Community Engagement Piece - Letter to the Editor (PSP)

Vancouver Observer: Letter to the Editor – Soft Plastics Recycling

Vancouver Greenest City 2020? Expand our recycling programs.

We all know the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. From an early age in Vancouver we are taught to put plastic bottles in the recycling bin and not in the garbage can. And yet, our ability to actually participate in such recycling programs when we enter the workplace, or the post secondary setting, or even  try to get involved at home, is limited by the availability and the accessibility of recycling programs and infrastructure for residents of this city. A huge part of being green, after all, is about convenience.

Currently, there are two types of recycling programs available for Vancouver city residents: the blue box recycling program and the apartment recycling program. Neither of these accepts plastic bags or plastic films which are also known as “soft plastics.” This is despite the fact that there are facilities which will recycle these products, such as West Coast Recycling located in Richmond.

Why not? Why are consumers who want to recycle these products required to hold onto them and then bring them to the available facilities, which are often out of the way? Is that feasible for the majority of Vancouver residents? Probably not.

What we need are available recycling programs for Vancouver city residents that are convenient. Until we create such programs, it is highly unlikely that the majority of Vancouver will keep, wash and drop off their soft plastics at depots completely out of their way. We should start by creating soft plastics recycling programs so families can get involved from their homes. From there, businesses and post-secondary institutions could get involved as well.

Is Vancouver going to be the greenest city by 2020? Only time will tell, but a good start is to make it more convenient for the people of this city to participate and get involved in reducing our foot print; start with our recycling programs.

Sincerely,

Jordan, Kristina and Nicole