REAPS REPORT

REAPS News Web Pick Book of the Month Waste Reduction Week Wanted: Edibles Wanted: Canning Jars

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Local News Potato Festival at Huble Other Flexible Pkg - recycle Ancient Forest FarmFest

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Around BC

Hard to Recycle Plastics Cigarettes 1/2 Waste Shoreines Other Flexible Plastic Packaging

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Around Canada

Toronto Market Curbside Foam Average Person Throws Away

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Around the World

Why Plastic Straws Bad Adidas Use Only Recycled Plastics Clothing / Furniture Water Pollution

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Abrupt Thaw of Permafrost Plastic Degrading Produces Greenhouse Gas

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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

SEPTEMBER

1 Celebration Day Ancient Forest

2-3 Potato Festival @ Huble

8 & 22 Downtown Pop Up Market

15 Farm Fest PG

22 Mini Maker Fair Two Rivers

29 Junk in the Trunk

OCTOBER 8 Old Fashion Thanks Giving @

Huble

13 Children’s Clothing Consign.

Sale 8am -1pm Theatre NW

15 - 21 Waste Reduction Week

27 Women’s Clothing Consign.

Sale 8am -1pm Theatre NW

TBA RDFFG Waste Characterization

Study

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

SEPTEMBER 2018

PAGE 2 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

REAPS NEWS Web Pick of the Month Book of the Month

https://www.greenmatters.com/ Green Matters is dedicated to making news and topics across sustainability and innovation accessible to all. We help bring awareness to global issues and solutions, and hope to inspire you to make simple changes to your daily habits and lifestyle. We believe that many small actions can collectively make a big difference in ensuring a healthy planet for generations to come.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

by Elizabeth Kolbert ISBN: 9780805092998

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinc-tions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

R.E.A.P.S School District 57 'Waste Reduction Challenge'. The challenge is open to all schools with-in the Regional District of Fraser Fort George and happens during Waste Reduction Week, October 15 - 21. Our goal is to raise awareness of the environ-mental and economic problems associated with waste. By reducing waste, we conserve precious resources, minimize pollution and save money. The challenge is to encourage everyone to reduce, reuse, recycle, compost, and conserve water and energy.

The R.E.A.P.S School District 57 'Waste Reduction Challenge' is meant to encourage and show students and teachers how they can reduce their environmen-tal footprint and help make learning about classroom garbage fun! The class with the least amount of classroom garbage during Waste Reduction Week will receive $200.00!

Email events@reaps.org to receive your registration package and sign up.

Waste Reduction Week

WANTED CANNING JARS

Seeking donations of canning jars for HIDDEN

HARVEST - community food bank program to

process unwanted fruit. Please drop off at REAPS

1950 Gorse Street.

PAGE 3 HOTLINE 250-561-7327 REAPS REPORT

LOCAL NEWS

Sunday, September 2 & Monday, September 3 - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM This a-peel-ing event celebrates the mighty spud, a vegetable the Huble family once grew by the acre! This event is the perfect place to learn more about heirloom potato varie-ties, and perhaps buy some of your own to take home and try. Take part in fun games and contests that focus on the tater, and once you’ve worked up an appetite, try something new from our potato themed menu! This is the our last big event of the regular season which means we’ll be hosting our summer-end sale, and all General Store merchandise is 10% off. Huble Homestead is located 40km north of Prince George, just off High-way 97 on Mitchell Road. Admission is by donation. We are dog friendly.

Potato Festival at Huble Homestead

The beauty and diversity of B.C.'s newest park will be showcased when a celebration day is held at the Ancient Forest on Sat., Sept. 1.

11am – 4:pm.

Hosted in part by B.C. Parks, it will be a day of music, arts and

crafts, guided walks, story telling and a taco lunch.

Also known as Chun T'oh Whujudut, (pronounced Chun Toe Wood-yu-jud), it's located 115 kilometres east of the city. It covers 11,190-hectares and is home to an inland temperate rainforest made up of hemlock and western red cedar trees as old as 1,000 years and with

trunks up to 16 metres around.

A centrepiece is a 500-metre wheelchair-friendly wooden boardwalk plus a further 2 1/2 kilometres of wood-planked walking trails built by

volunteers.

