The BC Government is currently seeking feedback on new policy opportunities and proposed Recycling Regulation amendments to address plastic waste (see July 25, 2019 Media Release). (Go directly to survey…)
Bans on Single-Use Packaging:
Determining which types of plastic packaging to phase out altogether, as well as any necessary exemptions, such as those for health, safety and accessibility to keep products available
for the people that need them.
Dramatically Reduce Single-Use Plastics in Landfills and Waterways: Requiring producers to take responsibility for more plastic products, ensuring more single-use items like sandwich bags, straws and cutlery get recycled.
Plastic Bottle and Beverage Container Returns: Expanding the deposit-refund system to cover all beverage containers – including milk and milk-substitutes – with a 10-cent refundable deposit, keeping millions more containers out of landfills and waterways.
Reducing Plastics Overall: Supporting effective ways to prevent plastic waste in the first place and ensuring recycled plastic is re-used effectively
One of the intentions is to create programs that cover many different types of single-use plastic that may not be covered in a future federal plastics ban. It is also a response to the recent BC Supreme Court ruling against the plastic bag ban brought in by the City of Victoria: “The Province is currently reviewing all aspects of the decision and recognizes that local governments need clarity on what their authorities are and the process for acting on those authorities…”
BC also wants to work with the federal government to develop “national recycled content standards to ensure that…any new plastics and packaging produced contain recycled plastic.” This is good news and would provide both a market and a demand for recycled plastic.
Recently we have heard from concerned residents about news stories they are hearing about recycling going through a crisis – here are a couple of examples:
While this may unfortunately be true for other municipalities in North America, it is NOT the case in British Columbia, and definitely not the case in Maple Ridge.
British Columbia is a leader in the recycling industry. Our stewardship programs, regulated and reviewed by the provincial government, are designed to be 100% funded by the manufacturers and retailers of the products themselves. Almost all items we accept at the Maple Ridge Recycling Depotare part of these programs, also known as Extended Producer Responsibilityprograms, or EPR.
Recycle BC is the not-for-profit organization responsible for residential packaging and paper product recycling throughout British Columbia. They address the China ban and what happens to collected recycling on their website.
There are two big reasons why we are largely unaffected by the shifts shutting down recycling programs in other parts of the continent:
1. BC has a local plastic processing plant – Merlin Plastics, located on Annacis Island
2. Recycle BC supports multi-stream recycling, which results in a cleaner product, that is more valuable to processors and easier to market. They also require their collectors to keep contamination levels below 3%.
While this industrial shift is a major setback to many recycling programs around the world, what will hopefully emerge is a better understanding of how the recycling industry works, the development of local markets and local jobs in the green sector, and more people taking responsibility for the waste they produce.
Also in this newsletter…
Our next Repair Cafe is part of the City of Maple Ridge’s inaugural Car Free Day event on Sunday, June 16. Learn more about this NEW event and bring your broken stuff to theRepair Cafe from 12-4pm in front of the ACT Arts Centre – next to the Electric Vehicle display!
Meet our Summer Students! Thanks to the federal Canada Summer Jobs program, we have two Community Education & Special Event Assistants joining us for the summer!
A local “Green Drinks” initiative is launching on Wednesday, May 29!
On Saturday, February 9, Ridge Meadows Recycling Society is launching their second year of Repair Cafés at the Maple Ridge Library from 11am – 2pm with funding provided by Vancity’s enviroFund grant.
Repair Cafés are pop-up events where residents can bring their broken items (small appliances, jewelry, clothing, small toys or furniture, etc.) and there are tools, materials, and volunteer expert “fixers” available to help residents learn to repair their stuff!
“Last year’s Repair Cafés were a huge success,” says Leanne Koehn, Community Engagement for Ridge Meadows Recycling Society and Coordinator of the Repair Cafés, “We introduced the concept of Repair Cafés to our community, gathered a strong group of talented volunteer ‘fixers,’ and kept many, many items out of the landfill! We are now able to help people from other areas who want to start up their own Repair Cafés!”
