REAPS REPORT

REAPS News Web Pick Book of the Month Recycle Toy Drive REAPS School Presentations Membership Renewal Tea & Chat

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Local News BC Resource Forum Recycle Christmas Tree Co-Laborative Movie Night

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Around BC

BC Recycle 1 Billion Drink Containers RDFFG Major Appliances

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Around Canada

Ocean Plastics Ottawa to Eliminate Plastic

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Around the World

Bus Fare with Plastic G7 2018 Plastic Charter

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Yellowstone Geyser - Trash China Generates More Waste

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Back Page

Dumpy’s Tip of the Month Recycle Craft Corner Membership Application

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Hotline 250-561-7327 www.reaps.org Email newsletter@reaps.org

Recycl ing & Environmental Act ion & Planning Society

COMING EVENTS

JANUARY

1 Happy New Year

1 RDFFG Free Appliance Recycle

4 - 5 Recycle Christmas Tree Drop off

16 REAPS Tea & Chat

17 Co-Laborative Movie Night

22– 24 BC Natural Resource Forum

FEBRUARY 10 @CNC John Dunn :

"Ellesmere Light" Expedition

Presentation

20 REAPS Tea & Chat

21 Co-Laborative Movie Night

MARCH

1 - 2 Northern Historical Conference

@ UNBC

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

JANUARY 2019

I will not acquire Useless Stuff. Yes, our purchases keep the economy going, but most of us buy far more than we need. Re-member that packaging, waste, and pollution are created to make these items available to you. If you trash those once-new goodies when you’re no longer interested in them, they will live in a landfill for years and years. It’s time to clean

out, and stop the "stuff" collecting.

I will avenge my "phantom load". The term refers to the energy wasted by elec-tronics and power chargers when they are plugged in but not in use. That’s right — your computer cord, cell phone charger, and time-telling DVD player are all sucking energy from the outlet even when there isn’t anything at-tached or being watched. Actually cut the power to your electronics by plugging them in to a power strip and flipping the switch to off when

you’re not watching or listening.

I will kick the bottled water habit. Kicking the plastic water bottle habit might sound like an impossible feat if you’re as addict-ed as the average thirsty Canadian; last year we consumed about 50 billion plastic water bottles. If the fact that plastic is bad for the envi-ronment doesn’t get you to quit, just think: Sev-eral bottled water brands use the same H20 that’s available from your faucet. So buy an eco-chic reusable stainless steel bottle, and

refill it throughout the day — for free.

I will bring my own bags to the grocery store. But plastic bags are made from petroleum and only about 1 percent of the estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion Annie Bell plastic bags consumed worldwide are recycled each year. Most end up in landfills (where they take perhaps 1000 years to decompose) or in the sea. If you start bring-ing your own bags now, you’ll be ahead of the curve if plastic ones become outlawed in your

community.

I will switch to recycled paper products at home. By purchasing recycled paper products you’re preventing trees from being chopped down, and paper waste from ending up in landfills. In addi-tion, less energy and water is required to pro-

duce a recycled paper product.

I will consider whether my meal came from the farm or the factory. Big agriculture isn’t all bad. Everyone has a guilty culinary pleasure that comes from a big. But while you’re worrying about your own car-bon footprint, remember that your food has one too. Think of how many kilometers your food has traveled, how many chemicals are used, and how much pollution and waste have been generated in the production of your foodstuffs. Support local agriculture by shopping for food at our farmers market. The goods will be fresh, and you might enjoy meeting some of the peo-

ple who grew your dinner.

I will take a day off from road and take mass transit or car-pool one day a week. If you have public transportation options availa-ble to you, try switching to the bus one day a week or carpool. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public trans-portation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gaso-line each year, and can reduce household ex-penses by $6,200. Plus you’ll get a day off from road rage. Or try organizing a once-a-week carpool with your neighbours or coworkers. You’ll save on fuel and reduce greenhouse gas

emissions by removing cars from the road.

Enjoy your holidays and make 2019

the year that you increase your

environmental responsibility.

PAGE 2 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

REAPS NEWS Web Pick of the Month Book of the Month

http://greenlivingideas.com/ And Blog Green Living Ideas, part of the Important Media Network, provides ideas, tips, and information to help you ‘green’ every aspect of your life: home energy, green building and remodeling, cars, food, waste recycling—and everything in between. They have worked with the world’s top green living authors and experts to bring you the latest information and great insights for green and sustainable living.

Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution Author: Menno Schilthuizen

ISBN: -13: 978-1250127822

Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of "urban ecol-ogists" studying how our man-made environments are accelerat-ing and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving

natural selection can be.

REAPS has been an effective environmental organization in the Prince George area for twenty-eight (29) years. The few dollars that your membership costs can make a much bigger difference than you realize. REAPS, and the environmental sustainability of our com-munity, will benefit from any contribution and level of involvement -- whether you become an active volunteer, attend our outreach events, or just read the newsletter. But above all, your membership

is a genuine vote of confidence. Back page or online membership.

Please show your support and renew your membership for 2019

www.reaps.org

Saturday, November 17th the residents of Prince George donated 180 boxes of quality used toys, baby items, books and games for 17 local child advocacy groups. Also collected were 4 boxes of pet stuff do-

nated to the local animal shelters.

A big thank you to the volunteers (Maryanne, Sa-mantha, Sophie, Vicki, Danielle and Val) who assist-ed with the receiving, sorting, boxing and labeling of

the toys.

These toys filled a 15 foot U Haul truck and were delivered on Monday to the happy faces of the com-munity organizations! Thank you to Megan and

Maryanne who assisted with

the deliveries.

Thank you to the Hart Pio-neer Centre and Winners also collected many boxes of gently used toys for the Recycle Toy

Drive.

RECYCLE TOY DRIVE

We have over 30 environmental education presenta-tions that connect students to the world around us. Teaching about both the natural and built environ-ments to raise awareness of issues impacting our environment which we all depend, as well as actions

we can take to improve and sustain it.

Choose a programs that bring nature into the classroom, pond study at Forest for the World or a trip to our Compost Demonstration Garden. Topics range from composting,

gardening, plastics, recycling and waste.

To request titles and descriptions send an

email to garden@reaps.org

Throughout the year we offer seasonal activities for children: recycle Christmas craft, recycle toy drive, planting your own seed, litter pick up, harvesting your worm bin, fry release, waste reduc-tion challenge and more. Sign up for our school

newsletter to learn more and not miss out.

thewormlady@reaps.org

REAPS School Presentations

Join us in a cup tea to brainstorm Prince George community initia-tives to encourage and support businesses and individuals to embrace environmental practices (such as reducing need-less packaging, take your

own bag/mug).

Got an interest / topic?

Come and share.

Happens the third Wednesday of each

month.

Next meeting is January 16th at 7 p.m. @ REAPS

1950 Gorse Street.

Renew / Become A Member Today

PAGE 3 HOTLINE 250-561-7327 REAPS REPORT

LOCAL NEWS

16th Annual BC Natural Resource Forum

Col Juicery, are always looking for ways to improve. We be-lieve it is important to be con-tinuously educating ourselves to do the best we can, and when we know better, do bet-ter. We want to continue to con-nect with our community and work together to take these steps, which is why we are excited to be hosting a series of Col-Laborative Movie Nights. Thursday, January 17th . and Thursday, Febru-ary 21st 6 p.m.- 8 p.m. These evenings will take place on the third Thursday of every

month. Each evening will fea-ture a different documentary and will have experts from the areas in the documentary to host a Q&A after the movie.

With support from the Northern Sport Centre, this evening will be held in the Wolf Den Room at the Northern Sport Cen-tre. Doors open at 6:00pm and the documentary will start at 6:15pm. After the film we will have a discussion session with experts from the local food industry and sustainability and resource management fields.

Col-Laborative Movie Night

The BC Natural Resource Forum has grown to become the largest and most important Natural Resources Forum in West-ern Canada. The forum will be held at the Prince George Con-ference and Civic Centre, January 22-24, 2019.

The Forum offers a neutral, non-partisan and positive arena to discuss and learn first-hand the latest news, trends and oppor-tunities linked to the resource sector in BC. There is no other gathering that provides this diversity of speakers, delegates, exhibitors and leaders under one roof to discuss issues and explore the challenges and unprecedented opportunities un-folding in the province.

PAGE 4 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND BC

BC Recycled 1 Billion Drink Containers in 2017 source: CBC

British Columbia kept one billion drink contain-ers out of its landfills last year, and the non-profit organization in charge of recycling them wants more.

Encorp, the organization that leads the B.C. beverage recycling program, is planning to boost the province's 75 per cent return rate by introducing a more convenient way for people to drop off their empty containers.

"My hope is over the years we'll continue to drive the [return] rate higher and higher," said Allen Langdon, Encorp's president.

The organization runs B.C.'s self-service bottle return depots called Return-It depots.

