The debate over exporting garbage has certainly heated up in the last year in Metro Vancouver.  Private industry, municipal politicians, municipal staff and citizens alike have all chimed in on the question, should we control the flow of garbage within the region? Regardless of your opinion, or the final outcome of this question, the sad part to me is that the discussion about real change towards true waste diversion or zero waste is being drowned out.  Really we should be talking about the need to change regular people’s perceptions and attitudes about garbage. We need to consider not creating waste ...

PPP EPR has been in the news in a big way recently, with the focus entirely on glass.  MMBC is taking some heat from Metro Vancouver and local governments for asking the question, should glass be in or out of the blue box?  It seems that this question has sparked the interest of the mainstream media, as they have certainly weighed in with news stories that have solicited plenty of resident comments online. I believe it is a question worth asking and debating.  Glass is a highly abrasive form of packaging that has been historically very difficult to deal with ...

2012 was a big year for government initiatives in solid waste and recycling, and with each new initiative, came “stakeholder consultation.”  Looking back on the year, I am struck by the amount of time I and my staff devoted to consultation activities, and I cannot help but wonder, to what end?   A speaker I saw at a conference recently gave a simple, yet highly telling run-down of the different approaches to consultation: 1. Consultation intended to influence outcomes 2. Consultation not intended to affect outcomes (Petra Wildauer, 2012 CWMA Conference)   Irrespective of the issue or the host, I ...

To most of us keen recyclers and Zero Waste advocates, the BC Recycling Regulation is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps I should not generalize, but until recently the Recycling Regulation did not influence or participate in my day to day life as CEO of Urban Impact Recycling.  But in May of 2011, this changed.  With one pen stroke government was to become part of my everyday business life. In May of 2011 the addition of “Schedule 5” to the Recycling Regulation transferred the responsibility for dealing with residentially produced Printed Paper & Packaging from local governments to the producers.  ...