reuse, recycle

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Why focus on trash?
The daily choices we make about living, food, clothes, appliances, cleaning products, transportation, and leisure have an impact on our footprint on the environment. During the production of products, raw materials are harvested and processed, packaging is added, and resources such as water and petroleum are used for both production and delivery. An outlet for delivery to consumers requires space and maintenance, and excess waste can be generated in this stage through use of plastic bags, product tags and instructions, and transport packaging. Use of the product can create waste in the form of residual product, packaging, or chemicals added to garbage disposal and sewage streams. Finally, at the end of a product’s life the product itself becomes waste. In all these areas reducing the input of resources and reducing the output of waste can make tremendous environmental improvements. The Lower Mainland Group’s Trash Committee will focus on waste management issues in the Lower Mainland and will take action to reduce waste both by informing the public and working together with local policy makers and businesses to make more environmentally sound choices.

Remember the 3 R’s? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These well known words are key to decreasing waste of resources and energy, and the products you use taking a trip to the landfill. Add a few new ones to the list: Refuse, Return, Renew.


Reduce

Websites with tips on how to reduce waste generation in your daily choices:
David Suziki Foundation's Nature Challenge
Greenpeace tips for green living
National geographic, the green guide


Reuse

A good way to avoid waste is to reuse items when possible. Sometimes, that means using the container a product was purchased in to hold something else. Sometimes it means taking your own mug to get your coffee in the morning. But it can also mean passing on something you don’t want or need anymore to someone else who can use it. Ask around to find out whether a neighbor wants your couch before you put it in the dumpster. Call a school or library to ask if they’d like to have all the books your teenager has outgrown before you put the crate outside in the rain. Some running stores collect used sneakers, charities collect clothing and other donations, and items such as eyeglasses, crutches, and wheelchairs are shared with less fortunate individuals who need them. You can not only avoid waste but also help others in the process!
You can also donate unwanted clothes and other items to such organizations as the Wildlife Rescue Thrift Store at 1295 Granville Street, the Salvation Army, or Big Brothers and Sisters.

These are some posibilities to pass on your unwanted items:
Vancouver Craigslist: free stuff
Yahoo Groups: freecycle
Thrift store

Recycle
General information on recycling in BC
Recycling Council of BC: www.rcbc.bc.ca
Information service on recycling, pollution prevention, waste avoidance, disposal options and regulations.

Municipal garbage and recycling
What materials are part of the curbside recycling collection, what can you do with appliances and yard waste in your municipality? Find out here:
Burnaby
Coquitlam
Delta
Langley
Maple Ridge
North & West Vancouver
Port Coquitlam
Surrey
Vancouver

Hazardous waste
Municipal information about what is considered hazardous waste and how to dispose of it properly:
Delta
Langley
North and West Vancouver
Coquitlam
Port Coquitlam
Richmond
Surrey
Vancouver

Refuse
This one is simple. You do not have to buy items that are made on the other side of the world, use loads of packaging, or are produced in dreadful environmentally insensitive ways. There are often alternatives including local sources, more responsible companies, green or organic materials, reuse of items already made, home-made preparations, or simply doing without. Companies are creative and love to convince you that you can’t live happily without five colors of the latest cell phone charms, but be assured that your choices in what you purchase dictate what companies produce. Use your purchase power! Refuse products that aren’t environmentally sound. Here are a few things to consider when purchasing any item: source of raw resources, place it was made, who made it and whether they were paid a fair wage, contents volume and how often it needs replacing, contents of packaging, energy required to operate the product, ease of reuse, and possibilities for return, recycle, or renewal.

Return
Many of us think of recycling programs as turning in an item through a municipal collection system, hoping that item will be turned in to the same product again. This rarely happens! Glass, plastic, and paper usually becomes something else when it is recycled. Another type of program is called EPR, or Extended Producer Responsibility. This means it is the responsibility of the producer and the consumer to complete the loop of returning the product to the producer. (That means you have a responsibility to return it!) Here’s the interesting part- in EPR programs, you have often already paid the return fee when you purchased the item. Why would you want to use tax-supported programs to collect and manage a service you’ve already paid for? The EPR programs currently in place in our area include: bottles, paint, pharmaceuticals, lubricating oil (motor oil), tires, and E-Waste.

Return it Milk container program: www.encorp.ca/milk/




Return it Electronic Recycling (E waste): www.encorp.ca/electronics/




Return it Beverage Containers: www.encorp.ca/registeredbrands/




Pharmaceuticals:
www.medicationsreturn.ca

Find other programs here: Recycling Council of BC: www.rcbc.bc.ca

Batteries and cellphones
Call2Recycle
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) can help you recycle your used portable rechargeable batteries and old cell phones. Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. Anywhere in Canada and USA can find the closest location to drop off rechargeable and cell phone batteries.

Clothing
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Garment recycling Program: polyester-based clothing can be returned to MEC. Check the MEC website for more information.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury and can’t be discarded in the normal garbage. They are recycled at the Lamp Recycler and the mercury is separated as hazardous waste. It is still environmentally beneficial to use Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs because they are far more energy-efficient than incandescent lights. They reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gas-fired generating stations, and reduce the need to build new generation facilities. Because they last about eight times longer, fewer bulbs go into landfills and less packaging is required. (source: BCHydro) Check on the BC Hydro website where you can return Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs

Computers and electronics
Electronic Recycling Association (ERA)
ERA is a non-for profit organization that collects old computers for donation and recycling. Depot locations in the GVRD are on their website.

Refrigerators
An energy guzzling second fridge could be costing you up to $100 a year to operate. BC Hydro will pickup and recycle your old, inefficient second fridge and give you $30 for it. Go to http://www.bchydro.com/ for more information.

Renew
It may be a challenge to renew resources yourself, but there are ways you can reduce waste in a good old fashioned way, and allow renewal to take place naturally. A large percentage of the garbage generated in the Lower Mainland that currently goes to the landfill is organic waste- which not only takes up space, but also contributes to the generation of greenhouse gasses. Diversion of organic waste to composting can produce nutrient rich soil that renews garden plots and planters.

For apartment dwellers, see city farmer for information on composting. The organization also provides apartment composting demonstrations and kits.

And speaking of gardens, why not grow some of your own food to avoid transportation, distribution, and packaging altogether?? Tree planting is also a great idea.

You can also use self-propelled transportation to avoid use of energy input and keep your body healthy at the same time, while contributing less greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. Finally, choosing items made with raw materials with more capacity to renew themselves makes good sense for the environment, too.

Trash Committee

The Trash Committee meets the last Monday of each month at 7:30PM at various locations in the 4th Avenue and Broadway corridor. Please contact Jami (scifibennie@hotmail.com) if you are interested in joining us!