In March 2016, then-Premier Christy Clark declared the Ancient For-est will be made a Class A provincial park and the legislation making

it so was passed that same month.

Event co-hosts include Lheidli T'enneh, University of Northern British Columbia, Fraser-Fort George Regional District, City of Prince George, Village of McBride, Robson Valley Arts and Culture Council

and the Caledonia Ramblers hiking club.

Celebration day to be held for Ancient Forest

June 1st various RecycleBC Depots across the province started accepting “Other Flexible Plastic Packaging” but not in Prince George. As of August 6th ALL London Drugs

stores will accept this packaging!

Examples of Other Flexible Plastic Packaging in-clude: stand-up and zipper lock pouches; crinkly wrappers and bags; flexible packaging with plastic seal; non-food protective wrap like bubble wrap or plastic envelopes; and net bags for onions, avoca-

dos, lemons, etc.

To get photo example

List click here.

“Other” Flexible Packaging - Recycle at London Drugs

PAGE 4 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND BC

Young Scientists from Vancouver Take Aim at hard-to-recycle Plastics source: CTV News

Cigarettes Account for Half of Waste Recovered on Vancouver and Victoria Shorelines source: ENN

Two young Canadian scientists have created a process that can break down plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills or oceans. BioCel-lection, a California-based environmental start-up founded by 24-year-old Vancouver natives Mi-randa Wang and Jeanny Yao, is focusing on

recycling plastics that cannot be recycled.

According to a study from the University of Santa Barabara, of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic ever produced, 79 per cent end up in landfills or in

oceans.

Wang and Yao wanted to see if they could make the process effective on a large scale. Together they founded the company and partnered with the City of San Jose in California, which donated

waste samples for them to work with.

They worked with plastics that were not easy to recycle, particularly thin, film-like plastics such as those used to make plastic bags. While the most common type of plastic, PET, can be recycled through mechanical processes, other kind of plastics can be more difficult to break down,

especially when contaminated.

After extensive research and experimentation, Wang and Yao have created a process that is cheaper and safer than the original research. In three hours, the machine can process 300 grams of contaminated plastic film. By using heat, pres-sure, and a liquid catalyst, their machine chemi-cally breaks down the plastic into short-chain

chemicals that can be harvested. These materi-als are as high-quality as chemicals directly made from petroleum and can be used in exist-ing production processes for synthetic products

like car parts, electronics, and even cosmetics.

To date, BioCellection has processed 3,880 plastic bags worth of plastic waste. This fall, it is planning to launch a pilot project 200 times the

scale of their current machine.

TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Plastic waste—particularly from smoking– still dominates litter col-lected from B.C. coastlines, a recent study from the University of British Columbia has found. UBC researchers analysed data from 1,226 voluntary cleanups or-ganized by the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC), a con-servation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium and WWF-Canada, along the coast of B.C. between 2013 and 2016. “We found that generally 80 to 90 per cent of the litter that’s being collected is still plastic waste,” said Cassandra Konecny, co-author of the study and master’s student in the department of zoology and

Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at UBC. “We also found that while the amount of trash being collected didn’t vary much over time, the type of litter varied by region.” The waste items were grouped into categories by source – smoking, recreation, fishing, dumping and hygiene products – and then sorted by region from the north coast of B.C. down to the southern Strait of

Georgia. The most common litter items in B.C. include

cigarettes and filters, foam pieces, plastic pieces

and food wrappers and containers.

Other Flexible Plastic Packaging is one of the fastest growing packaging types on the market and the

largest category of packaging that previously wasn’t collected by Recycle BC.

This material will be collected at a portion of Recycle BC depots only around the province starting June 1. Collection of Other Flexible Plastic Packaging is part of a research and development project to determine how we can best recycle this material. During this time, material that is unable to be recycled

will be recovered and produced into engineered fuel.

Other Flexible Plastic Packaging are essentially types of film and flexible plastics that often include multiple layers of different types of plastic, making it more difficult to recycle. Examples of Other Flexible Plastic Packaging include: stand-up and zipper lock pouches, like pouches for granola, frozen berries, etc.; crinkly wrappers and bags, like coffee bags, chip bags, or cellophane; flexible packaging with plastic seal, like packaging for fresh pasta or pre-packaged deli meats; non-food protective wrap like bubble wrap or plastic envelopes;

and net bags for onions, avocados, lemons, etc.