In 2018, the group held 8 Repair Cafés in 6 different venues, partnering with the Maple Ridge Library, the Ridge Meadows Seniors’ Society, the Celebrate Earth Day festival, the Haney Farmers Market, and GETI Fest. The Cafés were initiated in large part with funding from the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors program, donations from Haney Builders, and media sponsorship from the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows NEWS.
The goals of Maple Ridge Repair Cafes are to:
Bring back repair into local society in a modern way
Maintain repair expertise and share and pass on valuable knowledge and skills that have been learned over lifetimes, building individual and community capacity
Promote social cohesion in the local community by connecting neighbours
Repair and reuse items that would’ve ended up in the landfill
Encourage people to value and appreciate their possessions
So far, the community has brought 400 items to be fixed by Maple Ridge Repair Café’s 50 volunteers, including 39 lamps, 20 clocks, 17 pairs of pants, 8 bracelets, 5 toasters, 3 stools, and a ceramic chicken!
Get Involved!
Know someone who has repair skills, wants to learn them, or just wants to help out? Send them to the online form at www.mrrepaircafe.ca or email mrrepaircafe@gmail.com to volunteer as a “Fixer” or a “Helper” and become a Repair Café hero!
While SOFT & HARD plastic can still go into your RED Recycling Box curbside, there is an in-between category that until now has had to go in the garbage.
NOT ANYMORE!! Save up your FLEXIBLE PLASTIC PACKAGING and bring it to the Recycling Depot! (Note: this new category is NOT accepted in your curbside recycling program)
Items included in this new category include:
Plastic Stand-Up Pouches & Bags, Zipper-Locked Plastic Pouches & Bags, Crinkly Plastic Bags & Wrappers, Cellophane, Net & Woven Plastic Bags, Plastic Wrappers (non-stretchy), and non-food protective plastic packaging. See photo above for examples!
NOT included in this program are paper-lined plastic or plastic-lined paper, plastic squeeze tubes, plastic strapping, or PVC/Vinyl.
Ridge Meadows Recycling Society’s Position Statement on the Reduction of Single-Use Plastic Items
Single use disposable plastic items including take out containers such as cups, plates, bowls, forks, spoons, knives, plastic straws and stirrers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles pose a serious environmental problem around the world.
These items are used once and are often discarded in our streets and parks. Plastic items do not go away, they simply break down into increasingly smaller pieces.
Plastics fragments can release toxic chemicals into the environment and can be a serious health risk for humans and animals.
It is time for all of us, including both residents and businesses in Maple Ridge, to get serious about reducing the consumption of single use disposable plastic items.
REDUCE – Choose to avoid single use items. “Just say NO to plastic straws.” Support regional strategies and/or bans on single use items.
REUSE – Choose to bring your own coffee cup or shopping bag. “Just say NO to plastic grocery bags and disposable cups.”
RETHINK – Choose the environment and our future over convenience.
Worldwide attention
Lately, there has been a lot of focus on single-use plastic issues in the media. It’s encouraging that people are becoming more aware about this issue and taking action.
Did you know every piece of plastic ever created still exists on our planet today? This is because plastic never goes away, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
There are a number of issues with having this much plastic in our environment:
1. It never goes away.
2. It absorbs chemicals. This means recycled plastic cannot be made into food-grade containers and absorbed chemicals in non-recycled plastic may be released into the environment or any animal that ingests it.
3. Animals of all sizes mistake pieces of plastic as food, both on land and in the water.
4. Chemicals absorbed by animals affect their endocrine (hormonal) systems and can be passed to their offspring or passed along the food chain if they are eaten by a larger animal.
But look around you – how many other plastic items do you see that don’t fit into the “packaging” category and are not recyclable? What could you use as an alternative? How much plastic do you come in contact with each day?
Plastic Free July
Annually, our summer students take on the Plastic Free July Challenge, where they attempt to go a whole month without using any single-use plastic. Any plastic they are unable to avoid goes into their “dilemma bag” which they unpack and reflect on during a Facebook Livestream session at the end of the month. Check out their Ridge Meadows Plastic Free July Facebook Group!