As in most provinces, consumers in B.C. pay a mandatory 5-cent to 20-cent deposit on each beverage container. They can collect a refund when that container is returned to a depot or other places that accept empties, like some liquor and grocery stores.

About 90 per cent of the province's drink con-

tainers that are returned arrive at a Return-It depot, Langdon says.

There, those who drop off their containers sort them by type, then stand in line for an at-tendant to count them and issue a refund.

Prince George has a Return-It Express where you are able to place your empties into a bag with a label, drop it off at an express depot, and see the refund automatically deposited to

their bank account 48 hours later.

In B.C., the return rate for drink containers is between 75 and 85 per cent — Encorp says it usually increases when the economy dips and more people recycle their bottles for money.

The highest rate of return was in 2009, when British Columbians returned 1,072,598,232 containers.

Langdon says professional bottle pickers, known colloquially as binners, play a large part in increasing the return rate in large urban centres — although Encorp doesn't keep sta-tistics on who returns containers.

Getting the recycling rate to 100 per cent

would be virtually impossible, Langdon says, adding that it's worth increasing the return rate as people continue to consume more and more drinks.

"Given the continued growth of the global economy, and what's probably going to be, over time, scarcer and scarcer resources, I think it's very prudent that we're able to find ways to use these materials multiple times

over," he said.

Plastic bottles get recycled right here in B.C., Langdon says, and are remanufactured within weeks. Aluminum can also be recycled many times over, he says.

October marked 20 years since B.C. expand-ed its mandatory deposit and refund system. The program started in 1970, but was mostly limited to soft drinks and beer.

"I think we've come a long way since then," Langdon said.

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George is partnering with the Major Appliance Recy-cling Roundtable Stewardship Program starting January 1, 2019 to offer a new

waste reduction initiative.

The partnership with MARR will allow resi-dences of the Regional District to drop off their large appliances for FREE, including appliances that contain ozone depleting substances, as well as washers, dryers, stoves and a variety of other approved appli-ances. All appliances must be clean and

empty of food.

Approved MARR ODS containing applianc-

es that can be dropped off free of charge at

select facilities include:

Full-Size Refrigerators and Wine Cool-

ers/Beverage Centres

Compact Refrigerators and Wine Cool-

ers/Beverage Centres

Freezers

Room Air Conditioners

Portable Air Conditioners

Dehumidifiers

Other appliances that are part of the MARR program that can be recycled at selected

facilities include:

Clothes Washers

Clothes Dryers

Ranges

Range Hoods and Downdrafts

Built-In Ovens

Built-In and Over the Range Microwave

Ovens

Surface Cooking Units

Dishwashers

Food Waste Disposers

Trash Compactors

Built-In Electric Water Dispensers

RDFFG Partnering with Major Appliance Recycling Roundtable Steward-ship Program starting January 1, 2019

PAGE 5 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND CANADA

Ottawa announced this past September at a G7 ministers meeting it will gradually eliminate most plastic waste from govern-ment operations.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said at the Halifax gathering that the feder-al government will ditch unnecessary plas-tics throughout its operations.

“We’re going to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics throughout government operations. So this includes straws, cut-lery, packaging, cups, bottles,” McKenna said.

She said Ottawa aims to collect, reuse or recycle at least 75 per cent of its plastic waste by 2030.

Meanwhile, the CEOs of a number of large companies said they’ll sign the ocean plastics charter that Canada has been promoting.

The Canadian-led plastic charter’s provi-sions call for national governments to set standards for increasing the reuse and recycling of plastics rather than trashing them.

It also calls for businesses to take respon-sibility for production methods that elimi-nate waste — an approach referred to as “extended producer responsibility.”

Five of the seven G7 nations and the Eu-ropean Union signed on to the charter at the recent G7 leaders summit in Charle-voix, but the United States and Japan still haven’t endorsed it.

McKenna announced that Jamaica, Ken-ya, the Marshall Islands, and Norway are signing on to the plastics charter.

A group of companies and non-government groups announced a coalition dedicated to finding ways to use plastic rather than throwing it away.

Unilever Canada, Walmart Canada, Ikea Canada and Loblaw were among firms joining with non-governmental groups to support the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition. The term circular economy re-fers to manufacturing processes that in-volves recycled materials and waste is eliminated or reused elsewhere.

Some firms, including Ikea, have already

promised to eliminate single-use plastic products from its shelves by 2020, includ-ing straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, gar-bage bags and plastic-coated paper plates and cups.

