Thirty-four million tonnes of waste - that's the mountain of garbage Canadians generate each year. Over three-quarters of the material goes into landfills or Waste-to-Energy facilities at an annual cost of $2.6 billion.
With skyrocketing costs and detrimental environmental impacts, this scenario must change. Undoubtedly, the best way to reduce waste is to avoid generating it in the first place. Richmond produces about 65,000 tonnes of waste annually.
The diversion rate among our single-family homes is nearly 70 per cent, yet we need to extend these encouraging results to multi-family homes and commercial/industrial waste as well.
Our community is successful because with our waste recovery programs, we have created many ways in which residents can take part. Through a pilot project, we have also extended the green cart program to the largest multi-family dwellings where results to date show room for improvement.
To achieve our regional goal of diverting 70 per cent of our waste by 2015 and 80 per cent before 2020, business and industry must play a major role. Just consider how much food waste is generated by the grocery stores and restaurants in the absence of industry-wide recycling programs. And what about all the paper products surrounding the food industry - wrappers, cups, napkins and the like.
One of the first steps taken long ago was to insist that some manufacturers take responsibility for the waste created by their products at the end of their useful lives.
Manufacturer-supported take-back programs have been extremely successful - they lead to the recycling of everything from bottles and cans to computers and small appliances.
Currently, a new province-wide plan for management of packaging and printed paper is to be implemented next spring. Multi-Material BC (MMBC), a not-for-profit organization representing more than 1,200 producers, will implement a residential program for recycling packaging and printed paper.
They will collect and process a wide variety of products, including those already collected in the Blue Box like newspaper, mixed paper, tin, plastic and aluminum containers.
The existing curbside collection will be expanded to include many new products including paper/plastic drinking cups, aerosols/
bakery trays, egg cartons and more. The recycling depot will add plastic film and styrofoam to its acceptance list.
However, in Richmond, there are a number of important issues to be resolved before introduction in May. Our city is among those working actively to find reasonable solutions.
Metro Vancouver has also assumed an important role in encouraging waste diversion through the newly-launched National Zero Waste Council.
Members of this group include levels of government, businesses and related associations, as well as nongovernment organizations. It plans to advocate at the national and international level for sustainable design of products and packaging.
It will also influence consumer behaviour to encourage each of us to reduce the amount of waste we create.
As Chair of both this new Council and Metro Vancouver's Zero Waste Committee, I am proud that our city, region and country are taking leadership roles on an issue bearing international implications: the need to manage waste more sustainably.
With a long way to go, local residents have made a good start with their strong support of our waste material diversion programs. We want our legacy for future generations to be a healthy planet supporting a high quality of life.
