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In Brief - Interesting SnippetsAcross Canada
Canada takes aim at waste diversion
Toronto okays pay-as-you-toss garbageIn a move to spur an ambitious recycling effort, the City of Toronto recently approved a new user-pay garbage levy that takes the cost of garbage and recycling collection off of the property tax base. In effect, the more garbage left at the curb, the higher the pickup fee paid. Here is what it means for single-family homes: Residents will choose among four different-sized garbage bins to be delivered free to their door, starting later this year. There will be no penalty to switch to a smaller bin, but there will be a $20 charge to go up in size. City staff may still re-jig the final fee structure, but on average, single-family residents would pay an extra $62 a year more than now paid through property taxes. For occasional extra garbage, residents are also entitled to put out four garbage bags a year without extra charge. After that, they will pay $2.50 to $3 a bag (with details still to be worked out). Several new services will be offered next year, including a new recycling cart (to replace the blue and grey box), biweekly pickup for bulky items, and the addition of plastics and polystyrene for recycling. Edmonton takes aim at 90 percent diversionIn an agreement with companies GreenField Ethanol and Enerkem, the City of Edmonton is building a facility to produce biofuels from municipal sold waste. The $70 million facility will process a substantial amount of the 40% of the City’s residential waste that is considered unrecoverable (after recycling and composting), which currently amounts to approximately 96,000 tonnes annually. The unrecoverable (and therefore landfilled) waste should be reduced to approximately 24,000 tonnes, a 75% reduction. The biofuels plant uses new gasification technology to produce synthetic gas that can be converted first to methanol, then to ethanol. Enerkem says their technology can convert one tonne of waste to 360 litres of cellulosic ethanol, which means the City’s 72,000 tonnes of usable waste will generate almost 26 million litres. The City hopes to eventually power its waste and recycling vehicles with this fuel. The facility will mean lower greenhouse gas emissions for the City, reducing the province’s carbon footprint by six million tonnes over 25 years, which is the equivalent of removing 12,000 cars from the road every year. The City is also spending $50 million to build a related processing plant and research facility. (Source: Recycling Canada in August 2008 WasteWatch) Quebec imposes province-wide disposal feeEffective June 23, Quebec will charge $10/tonne on all “residual material” (they don’t call it waste anymore) disposed of at sanitary landfills, incinerators and dry waste depots in the province. Facility owners will have 5 months to install weigh scales if quantities received are 20,000 tonnes/year or more.For smaller facilities, the installation period is 3 years. The objective of this funding is to move the province towards its 60% diversion target as set out in Quebec's 1998-2008 plan. Monies raised will be put into the province’s new “Green Fund” and will be used to support municipal efforts to reduce waste disposed. The higher fee should act as a disincentive to disposal as well. The government will distribute 85% of the funds back to municipalities who have adopted a regional residual material management plan. (Source: Province of Quebec in June 2006 WasteWatch) Ontario cement plant to burn tires, garbageLafarge cement plant in Bath, Ontario will be permitted to burn scrap tires as well as garbage such as cellulose, plastics and bone meal, in a controversial $10-million tire and waste-burning facility west of Kingston. The company hopes to replace about 30 per cent of its coke-and coal-burning fuel with refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and knock as much as $1 million off its annual energy bill. The company says the RDF process will actually improve emissions from its facility. The plant will not stockpile tires, but bring them in on an as-needed basis. Plastics and bone meal will be stored on site in silos. Critics say that the kilns still need special pollution control equipment and note that Ontario's Waste Diversion Act prohibits the development of product stewardship policies that encourage burning. Ironically, a recent scrap tire stewardship proposal approved by Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) was sent back by the province because it included provisions to burn tires. (Source: Solid Waste & Recycling in March 2006 WasteWatch) Getting Old Cars Off the RoadsOlder vehicles built before the 1995 model year accounted for 35 per cent of light-duty