Go Recycle! BC’s First Pilot Public Spaces Recycling Program Launched by Canadian Beverage Industry, City of Richmond
28 July 2011
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| From left to right: Neil Hastie, Encorp Pacific (Canada), Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, John Yap, MLA Richmond-Steveston, John Challinor, Nestlé Waters Canada |
The Canadian Beverage Association, Encorp Pacific (Canada), Nestlé Waters Canada and the City of Richmond today announced the launch of Go Recycle! -- a ground-breaking environmental initiative that will occur in the community’s historic Steveston Village and the first pilot public spaces recycling program of its kind in British Columbia.
Public spaces recycling captures the “last mile” of recyclables – items typically captured through Encorp Pacific’s Return It™ deposit-refund recycling program as well as municipal curbside recycling programs – but abandoned by consumers in park spaces, recreational facilities like arenas, street-scapes, transit stops, bars and restaurants, elementary and secondary schools, convenience stores and gas stations.
First established by the Canadian beverage industry and the Government of Quebec and launched in Quebec in June 2008, this particular public spaces recycling methodology is achieving recovery rates averaging 85% and single location results as high as 97% for recyclables, including aluminum, glass, plastic and gable-top. Through its focus on public education campaigns and citizen participation, the initiative is augmenting the province’s existing deposit-return and curbside programs by increasing recycling rates.
The Canadian Beverage Association, Encorp Pacific and Nestlé Waters Canada are funding the cost of purchasing new recycling container infrastructure for the Richmond pilot project. They are also responsible for the overall management of the project as well as pre- and post-pilot measurement of the program. The City of Richmond is responsible for assuming the operating costs associated with any changes to current waste management services contracts on their sections of the waterfront. The City has also branded this as the “Go Recycle!” program, which will be unique to Richmond. The pilot program will conclude by October.
The pilot program, designed and implemented by independent Canadian extended producer responsibility (EPR) consultant StewardEdge, will be three months in duration and include strategically placed new bins, signage and public education. Additionally, waste audits conducted pre- and post-implementation will measure the effectiveness of the initiative. The results will be discussed with the Board of Directors of Encorp Pacific as well as with staff at the BC Ministry of the Environment for consideration of this type of public spaces recycling as a future complement to the Province’s current deposit-return and curbside recycling programs.
“The Steveston Village area is one of Canada’s most well-known heritage seaside sites,” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “This pilot program will make Steveston a cleaner, more sustainable area, and a model for recycling for the rest of the City and for BC. The Go Recycle! program is intended to help make recycling available to residents in a way that mirrors the current blue box and blue cart recycling programs residents have made so successful through their active participation. Now, whether at home or on the go, Richmond residents can recycle. The City will be able to use information from this program to potentially develop and implement a public spaces recycling program on a broader scale throughout the city. We look forward to working together with the Canadian beverage industry to establish their pilot project and make it the first pilot public spaces recycling program of its kind in the province.”
“Adoption of this program in British Columbia will complement the efficiency of the current deposit and curbside programs and provide consumers with an additional mechanism to recycle when they are on the go,” explained Justin Sherwood, President, Canadian Beverage Association. “The pilot now underway in Richmond mirrors that community’s current recycling systems. To be effective, residents need to be able to behave the same way with their recyclables in public spaces as they do at home.”
“The beverage industry in Canada has a solid track record of introducing environmentally sustainable products and practices, including 100% recyclable aluminum, glass, gable-top and plastic beverage containers, comprehensive recycling programs and, now, public spaces recycling,” explains Neil Hastie, President, Encorp Pacific (Canada), arguably the most successful industry-led recycling program in North America today. “From the work we have done with away-from-home recycling to date, we believe British Columbia consumers not only want to practice recycling at home, they also want to practice it out-of-home. We look forward to reviewing the results of the Richmond pilot when it is completed to better understand how the methodology deployed in Steveston could be the wave of the future when it comes to public spaces recycling in BC”
“Richmond’s leadership with this project sets an example for other public spaces recycling programs in BC, in that public spaces recycling can help beautify a community, increase participation in deposit and curbside recycling systems and bring additional revenues to the municipality, ” said John Zupo, President, Nestlé Waters Canada. “It is our intention to support pilots across Canada that help to demonstrate the effectiveness of public spaces recycling -- in the hopes that local and provincial governments -- as well as government and industry recycling organizations -- will partner with the Canadian beverage industry in the establishment of this program in every community across this country.”
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