centre. It is open 7 days a week, and accepts roughly 50,000 containers a day.

All in a day’s work:

Here is Kelly as she stands beside just a small portion of the wall taken up by bottles & containers.

It is ironic to think that we are the ones who have created the problems associated with consumption & waste, yet it is the binners who have to clean up after us. People living in the Downtown Eastside are regulating our waste. The whole world could benefit from some tips about frugality and appreciation from them. I mean, how is it possible that in one day, they can collect over 50 000 containers, thrown away by us? Something is clearly wrong with the world today…

Bin Apetit

Are you willing to eat out of a dumpster for the rest of your life to save our Earth? Well what if I told you that thousands of people called “Freegans” are doing just that. A freegan is someone who “employs alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.”  Core ideologies include generosity, a concern for social and environmental issues, freedom, cooperation, and sharing.

This radical movement began as a way to combat consumerism and capitalism, but also has much in common with  environmentalism. For instance, one of freeganisms primary goals is to decrease waste, and limit destruction caused by the extraction of resources, and the manufacturing of goods.  

Living truly “freegan” requires forageing (aka. dumpster diving), community gardening, rescuing food before it is thrown out ( this “recovered” food is often given to the homeless), squatting, working less, veganism, humanure composting, and sawdust toilets.

While these practices may seem extreme to most, freegans are definitely doing their part to slow down the powerful (& seemingly endlesss) movement of consumerism. If we can’t commit to dumpster diving, then at least think twice before you throw something out: one man’s trash, is another man’s dinner!

(http://freegan.info/?page_id=2)

Solution: Food Court Waste Management

The Bayfair Food Court Goes Green and with this “green movement” the food court is focused on waste diversion and minimization. This food court  reduced their waste to the landfill by an astonishing 47%.

See what the Bayfair food court brochure had to say about this great initiative and money making venture:

“Organic waste contributed 39% of residual food court waste to landfill prior to      refurbishment. By installing two modern and innovative cleaning stations in the foodcourt , this figure has been reduced to less than 1%. Onsite sorting of waste has driven this improvement. Waste accounts for 28% of Bayfair’s carbon ootprint, highlighting the relevance of waste minimization as a viable carbon reduction initiative.

Cleaning stations are serviced with running water. Contaminated drink containers are cleaned and recycled on site. Public waste bins have been removed. Interviews with cleaning staff indicate that the team have taken ownership of the waste management strategy for the food court. Staff are able to innovate and contribute to improving the operational efficiency of the food court. Staff operated cleaning stations in the food court have improved waste sorting.”

Learn more here.

- zilch, nil, zip, nada, zero – Waste

What does Vancouver plan on doing with items that cannot be recycled? How can we possibly plan on reaching a goal of ‘Zero Waste’ when items such as light bulbs, plastic, glass and mirrors cannot be recycled? Even if Vancouverites cash in their cans, recycle their newspapers and compost their food scraps, is the idea of diverting 100% of waste from landfills to reach ‘Zero Waste’ feasible?

Of course we all want the best for our planet, but recycling is time consuming, not to mention confusing. Currently, Vancouver only recycles 52% of the 3.5 million tonnes of waste produced each year. Who is stopping you from throwing your soda can in the garbage? Essentially, there is nobody forcing you to recycle or cut your waste. Without legislation or increased support extended to each home and business in Vancouver, reaching a goal of ‘Zero Waste’ in Vancouver will cease to exist and simply be unrealistic.

Vancouver must establish laws and provide support, if they plan on attaining their far-fetched goal of 72% diversion of waste from landfills by 2010. So, Can Vancouver shed enough of its garbage to reach ‘Zero Waste’? Toronto has a similar plan. Read an article on Toronto and Zero Waste.

Sources:

http://www.wicomicocounty.org/pubwrk/things.htm

http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/zerowaste/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/a-challenge-to-toronto.php

Waste Management in Switzerland: You Waste, You Pay

According to BBC News, Switzerland is proud of its recycling efforts, as many refuse to throw anything away. Unlike the rest of Europe who only recycle 20-40% of their plastic bottles, Switzerland manages to stay on top with 80%. They have systems in place so that people can recycle with ease, such as bottle banks at every supermarket. Each glass bank has seperate slots for clear, brown, and green bottles, making the process simple and efficient. Other recycling procedures are like those of Vancouver, where materials like paper, cardboard, and garden waste can be put curbside to be collected on a regular basis.