vehicles in 2005. Permanently removing older, high-emitting vehicles from Canadian roads through "scrappage" programs improves our air quality and helps to reduce smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions. Environment Canada currently provides operating support for programs such as Car Heaven run by the Clean Air Foundation, and B.C. Scrap-it. These scrappage programs provide small incentives to promote the retirement of older vehicles and ensure scrapped vehicles are recycled according to environmental guidelines. Budget 2007 will provide $6 million over the next two years for a seven-fold increase in current annual federal support delivered through Environment Canada for scrappage programs. (Source: Solid Waste & Recycling in May 2007 WasteWatch) Canada to Ban Traditional Light Bulbs By 2012Canada will be among the first countries in the world to ban the purchase of traditional light bulbs as part of the government’s plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The government’s announcement in late April followed the lead of Australia and Ontario and will take effect in 2012. Canadian retailers will be required to stock more efficient light bulbs such as compact fluorescents and halogen. The new generation of light bulbs cost a bit more but last about seven years and use much less energy. The downside is that many of them contain mercury and need to be disposed of like paint and chemicals at special toxic-waste centres. (Source: GlobeAndMail.com in May 2007 WasteWatch) New rules for auto recyclers in BCExisting automobile recycling operations in BC have until September 1, 2008, to comply with the new Vehicle Dismantling and Recycling Industry Environmental Planning Regulation. New automobile recycling yards will have to comply immediately. The key elements of the new regulation are a requirement that recycling operations register with the Ministry of Environment, and that an environmental management plan be in place that lists the procedures used for the safe removal, storage, treatment or disposal of the following wastes: ozone-depleting substances; oils, solvents; brake fluids, fuels, other hydrocarbons; antifreeze; lead and lead-acid batteries, tires, mercury switches, and windshield washer fluid. They must also include a contingency plan for emergencies. Recycling operations that are members of an association may adopt an association-prepared plan and delegate much of the reporting responsibility to that association. In those cases, the association is responsible for periodically auditing its members’ compliance with the plan. (Source: Recycling Canada in November 2007 WasteWatch) Alberta launches constructon and demolition waste programAlberta will begin to recycle construction and demolition waste, eventually eliminating it from landfills, following a new landmark agreement among the Government of Alberta, the Alberta Construction Association and the Canadian Home Builders' Association-Alberta. "If we divert even 50 per cent of construction and demolition material, the amount we send to landfills would drop by 130 kilograms for each Albertan every year," said Diana McQueen, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Environment. During construction, the average home generates four to seven tonnes of waste, and construction and demolition wastes make up 23 per cent of the waste stream. The agreement between the government and the construction industry sets out a timeline to create a provincial stewardship program that will deal with this waste stream. For more information about this or Alberta's other stewardship programs, please visit www.alberta.ca or contact Kim Capstick, Communications, Alberta Environment, 780-427-6267 Manitoba introduces tipping surchargeManitoba has introduced a $10 per tonne province-wide surcharge to waste disposed at all landfills. The surcharge began on July 1, 2009, and is known as the Waste Reduction and Recycling Support (WRARS) levy. The surcharge is being phased in over several years. This year it applies only to Class 1 landfills receiving more than 30,000 tonnes of waste per year. Beginning January 1, 2010, the fee will be imposed on all remaining Class 1 landfills. On January 1, 2011, the surcharge will apply to Class 2 and Class 3 landfills. Eighty percent of the revenue collected from the WRARS levy will be rebated to municipalities to further promote recycling. The remainder will be used for increased support for provincial e-waste and hazardous waste collection programs. (Source: November 2009 WasteWatch) New recycling regulations for B.C.Highlights of new B.C. recycling regulations:
(Source: February 2010 WasteWatch) Cities and Countries Around the World
Cities and countries everywhere are making changes to reduce waste.