Movie Screenings
Ridge Meadows Recycling also has local screening rights to some great movies about this issue:
The Clean Bin Project: “Is it possible to live completely waste free? In this multi-award winning, festival favourite, partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least garbage Their light-hearted competition is set against a darker examination of the problem waste. Even as Grant and Jen start to garner interest in their project, they struggle to find meaning in their minuscule influence on the large-scale environmental impacts of our ‘throw-away society’. Described as An Inconvenient Truth meets Super Size Me, The Clean Bin Project features laugh out loud moments, stop motion animations, and unforgettable imagery. Captivating interviews with renowned artist, Chris Jordan and TED Lecturer Captain Charles Moore, make this film a fun and inspiring call to individual action that speaks to crowds of all ages.”
A Plastic Ocean: “In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre our researchers found more plastic than plankton. A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.” Filmed in multiple locations around the world, “A Plastic Ocean” fearlessly tackles one of the largest and most wide-spread problems in our modern world.
Email leanne@rmrecycling.org if you are interested in setting up screenings for your school, office, or community group. We also recommend “The Lorax” to introduce the topic to younger audiences.
Take Action!
There are also a number of easy ways for YOU to start reducing your use of single-use plastic TODAY. Check out these tips & ideas:
Thank you for choosing the environment over convenience!
In this newsletter, a reminder of the designated Canada Day stat holiday on MONDAY JULY 2 – NO RECYCLING PICKUP, an invitation to join us for a public tour of the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot, our summer students prep for Plastic Free July, and an introduction to a NEW category of items accepted at the Recycling Depot – “Other Flexible Plastic Packaging”…
All gently used CLOTHING & HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES are accepted in the program.
Note: Moldy, paint-stained or oil-covered clothes, as well as old items you have already used as rags cannot be re-used or recycled and should be placed in your garbage bin for disposal.
Wondering what happens to the textiles we collect?
“Although we strive to recycle 100% of the textiles we receive, unfortunately the relevant technology isn’t at a point where high quality fabrics can be made from re-spinning heavily used textiles.
Currently, whatever can’t be recycled or re-spun into textiles, wipers, insulation, carpets or other usable products, we have to pay to throw away. But, we never dump abroad. That’s completely unethical and unsustainable.
We understand the frustration with the ineffective current recycling systems are, but we encourage transparency, communication, and understanding at all levels to help build a path forward to a circular textile economy and reduce the textiles and fashion industry’s carbon footprint and water usage on Earth.”
One of the intentions is to create programs that cover many different types of single-use plastic that may not be covered in a future federal plastics ban. It is also a response to the recent BC Supreme Court ruling against the plastic bag ban brought in by the City of Victoria: “The Province is currently reviewing all aspects of the decision and recognizes that local governments need clarity on what their authorities are and the process for acting on those authorities…”
“Is Canada’s recycling industry broken?”
Global News (finally) addressed how we are different (and mainly unaffected by recent changes) in a subsequent portions of their coverage – 
“Last year’s Repair Cafés were a huge success,” says Leanne Koehn, Community Engagement for Ridge Meadows Recycling Society and Coordinator of the Repair Cafés, “We introduced the concept of Repair Cafés to our community, gathered a strong group of talented volunteer ‘fixers,’ and kept many, many items out of the landfill! We are now able to help people from other areas who want to start up their own Repair Cafés!”
In 2018, the group held 8 Repair Cafés in 6 different venues, partnering with the Maple Ridge Library, the Ridge Meadows Seniors’ Society, the Celebrate Earth Day festival, the Haney Farmers Market, and GETI Fest. The Cafés were initiated in large part with funding from the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors program, donations from Haney Builders, and media sponsorship from the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows NEWS.
So far, the community has brought 400 items to be fixed by Maple Ridge Repair Café’s 50 volunteers, including 39 lamps, 20 clocks, 17 pairs of pants, 8 bracelets, 5 toasters, 3 stools, and a ceramic chicken!
To learn more, visit 
Single use disposable plastic items including take out containers such as cups, plates, bowls, forks, spoons, knives, plastic straws and stirrers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles pose a serious environmental problem around the world.