OTHER FLEXIBLE PLASTIC PACKAGING

PAGE 5 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND CANADA

A rise in clothing consumption and produc-tion has led to a dramatic increase in textile

waste around the world.

In Canada, the average person throws out 81 pounds of textiles annually, while North Americans send 9.5 million tonnes of cloth-ing to the landfill every year — most of which could be reused or recycled, according to statistics compiled by Waste Reduction

Week in Canada.

In an effort to curb the problem locally, the City of Brandon has joined a pilot study on textile waste diversion with York University

and Diabetes Canada.

“Even though we have great organizations in our community such as MCC Thrift (Shop), Nearly New, and Diabetes Association, there is still an estimated 85 per cent of textiles that end up in our landfill,” said Lindsay Har-greaves, the city’s environmental initiatives

co-ordinator.

Hargreaves recently presented to city coun-

cil on the initiative, which is the first national study on the topic. It will aim to identify the “economic, environmental and social impacts

of textile diversion for municipalities.”

Simon Langer, national manager of govern-ment and strategic partnerships with Diabe-tes Canada, said it is estimated that more than 3.8 million pounds of used textiles are being generated by households in Brandon

on a yearly basis.

“This not only represents a significant amount of material being sent to landfills … but it is a missed opportunity to generate revenue for critical, life-saving diabetes re-

search,” Langer said.

A new report released by Value Village shows there are promising trends toward decluttering, but North Americans are throw-ing away far more textiles and home goods

than ever before.

“What many do not realize is that when an item is thrown away, it is not only the item

itself going to waste, but the natural re-sources required to create it,” states the third annual State of Reuse Report. “This means 700 gallons of water for every T-shirt sent to the landfill, or 1,800 gallons of water for each

pair of jeans.”

The report also revealed the continued need for consumers to embrace the full cycle of reuse — to not only donate, but also shop

for used or upcycled products.

“While there is a consistent base of people (40 per cent) who purchase pre-owned goods at least once every few months, 60 percent of North Americans are shopping

thrift once a year or less,” states the report.

Value Village commissioned Edelman Intelli-gence to conduct a survey of 3,001 people age 18 or older from the general population in the U.S. and Canada. The survey was

conducted online from March 15-22.

Read more from the Brandon Sun

The Average Person Throws Away 37 kg of Textiles Annually

source: Recycle Council of Ontario

Toronto Struggles to Find a Market for Curbside Foam

SOURCE: Plastic Recycling

Canada’s largest city conducted a pilot project last year to find a consistent outlet for densified foam polystyrene. The effort reached a clear

conclusion, but it wasn’t good news.

“After distribution of the densified EPS to poten-tial re-processors for evaluation, no viable mar-ket could be established for either the densified EPS, or standard baled material, with the exist-ing quality,” according to a post summarizing the

project.

Toronto first added expanded polystyrene (EPS) to its curbside program in December 2008. Households were allowed to begin diverting a range of contaminated foodservice items, includ-ing meat and produce trays, take-out food con-

tainers and egg cartons.

The material is sorted from the single-stream mix at a materials recovery facility (MRF) operated by Canada Fibers. The majority of pieces are picked out by manual sorters, either at the begin-ning of the sorting system, on the pre-sort line or on the cardboard line, according to the city’s report. Smaller pieces are picked by manual

sorters off the PET line.

Handling foam in the MRF has been challenging for multiple reasons. In addition to food contami-nation, the foam breaks into pieces, comes in a variety of colors and often includes film wraps and labels. Additionally, lookalikes made of poly-ethylene, polypropylene or other plastics can be

difficult to distinguish from PS. And foam is more difficult to bale than denser products, and the freight economics are challenged by the low

density.

In addition to those issues, the loss of down-stream markets have challenged the city’s pro-gram. Toronto has been without a regular con-tracted vendor to take foam bales since April 2017. That being said, CPIA has arranged for a handful of truckloads of PS foam collected by the city to be sent to Plastics Recycling, Inc. (PRI) in Indianapolis, helping to reduce city stockpiles. PRI has a large and technologically advanced facility capable of recycling post-consumer foam

into pellets for use in various products.

