2004 Waste Minimization Awards

The Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council and Tetra Pak Canada hosted Saskatchewan's ninth Waste Minimization Awards ceremony on March 17th in Regina. The Awards recognize waste minimization leadership by individuals, non-profit organizations, municipalities and corporations for the year 2004.

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The Individual award recognizes those whose initiative and dedication have impacted waste reduction in their communities, workplaces or governments. The 2004 award goes to two deserving people from Swift Current: Bix Biederbeck and Fernando Selles. Volkmar (Bix) Biederbeck is originally from Germany. He worked as a research scientist with Agriculture Canada from 1968 until his retirement in 2001. Some of his research focused on using municipal and oilfield wastes as agricultural inputs. He is a long-time advocate of the need to shift thinking about wastes from disposal to utilization. Bix is a founding member of Swift Current’s Environmental Advisory Board and has helped Swift Current City Council and its administration to adopt many new waste-reducing practices.

Born in Chile, Fernando Selles has been a research scientist for Agriculture Canada since 1984. In his role as a member of Swift Current’s Environmental Advisory Board, Fernando worked to expand Swift Current’s recycling program to include plastics and rechargeable batteries, and was instrumental in establishing an annual award for Science Fair students whose projects deal with the environment.

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The Non-profit organization award recognizes the significant contribution that non-profit and grass roots groups make in helping us all reduce waste. The 2004 recipient is Gravelbourg Bon Ami. Gravelbourg Bon Ami has been recycling newsprint since 1992. They’ve continually improved their recycling collection and processing program over the years. They operate a SARCAN depot as well as a used oil materials EcoCentre. In the last seven years, they have recycled over two million pounds of paper and cardboard. Since 1992, Gravelbourg Bon Ami has held two-day garage sales every four months as a fund raiser. These provide an outlet for local residents to recycle used clothing and small household items and also give residents some great bargains. Unsold items are sold to Value Village. Unusable clothing is made into cleaning rags and sold locally. Since 1998, they’ve recycled over 150,000 pounds of clothing and household goods.

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The recipient of the Corporate Leadership award for 2004 is SaskTel’s Paint It Recycled Program. The program uses community volunteers to collect and recycle paint from the public. Originally designed to give a portion of SaskTel’s revenues from paper recycling back to the community, the Paint-It Recycled program began in 1993 in Regina and has since expanded to include ten cities. About 150 paint recycling events have resulted in more than 600,000 gallons of paint being recycled, plus many thousands of gallons given back to the public for re-use.

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The Youth Award recognizes individuals or groups who have demonstrated exemplary commitment and leadership by involving peers, schools, neighbours, or communities in waste reduction efforts. This year’s award recipients are the Regina Area Girl Guides.

All of the winners demonstrate a strong commitment to waste minimization and have made our province a better place to live. We congratulate them!

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