If one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, where does that leave problematic recyclables?
That’s a question the City of Langley hopes to help the province answer by participating in a three-month pilot project to help keep plastic bags and Styrofoam out of landfills.
Working in conjunction with Emterra Environmental and CKF — a local producer of foam packaging — the City has been selected to help test a new curbside collection system which will lay the groundwork for recycling procedures across the province.
For three months, beginning on Feb. 7 and continuing until April 27, a total of 800 households in Langley City will be asked to include all plastic bags, and plastic overwrap (used to wrap paper towel, toilet paper and cases of beverages) as well as foam packaging, such as takeout food containers, egg cartons and supermarket meat trays, in their curbside recycling.
Currently, these materials can be dropped off for recycling at select locations, but by May, 2014, a program for recycling the plastics and foam will be mandatory throughout B.C., and a proposal to accomplish that must be submitted to the Ministry of Environment by Nov. 19 of this year.
That means the pressure is on to find a cost-effective way to collect and transport the lightweight materials, said Craig Foster, an environmental consultant for the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, who is working on the project, titled Blue +2.
“All eyes will be on Langley City,” he said.
“We’ve got everybody looking at how we’re going to do it.”
The City of Langley was chosen, said Foster, because it is “a really unique situation. Everything that is needed (CKF, Emterra and a co-operative City council) is here in a nice, tight package.”
Beginning next month, starter kits will be dropped off at the 800 test homes. They will include instructions about what to include and how to separate it, as well as a supply of clear bags.
“If you don’t get a door hanger and an info package, you’re not part of the test,” said Foster.
The hope is that people who are included in the test will participate fully, and those who are not, won’t try to be.
“We don’t want to have people running across the street, bringing their materials to (homes) that are in the test. We need accurate numbers,” said Foster.
Emterra Environmental will collect the bagged materials from the selected single family dwellings, which will be broken into eight blocks of 100 houses each. During the pilot, the recycling company will have extra people available to answer questions by phone, said general manager Nevil Davies.
There will be no limit to the number of bags Emterra will collect each week, he added.
Once the three-month test is complete, collection procedures will return to normal.
“By 2014, this test will have demonstrated that there are options available. There needs to be something better than what we’ve got,” said Foster.
“When you open your cupboard in May, 2014, theoretically, every package in their will have a home (in the recycling bin).”
The technology already exists to recycle both the light plastics and foam for re-manufacturing. As part of the pilot, the collected materials will be shipped to a plant in Richmond, where they will be reduced to pellet form. Plastics will find new life as foundation drains and black plastic garbage bags, while foam can be made into wood-look picture frames and architectural moldings.
Rick Everest, plant manager for CKF, which is representing CPIA in support of the project, recalled a similar situation in the 1980s, when tin cans were first designated for blue box recycling.
At the time, he said, many people were doubtful it could be done in a cost-effective way. Of course, that turned out to be an economically sound venture, Everest noted.
CKF will not be able to make use of recycled Styrofoam, as it manufactures food containers. No recycled materials can be used in the manufacture of food containers.
“Education is the biggest hurdle, but people will do it.”