Talking garbage cans in BerlinBerlin may have a solution to garbage-strewn streets -- rubbish bins that say thank you. Starting in mid-2004, the garbage service will build electronics into some of Berlin's 20,000 street bins, which will allow them to speak or sing. "We want to encourage people in a nice, funny way to throw their trash in the baskets and not on the street," said a city official, Bernd Mueller. The talking rubbish bins -- powered by solar cells -- will be silent after dark but glow green instead. "Some people might feel uncomfortable if these things said something to them at night," Mr. Mueller said. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in December 2003 WasteWatch) Self-compacting solar trash can being tested in ManhattanThe Big Apple is testing a new trash can that is able to sense when it's full and automatically compact the garbage inside using solar power. The can, called the BigBelly, was tried in Chinatown starting on Feb. 14 and then moved to Tribeca on Feb. 28. When garbage inside the BigBelly reaches a certain level, it is automatically compacted, making room for more. When the BigBelly is full, a red indicator light goes on. The BigBelly is even wirelessly enabled to call for a pickup. The BigBelly can reduce trash to a quarter of its original size, according to the web site for the company that makes it, Seahorse Power Co. Inc (see www.seahorsepower.com). The goal of the can is to reduce the number of pickups needed, cutting down on the diesel fuel used by collection trucks. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in June 2005 WasteWatch) Philadelphia discovers it pays to recycle trashWhen you can't get people to recycle trash by appealing to their environmental conscience, there's a simple solution that seems to work: pay them. That's the strategy taken by RecycleBank, a pioneering Philadelphia-based non-profit group that gives households coupons to spend at local businesses in return for separating their recyclables from their trash. The result has been a dramatic increase in recycling rates, and that success has led to the program’s expansion into New Jersey, Delaware and several New England states, and has prompted inquiries from Europe, Israel & Saudi Arabia. RecycleBank has been operating in two Philadelphia neighbourhoods and some areas of suburban Philadelphia, covering about 5,000 homes, since January 2005, improving one of the nation's worst recycling records. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in June 2006 WasteWatch) Cities worldwide turned off lights for Earth HourCities around the world switched off non-critical lights on March 29th at 8 p.m. for Earth Hour. Canada had one of the highest participation rates: more than 150 cities and half our population took part. In Greater Toronto, 85% of citizens participated, and Ontario’s power consumption dropped 5%. To help people make every hour Earth Hour, WWF-Canada launched a program called The Good Life at wwf.ca. The Good Life is designed to help Canadians take personal action to help fight climate change, and see the positive impact of their actions by tallying the total greenhouse gas emissions saved personally, provincially and nationally. (Source: Feb. 2008 WasteWatch) U.K. plans to offset CO2 emissions from officials' airline flightsAs part of its sustainable-development strategy announced today, the U.K. is unveiling an innovative program to offset the carbon-dioxide emissions generated by the air travel of its ministers and civil servants. Starting next month in at least three government departments, each time an official flies overseas on official business, an independent assessor will determine how much CO2 will result and how much money is needed to offset it. That amount of money will then be paid into a fund devoted to sustainability projects in developing countries: solar cookers in India, micro-hydro in Sri Lanka, etc. The government estimates that almost $960,000 could be generated by the program. Greens hailed the announcement, but pointed out that the benefits of the program will be swamped by the effects of the controversial aviation bill recently signed into law, which did nothing to regulate airplane CO2 emissions. Airplane travel is widely believed to be dooming the U.K.'s ability to meet its emission-reduction targets. (Source: Grist in June 2005 WasteWatch) Open-barrel trash burning becoming a hot issue in USNot interested in paying the $1- or $2-per-bag fee for trash disposal? Just throw it all in a barrel in your backyard and burn it. That's what thousands of upstate New Yorkers -- and millions of rural Americans -- do, and it's making some environmental activists hot under the collar. But a bill to ban the practice has languished in the New York legislature for several years under fire (ahem) from state agricultural interests, which say that disposing of the waste any other way is cost prohibitive for farmers and rural residents .A number of states have banned backyard burning, and others -- including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan -- are now at work on efforts to curb it. Trash burning releases cancer-causing dioxins into the atmosphere, along with arsenic, mercury, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide. The U.S. EPA estimates that 20 million burn barrels across the U.S. produce some 13 million pounds of pollutants every year, making backyard burning the No. 1 quantified source of dioxin emissions in the country. (Source: Grist in June 2005 WasteWatch) Norway bans mercury in productsRecognizing the human health dangers posed by mercury released into the environment, the Norwegian government banned mercury in products starting January 1, 2008. Banned are the production, importation, or exportation, sale or use of substances that contain mercury or mercury compounds, including dental fillings and thermometers. Mercury used in welding must be phased out by the end of 2010. Batteries and electronics are regulated differently. (Source: Product Packaging and Stewardship Review in Feb. 2008 WasteWatch) Salarymen of the World: Untie!The paradigmatically propriety-conscious Japanese bureaucrat may be loosening up and dressing down, thanks to, well, orders from above. In an effort to conserve energy by reducing air-conditioner use, Japan's Environment Ministry today launched a campaign urging government workers to leave suit coats and ties at home. By keeping office temperatures at 82 degrees Fahrenheit rather than 77, the effort will help Japan reach its emission-reduction goals under the Kyoto Protocol. The Energy Conservation Center says it's possible the country could save 81 million gallons of oil in one summer, just by turning down the AC. Thus a new style of office attire dubbed "Cool Biz," which includes open-neck shirts, pants in pale colors, and shirts with extra buttons or snaps to keep collars upright without a tie (no sense in being slovenly, after all!). Ministry officials hope an upcoming fashion show and fashionista manual with tips on matching shoes to belts will convince wary employees that dressing cooler is, um, cool. (Source: Grist in Sept. 2005 WasteWatch) New project to make 11 islands waste-freeThe Cradle-to-Cradle Island Project has been created to join eleven islands from six different countries in a bid to create a waste-free environment. According to the website, "the aim of the project is to contribute to environmental sustainability and economic project of the North Sea region by:
Some of their ideas are: energy from wind, waves, and tides; desalination of drinking water; alternative car engines; and design of an Eternal Island Holiday House that is energy producing, made with local materials, easily transportable and degradable, just to name a very few. See the website for more innovative ideas.