TO READ MORE

PAGE 6 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND THE WORLD

Plastic straws are a small piece of the larger problem of single-use plastic. Every day, millions of Americans throw out plastic bags, forks, cups, and straws after just one meal or grocery run. Plastics take a much longer time to break down

than organic matter, such as apple cores.

Because plastic has a lifecycle that extends long after it’s served any function, single-use products often wind up in landfills or, even worse, the

ocean.

In 2015, marine biologist Christine Figgener shot a disturbing video of a turtle with a straw stuck in its nostril. Blood streams out of the turtle’s nose as scientists attempt to pull it out, and the animal appears to be in pain as human hands hold it

down.

Aquatic animals also tend to eat plastic trash, which can make them sick or even kill them. These creatures are usually ingesting microplas-tics, tiny fragments of less than 5mm that splinter off larger plastic items as they degrade. Scientists believe 700 species of marine life have already consumed at least some plastic, which makes sense, considering how much trash is in the wa-ter. Researchers at the University of Geor-gia found that between 4.8 and 12.7 million met-ric tons of plastic entered the ocean in a single year, and the UN estimates that by 2050, there

could be more plastic than fish in our oceans.

Thankfully, there are alternatives to plastic straws. Instead of adding to the plastic waste created by all the single-use plastic, people have opted to use plastic straw replacements, such as reusable stainless steel straws, glass and biode-gradable straws made from paper or bamboo,

which can be recycled.

Straws are also far from the biggest source of pollution. They make up just 4 percent of plastic trash when you count by piece, and even less by

weight.

But environmentalists see straws as a gateway issue that can help introduce people to the wider fight against single-use plastics and ocean pollu-tion. That includes Figgener, the woman who arguably started it all. “I’m of course happy, but I don’t want the corporations to feel like they’re getting off easily just by eliminating plastic

straws,” she told Time. “I hope this is a first step.”

TO READ ALL OF ARTICLE

Why Are Plastic Straws Bad For The Environment? https://www.greenmatters.com

Clothing, Furniture Play a Role in Ocean and Freshwater Pollution source: Gemini

Think summer holidays and you’ll likely call up images of a beautiful beach or a glittering blue lake. But more and more lakes, rivers and coastal areas are plagued by an oversupply of nutrients that causes algae to grow at an ex-plosive rate, which can eventually lead to water bodies that can’t support aquatic life.

Scientists call this type of water pollu-tion eutrophication, and it is an enormous prob-lem worldwide: There are more than 400 ma-rine ‘dead zones’ caused by over-fertilization, covering an estimated 245,000 km2, which is an area six times the size of Switzerland.

In some water bodies, eu-trophication causes huge fish kills and toxic blue green algae blooms, which affects food supply, biodi-versity and your favourite swimming spot.

Governments around the globe have battled eutrophication by working with farmers to con-trol nutrient-laden runoff from fields and feed-lots. But there’s more to the picture, a new

study published in Nature Sustainability shows. Using a detailed modeling tool called MRIO, a team of researchers identified important, but often overlooked sources of water pollution, namely clothing, and other manufactured prod-ucts and services.

When they did their analysis, the team found that the overall demand for non-food products in 2011 accounted for more than one-third of the nutrients causing eutrophication in both marine and freshwater systems worldwide. This was a 28 percent increase compared to 2000.

TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Adidas Plans to Use Only Recycled Plastic by 2024 source: Canadian Plastics

Global sportswear maker Adidas is promising to use only recycled polyester in all its shoes and

clothing by 2024.

Adidas uses virgin polyester in a wide range of its products, from t-shirts to running shoes, because the material is lightweight and dries quickly. Adid-as said its apparel line for the spring and summer of 2019 will contain approximately 40 per cent

recycled polyester.

Germany-based Adidas also said it would stop using virgin plastic in its offices, retail outlets, ware-houses and distribution centres, a move that it says would save an estimated 40 tons of plastic

per year, starting in 2018.

Adidas’s move comes as more brands embrace recycled materials, as an anti-plastics movement is sweeping across North America, the UK, and Europe. A&W Canada recently announced that it plans to eliminate straws from its stores, and Starbucks has announced a global phase-out of plastic straws. McDonald’s is trialing a similar program in the UK and Ireland. Ikea, meanwhile, is phasing out single use plastic from its stores

and restaurants.

