One more item destined for the recycling stream instead of a landfill can only be a good thing.
So the City of Langley is to be commended for its decision to take part in a pilot project, called Blue + 2, designed to remove styrofoam and plastic bags and overwrap from the waste stream.
Working with Emterra, a local recycling company, and the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, the City has asked that anyone who is selected do their best to participate fully in the experiment so that the results will accurately reflect how much of these materials can be kept out of dumps.
It’s not like any of the players is doing this strictly out of the goodness of their hearts. Just over two years from now, in May, 2014, it will be the law.
It also has to make sense financially — these are businesses, after all. And figuring out how to make it work with some sort of return is the challenge.
Collecting light plastics and foam is entirely unlike tossing a box of metal cans or hard plastic containers into the back of a truck, where they can mix together and later be easily separated. The difficulty with both foam and softer plastics is that they break and tear and intermingle with other matrials, making them useless from a recycling standpoint.
By now, most of the 800 participating homes, set out in blocks throughout the City, should have received packages informing them that they are part of the pilot and explaining what steps they are being asked to take.
From Feb. 7 to April 27, simply keep the two materials separate from one another and from the rest of the households’ recycling and drop it at the curb for pickup in the clear bags provided.
Easy enough, but the people running the pilot are well aware that even that little extra bit of effort will be too much for some. They know they can’t force residents to participate and that will be taken into account.
But equally important, they say, is that people who aren’t included in the pilot don’t try to be. In other words, don’t smuggle your foam meat trays and paper towel wrappers across the street to the neighbour’s bags.
Perhaps the hardest part will come at the end of April. Once the pilot is finished, everything will return to its current state, meaning participants will either resume tossing plastic and foam in the trash or (hopefully) make the extra effort to find the appropriate recycling depots. As anyone knows who has spent a Saturday driving all over town with a trunk full of leftover paint and dead batteries, it ain’t always easy. But it is worth it.
Go to metrovancouverrecycles.org for a list of what gets recycled where.