San Francisco and California
This city, and the state as a whole, are doing so much, they get their own file....
San Francisco becomes first U.S. city to adopt green procurement lawSan Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed landmark environmental legislation June 17 that will phase out the city government´s use of toxic products by adopting a green product procurement policy. San Francisco is the first city in the nation to adopt such an ordinance. The city´s Precautionary Purchasing Ordinance requires San Francisco buildings and services to buy more environmentally friendly products, such as greener janitorial supplies. The law also will phase out toxic pesticide use and lumber pressure-treated with chromated copper arsenate in playgrounds. The city will use full-cost accounting to evaluate alternative products, taking into account not only raw materials and transportation costs but disposal and possible environmental and health costs as well. The ordinance will impact some $600 million a year in spending on products and services. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in Sept. 2005 WasteWatch) San Francisco goes to the dogs for a new source of powerSan Francisco has realized that where there's muck there's gas. The dog-loving city has decided to convert the 6,500 tonnes of feces produced each year by its canine population into energy. Within the next few months, Norcal Waste, a company that collects the city's rubbish, will begin a pilot program which uses biodegradable bags and carts to gather droppings at a popular dog park. The waste will be put in a methane digester, a tank in which bacteria feed on feces for weeks to create methane gas. This can then be piped directly to gas stoves, heaters, turbines, or anything else powered by natural gas. It can also be used to generate electricity. San Francisco is ideally suited to the project as animal feces account for nearly 4% of its residential waste, nearly as much as disposable nappies. It is also home to 240,000 dogs and cats. San Franciscans recycle more than 60% of their rubbish. Methane digesters are nothing new. More than 600 farm-based digesters have sprung up in Europe since the technology took off 20 years ago, and the machines are increasingly popular in dairy, chicken and pig farms across the US. However, Norcal Waste is thought to be the first US company to use the digesters to convert pet waste to energy. (Source: The Guardian in March 2006 WasteWatch) San Francisco Area to ban Styrofoam containersHoping to get the plastic out of fast food, San Francisco and Oakland are about to ban food establishments from using styrofoam. The cities say it's not a war on fast-food joints, but a common sense step to stem plastics pollution at a time when new biodegradable alternatives are coming to market. Polystyrene foam, better known as styrofoam, is just the start. In Oakland and San Francisco, the new laws not only ban the foam but also encourage food establishments to reduce their use of all plastic in favour of materials that are biodegradable or that can be composted. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in February 2007 WasteWatch)San Francisco Bans Bottled Water for City StaffThirsty San Francisco city workers will no longer have bottled water to drink under an order by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says it costs too much, worsens pollution and is no better than tap water. Newsom's executive order bars city departments, agencies and contractors from using city funds to serve water in plastic bottles and in larger dispensers when tap water is available. In San Francisco, for the price of one 1 gallon of bottled water, local residents can purchase 1,000 gallons of tap water," according to the mayor's order. Newsom estimates San Francisco could save $500,000 a year under his directive, which also addresses environmental concerns over the amount of oil used to make and transport plastic water bottles. "All of this waste and pollution is generated by a product that by objective standards is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco's pristine tap water," according to the order. The ban on the ubiquitous plastic bottles follows a prohibition in March by city officials on plastic shopping bags in large supermarkets because recycling efforts had largely failed. (Source: Reuters in August 2007 WasteWatch) California to require 10% recycled carpet in the government officesCalifornia government offices must install carpet containing at least10 percent recycled materials beginning Sept. 1, 2006, according to a standard recently adopted by an interagency task force. The new California Gold Sustainable Carpet Standard is designed to keep material out of the state’s landfills and ensure healthier working conditions for