So what makes Switzlerland stand out from the rest?

Well unlike other places, Switzerland actually charges for those who waste. Those who put out trash bags have to put a sticker on it, and each sticker costs at least one Euro. And if they don’t put a sticker on it, it doesn’t get picked up. This encourages people to recycle (which is free!) and gives people an incentive not to waste. Can you imagine people paying to trash in Vancouver? We would make millions….

(Image: www.swissworld.org)

Made in China. Recycled in China.

You may be surprised to learn that a lot of the recyclables that we accumulate are being shipped [and sold] overseas and then being resold back here in North America as other products.

According to an article on Tree Hugger, Canada ships a lot of its recyclable waste overseas to China where it is dealt with, repurposed into goods that are shipped back to Canada and sold again. Here, our blue boxes are sorted by low paid, factory workers, then recycled into anything possible, and sold back to Vancouver, for us to once again fill our blue boxes with. All in all, Canada did make between $600,000 and $800,000 over the last two years, but also suffered the wrath of a large carbon footprint caused by the trucks, freightliners, and trains used to transport the materials.

“Toronto’s Solid Waste Department acknowledges that in the long term shipping waste around the world is not sustainable and hopes that eventually local paper mills and recycling facilities will be able to keep the materials local.”

So some speculate that our recyclables are being broken down and reused, others report that the recyclables are shipped overseas only to be put in a landfill (see earlier post “Where does all our recycling go?”). Trashbusters continue to investigate.

For more information click here.

Tips from California

Check out the solutions proposed by the Ecology Center in Berkely, California:

1. Reduce the use
Source reduction Retailers and consumers can select products that use little or no packaging. Select packaging materials that are recycled into new packaging – such as glass and paper. If people refuse plastic as a packaging material, the industry will decrease production for that purpose, and the associated problems such as energy use, pollution, and adverse health effects will diminish.

2. Reuse containers
Since refillable plastic containers can be reused about 25 times, container reuse can lead to a substantial reduction in the demand for disposable plastic, and reduced use of materials and energy, with the consequent reduced environmental impacts. Container designers will take into account the fate of the container beyond the point of sale and consider the service the container provides. “Design for service” differs sharply from “design for disposal”.

3. Require producers to take back resins
Get plastic manufacturers directly involved with plastic disposal and closing the material loop, which can stimulate them to consider the product’s life cycle from cradle to grave. Make reprocessing easier by limiting the number of container types and shapes, using only one type of resin in each container, making collapsible containers, eliminating pigments, using water-dispersible adhesives for labels, and phasing out associated metals such as aluminum seals. Container and resin makers can help develop the reprocessing infrastructure by taking back plastic from consumers.

4. Legislatively require recycled content
Requiring that all containers be composed of a percentage of post-consumer material reduces the amount of virgin material consumed.

5. Standardize labeling and inform the public
The chasing arrows symbol on plastics is an example of an ambiguous and misleading label. Significantly different standardized labels for “recycled,” “recyclable,” and “made of plastic type X” must be developed.

source: http://www.ecologycenter.org/ptf/misconceptions.html

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Looking to reduce waste, and earn money? Large businesses and organizations are able to recycle their old office products for cash or points, via companies like Funding Factory (http://www.fundingfactory.com/FAQ.aspx?id=98).

In addition, sports teams, charities, and even individuals are able to raise money by recycling. We are all familiar with bottle drives, but did you know you could do the same for newspapers? 38.2 percent of our total waste is from paper and paperboard (http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycle-newspaper.html), so why not start solving the issue of too much waste here? It is really interesting to note that kids can earn money for delivery newspapers, but what about picking them up? Not only do we save the environment, but we also stimulate the economy: two jobs are now created, not just one!

Richmond’s new plan

Turns out Richmond is figuring out a new way to prevent more waste from accumulating in landfills-compost heaps. Anything made out of organic materials will be mixed with soil and composted…..It may not seem like a big deal until you realize that food waste makes up 13% of the waste in landfills….and the smell? There’s an exhaust fan that sucks the air out of the compost and purifies it….check out the rest of the story here:

Metro Vancouver's Mavin Hunt at the Richmond compost facility

http://www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/richmondreview/news/49210912.html