There have been a wide array of corporate anti-plastic pledges in recent months: ho-tels including the Marriott and Holiday Inn Express have dumped their complimentary tiny shampoo and conditioner bottles in favour of larger containers that are at-tached to the bathroom wall.

Montreal became the largest Canadian municipality to ban single-use plastic bags this week, and Prince Edward Island is gearing up to become to the first province to do the same.

Environment Minister also said during her news conference that Ottawa is starting a $12 million fund for innovations in plastics aimed at finding ways to avoid the material entering the waste stream.

TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Ottawa to Gradually Eliminate its Operations Plastic Waste in Across the Canada s o u rc e : W i n d s o r S t a r

Ocean Plastics Recycled into Cycling Bags source: RCI

A Canadian company has announced it will use fishing nets recovered from the ocean to make its entire line of cycling bags. Axiom Cycling Gear, based in the western city of Port Coquitlam says its goal is to help remove waste from oceans and to support recycling-based

economies.

The company will use a special fabric made from 100 per cent recycled fishing nets. It has partnered with several ma-rine advocacy groups to support them in

clean up efforts. The partnerships are said to have been instrumental in further-ing research and development of pro-

jects involving the fabric.

Axiom says that for every 1,000 tonnes of fabric it produces, 1,100 tonnes of nets will be eliminated. Production of that amount of fabric will have saved an esti-mated 7,000 barrels of oil and avoided

4,100 tonnes of carbon emissions.

The company looks to increase demand

for, and widespread use of recycled ma-terials in mainstream textile products

across a number of industries.

PAGE 6 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND THE WORLD

Indonesia's second-largest city has come up with a novel way to encourage its resi-dents to recycle waste: giving free bus

rides in exchange for used plastic bottles.

Under the scheme launched by Suraba-ya in the spring of 2017, commuters can ride red city buses by dropping off plastic bottles at terminals or directly 'paying' a

fare with bottles.

A two-hour bus ticket costs 10 plastic cups or up to five plastic bottles, depend-ing on their size, which the city hopes will help it meet an ambitious target of be-

coming free of plastic waste by 2020.

Surabaya is the first city in Indonesia to

implement this scheme.

City data shows that 15 per cent, or near-ly 400 tonnes, of Surabaya's daily waste

is plastic.

A bus can collect up to 250 kg of plastic bottles a day, or roughly 7.5 tonnes in a

month, the data shows.

After collection, labels and bottle caps are removed from the waste and it is

auctioned off to recycling companies.

Money earned from the auction goes towards running the bus operations and to fund green spaces in the city, located on the eastern tip of Java, Indonesia's

main island.

The world's fourth-most populous country is home to the largest expanse of tropical rainforest in Asia, but also struggles with

grid-locked traffic in its congested cities.

TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Indonesians Can Pay Bus Fare With Plastic Waste Instead of

Money source: CBC

G7 2018 OCEAN PLASTICS CHARTER

Plastics are one of the most revolutionary inventions of the past century and play an important role in our economy and

daily lives.

However, the current approach to pro-ducing, using, managing and disposing of plastics poses a significant threat to the environment, to livelihoods and potential-

ly to human health.

It also represents a significant loss of value, resources and energy. We, the Leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Euro-pean Union, commit to move toward a more resource-efficient and sustainable

approach to the management of plastics.

We resolve to take a lifecycle approach to plastics stewardship on land and at sea, which aims to avoid unnecessary use of plastics and prevent waste, and to

ensure that plastics are designed for re-covery, reuse, recycling and end-of-life management to prevent waste through

various policy measures.

We endeavor to increase the efficient use of resources while strengthening waste diversion systems and infrastructure to collect and process plastic materials and recapture the value of plastics in the economy, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing waste and litter from being released into the envi-

ronment.

We seek to stimulate innovation for sus-tainable solutions, technologies and alter-natives across the lifecycle to enable consumers and businesses to change

their behaviour.

We will work to mobilize and support col-

laborative government, industry, academ-

ia, citizen and youth-led initiatives.

We also recognize the need for action in line with previous G7 commitments and the 2030 Agenda, which sets a global

framework for sustainable development.

TO READ FULL REPORT

PAGE 7 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

Yellowstone Geyser Erupts– Ejecting Decades Worth of Trash source: Global News

China’s ban on foreign waste created ripple effects in global recycling markets in 2018. US and UK markets were unable to meet domestic recycling demands, and South-east Asian countries were overwhelmed with sharp increases in waste imports di-verted from China. But how does China deal with its own waste? It's already the world’s largest trash genera-tor. By 2030, its volume of waste is projected to be double Ameri-ca's volume of municipal solid waste. While Chinese authorities are planning more incinerators for waste disposal, much of the country’s waste still ends up in landfills, and some of it flows down rivers into the ocean.