employees, said Ron Joseph, director of the California Department of General Services. The carpet standard is the latest step in the state government’s efforts to implement an environmentally preferable purchasing law. (Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in Sept. 2006 WasteWatch) California achieves 50 percent + diversion (finally)The state of California reports that it has reached a diversion rate of 52 percent, meeting the legislatively imposed level required under the state’s Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which called for 50 percent diversion. . The 1989 Act required individual cities and counties to cut their disposal rates in half, but left the mechanics for doing so largely up to each jurisdiction. In 1990, California diverted just 10 percent of its waste stream, causing broad concern about the dwindling landfill capacity available to meet disposal requirements. (Source: Recycling Today in Sept. 2006 WasteWatch) Another California City Bans PolystyreneEmeryville , California , City Council passed a ban on all non-biodegradable polystyrene cups, plates and take‑out food containers used by restaurants. The ban will go into effect on January 1, 2008. This ban echoes similar measures passed throughout the Bay Area in recent years and stipulates that restaurants must use biodegradable or recyclable food containers. About 50 businesses will be affected by the law. The ordinance will be complaint-driven with a $100 fine for a first offense and increases up to $400 for repeat offenders. (Source: Plastics Recycling Update in May 2007 WasteWatch) California Adopts EPR PositionThe California Integrated Waste Management Board has adopted StrategicDirective5 on Producer Responsibility, using the strongest language yet in the US supporting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The directive embraces producer responsibility as a core value of the agency’s mission. It directs the agency to “seek statutory authority to foster cradle to cradle producer responsibility” and to “develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders that result in producer-financed and producer-managed systems for product discards.” The new strategic directive has received strong support from local governments in California, particularly since a statewide disposal ban went into effect a year ago banning fluorescent lamps, household batteries and many common household electronic products from the landfill. The California Product Stewardship Council, a group representing municipalities from all over the state, was formed in response to the hazardous products ban to shift California’s product waste management system from one focused on taxpayer-financed waste diversion to one that relies on producer responsibility in order to drive improvements in product design that promote environmental sustainability. For more information visit www.caproductstewardship.org. (Source:Recycling Council of Alberta in May 2007 WasteWatch) 4.4 Cents and Sensibility— Bay Area initiates first-of-its-kind fee on biz greenhouse-gas emissionsBusinesses in nine San Francisco Bay Area counties will pay 4.4 cents for every ton of greenhouse gases they spew, after the district air-quality board voted 15-1 Wednesday to approve the fee. Set to take effect July 1, the fee will affect more than 2,500 businesses; the district estimates that perhaps seven power plants and oil refineries will have to pay more than $50,000 a year, but most businesses will pay less than $1. The fee is modest enough that dramatic emissions reductions are unlikely to occur, but proponents laud the precedent. Businesses were, unsurprisingly, less enthusiastic, expressing concerns about the cost of tracking and reporting emissions, duplication of state efforts to address warming, and the authority of an air-pollution board to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The fee is expected to generate $1.1 million in the first year, which will help pay for projects aimed at reducing the region's emissions. (Source: Grist in May 2008 WasteWatch)
Businesses
Most doing good, others not quite so much...
Cradle to Cradle Design Example: DesignTex Upholstery FabricsMade from a combination of organic wool and ramie (a natural fibre), the carpet contains only non toxic dyes and finishes. At the end of its useful life, the carpet and its trimmings can be composted and return nutrients back to the soil. The process water leaving the production plant is as clean as the water coming in. No waste is created in the production of the fabric. Trimmings are made into felt which farmers use as ground cover to insulate the soil and suppress weeds. It eventually breaks down and nourishes the soil as well.
(Source: December 2002 WasteWatch)
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