PAGE 7 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

Abrupt Thaw of Permafrost Beneath Lakes Could Significantly Affect Climate Change Models source: ENN

Methane released by thawing permafrost from some Arctic lakes could significantly accelerate climate change, according to a new

University of Alaska Fairbanks-led study.

The study, which was published Aug. 15 in the journal Nature Com-munications, focuses on the carbon released by thawing permafrost beneath thermokarst lakes. Such lakes develop when warming soil melts ground ice, causing the surface to collapse and form pools of water. Those pools accelerate permafrost thaw beneath the expand-ing lakes, providing food for microbes that produce the greenhouse

gases carbon dioxide and methane.

Lead author Katey Walter Anthony and her colleagues studied hun-dreds of thermokarst lakes in Alaska and Siberia during a 12-year period, measuring their growth and how much methane was bub-bling to their surface. By combining field work results with remote-sensing data of lake changes during the past two years, they deter-mined the “abrupt thaw” beneath such lakes is likely to release large amounts of permafrost carbon into the atmosphere this century. The lake activity could potentially double the release from terrestrial land-

scapes by the 2050s.

The effort, conducted by a team of U.S. and German researchers, is part of a 10-year NASA-funded project to better understand climate change effects on the Arctic. Additional support by the National Sci-ence Foundation allowed scientists from UAF and the Alaska Divi-sion of Geological and Geophysical Surveys to collect data on per-mafrost location, thaw and associated greenhouse gas release from

lakes in Interior Alaska’s Goldstream Valley.

Read more at University of Alaska Fairbanks

Beyond simply piling up along the coast, discarded plastics that end up in the ocean could also be a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by a Canadian-led team of researchers from the

University of Hawaii.

The team, which is led by Quebec native Sarah-Jeanne Royer, has garnered international attention ever since their findings were published in the Ameri-can scientific journal Plot One in early

August.

In an interview, Royer said the re-searchers found that some types of common plastics emit greenhouse gases when they degrade, and that the phenomenon is intensified by sun

exposure.

“Aided by solar radiation, the plastic will degrade and become microplastic, and the more the plastic breaks down into smaller pieces, the more it will produce greenhouse gases,” the oceanographer told The Canadi-

an Press in a phone interview.

“If we look at the last 70 years, all the plastic

that has been produced is currently being degraded in the environment and producing greenhouse gases. So the longer we wait, the more (greenhouse gases) will increase

exponentially.”

Royer said the research is based on low-density polyethylene plastic that is found in

food packaging or storage bags, as well as the plastic rings that hold soft drinks or beer

cans.

Some 90 per cent of the debris discovered along the Hawaiian coast comes either from the fishing industry or from Asia, and washes

up on the Pacific island due to ocean cur-

rents, she said.

“In Asia, they no longer have places to put waste and an incredibly high number of gar-

bage will end up along the coast,” she said.

“Afterward, the high tide arrives and brings

all this waste to the ocean.”

The Quebec-born oceanographer, who was previously based in Brazil, said she left that country to join the Hawaii team in

2015 after it made its first discovery.

The work has drawn the attention of Cali-fornia Gov. Jerry Brown, who invited her to discuss her findings at the next global climate action summit in San Diego in September, which will include discussions

on ocean protection.

It also doesn’t appear to interest members of the plastic industry, who Royer says have

thus far refused to co-operate with her team.

TO READ FULL ARTICLE

New Study - Plastic Degrading in the Ocean Produces Greenhouse Gas s o u r c e : V a n c o u v e r S u n

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

Canadians generate a lot of waste. On average, every Canadian will gen-erate 720 kg (1,587 lbs.) of waste that goes to landfill, which is equal weight to a full grown female giraffe. Here are some easy take-action tips that will reduce our reliance on landfills and help you adopt more environmen-

tally conscious choices.

1/Buy what you need, eat what you buy, compost the rest

2/Extend the life of clothing

(donate / recycle)

3/ Repair and refurbish

4/Reuse coffee mugs and water bottles

5/Reusable bags

6/ Skip the straw

Wine Cork Pumpkin

Create your own fall decorations with your

saved wine corks.

Hot glue together the wine corks in the

shape of pumpkin.

Add leaves and sprigs for final touches.

You may also wish to paint the front

orange for more realistic touch.