At the same time, China is the leading force in the global digital economy. It has the world’s largest e-commerce market, con-sisting of 42% of global transactions, and the largest mobile payment market, with a transaction value 11 times that of the US. These two pole positions make China the best place in the world to innovate digital

solutions for waste.

In 2017, a viral article on Chinese social media highlighted the environmental impact of packaging from food delivery apps, in-cluding from the three largest, Meituan,

Ele.me and Baidu Takeout. These plat-forms made 34 million daily deliveries on average, in the first half of 2018.

In response to increasing pressures to cut packaging waste, Alibaba-backed Ele.me established an in-house sustainability lab in Shanghai, called RELAB, to drive innova-tive solutions. One of RELAB’s most suc-cessful initiatives has been the introduction

of a “No Chopsticks” option on the Ele.me app. It has saved 43 million pairs of chop-sticks, as of November 2018. Ant Forest is a popular scheme on Aliba-ba’s Alipay platform, which gamifies carbon

foot printing by tracking sustaina-ble consumer behaviour, such as paying utilities bill online. After the “No Chopsticks” function was inte-grated with Ant Forest in June 2018, the RELAB team experi-enced a 5-7x increase in users opting out of receiving utensils. Although still in early develop-ment, Ele.me’s efforts serve as a case study in how digital platforms can make waste reduction as con-

venient as ordering food. Ele.me projects that the value of China’s food delivery in-dustry will rocket from 100 billion yuan in 2016 to 700 billion yuan in 2020, growing 62% annually. Implementing waste reduc-tion strategies now will be crucial to manag-ing the industry’s environmental impact as it grows. TO READ FULL ARTICLE

China Generates More Waste Than Any Other Country. How Does It Deal With It? Source: WeForum.org

A rare eruption of a thermal spring in Yellowstone National Park last month spewed more than just steam and water. It also coughed up decades’ worth of trash visitors have tossed down it over the years.

Ear Spring, a geyser located near Yellowstone’s famed Old Faith-ful, erupted on Sept. 15, sending water six to nine metres high, a height not seen since 1957.

The spring, named for its resemblance to the shape of a human ear, is one of dozens of geysers, pools and hot springs in Yellow-stone’s Upper Geyser Basin.

According to the national park, following the eruption, staff “found a strange assortment of items strewn across the landscape around its vent.”

“Some are clearly historic: they’ll be inventoried by curators and may end up in Yellowstone’s archives,” the park noted on social media.

The United States Geological Survey Yellowstone Observatory said the eruption ejected “material that had fallen or been thrown into the geyser in years past, like coins, old cans, and other hu-man debris,” including a pacifier, believed to be from the 1930s.

Other items include a cement block, pop cans, pull tops, cigarette butts, a Pyrex funnel with tubing, plastic cups, Kodak yellow foil packaging, sever-al pieces of glass, a pen, a plastic spoon, and a lot of coins, the USGS said.

PAGE 8 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

Recycling and Environmental Action

Planning Society (AKA REAPS)

The REAPS Report is published six times a year, on the first of

January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Articles, originals or reprinted with permission, are submitted by members and represent the opinions of the authors only, not nec-

essarily those of the Society, Board, or members as a whole.

Deadline for submission is two weeks prior to publication date. Articles, suggestions for articles, or comments in general are much appreciated, and can be submitted to the REAPS office via email at newsletter@reaps.org

If you no longer wish to receive our newsletters

via email please email REAPS and state UNSUB-

SCRIBE in the subject line.

Mailing address: PO Box 444, Prince George, BC V2L 4S6 Compost Garden and Office Location: 1950 Gorse Street

RECYCLING & ENVIRONM ENTAL ACTION & PLANNING SO CIETY

Phone: 250-561-7327 Fax: 250-561-7324 E-mail: newsletter@reaps.org Website: www.reaps.org Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/REAPSPG

Email:

RECYCLE CRAFT CORNER

Dumpy’s Tip of the Month

Take advantage of the cozy long nights, blow off some steam and get lost in your creativity - all at the same time!

Find a unique and mean-ingful way to repurpose cast off materials that would otherwise be thrown out.

i.e./ make mitts from old sweater, bags from t-shirts, rug from socks

Have an old favorite

sweater?

How about making mitts

for the whole family.