REAPS REPORT

REAPS News Web Pick Book of the Month Rain Barrels Thank You Green Thumbs Wanted Tea & Chat

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Local News

Vegetable Seed Production Wetlandkeepers Workshop KidzArt Dayz

3

Around BC

Four Years RecycleBC Vancouver Votes to Ban

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Around Canada How Careless Recycling Cost Canada: G7

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Around the World

Ocean Plastic Recycled Fibre Bottle China Roundup

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Technology: Coffee Cups Global Warming - microplastic

7

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

JULY

1 Happy Canada Day in the Park

6 & 7 BMO Kidzart Dayz

10 Intro to Seed Production

11 Intermediate Seed Production

11 SummerBash CNC

14 WaterWise @ REAPS

14 Recycling 101 @ REAPS

15 Downtown Summerfest

18 - 22 Go For Green @ REAPS

20 Wetlandkeepers Workshop

AUGUST

1 Senior’s Tea in the Park

1 Composting 101 @ REAPS

1 Vermicomposting 101 @ REAPS

11 WaterWise @ REAPS

16 - 19 BCNE

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

JULY 2018

PAGE 2 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

REAPS NEWS Web Pick of the Month Book of the Month

http://www.worldwatch.org

Worldwatch Institute, a global environmental organiza-tion, share ideas on how to GO GREEN and SAVE GREEN at home and at work.

Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit

and How You Can Too by Beth Terry

In her quirky and humorous style—well known to the readers of her popular blog, My Plastic-Free Life—Terry provides personal anecdotes, stats about the environmental and health problems relat-ed to plastic, and personal solutions and tips on

how to limit your plastic footprint.

REAPS and the City of Prince George partnered over a decade ago to provide RAIN BARRELS for residents

at cost - $75.

Rain barrels are containers connected to your down-spouts to collect runoff from your roof. The current

model we sell is 50 gallons.

Rainwater collected in a rain barrel can be used for many activities, including watering plants (gardens,

lawn) and washing your car.

Rainwater is better for your plants and soil. Rainwater is highly oxygenated, free of the salts, inorganic ions, and fluoride compounds contained in tap water that accumulate in the soil over time and po-tentially harm plant roots. Use of rainwater in your gar-den dilutes this impact, making plants more drought-

tolerant, healthy, and strong.

Thank You Students and Teachers

Our school programs came to close with the salmon being re-

leased and our worms returning home.

This school year we visited 209 classrooms and 4694 stu-

dents!

We enjoyed the opportunity to come into the classroom or have students visit us. We learned together about our natural environment with emphasis on the im-portance of being a steward for our earth. Composting, recycling, gardening, pro-tection are all incorporated into the

presentations allowing students to glean what interests them.

Tea and Chat

Join us in a cup tea to brainstorm Prince George community initiatives to encourage and support businesses and individuals to embrace environmental practices (such as reducing needless packaging, take your own bag/mug). Third Wednesday of each month. Next mtg. July 18th @ 7 p.m. at REAPS

1950 Gorse Street.

Green Thumbs Wanted

Gardening can increase life satisfaction, and both reduce and promote recovery from stress. ... Gardening also provides essen-tial opportunities for contact with nature, which alone has numer-

ous benefits for our mental health.

Our Compost Demo Garden is in need of volunteer(s) to come weed, divide plants and dead head flowers a few times a month. If you wish to take advantage of some mental health benefits drop

in or give us a call to volunteer.

Rain Barrels

PAGE 3 HOTLINE 250-561-7327 REAPS REPORT

LOCAL NEWS

Intro to Seed Production July 10th, 1:00 – 5:00 pm at UNBC classroom This beginner level class on seed saving provides an introduc-tion to or refresher on the basics of botany, plant reproduction and genetics that successful seed savers need to know. The focus will be on crops that are well suited for seed production in northern climates and techniques to maximize seed produc-tion in short-season areas. This workshop can be taken on its own or as a prerequisite for the intermediate/advanced class on July 11th. Cost $10.00 with light snacks included.

Intermediate Seed Production for Regional Adaptation July 11th, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at UNBC classroom and 1:00 – 5:00 pm at Hope Farm Organics This intermediate level class will help participants advance from seed savers to skilled seed growers able to select for de-sired plant characteristics that enable adapta-tion to northern growing conditions. Learn how to use mass selection to steward and improve open pollinated vegetable varieties. The class will also be introduced to seed business plan-ning tools that will help growers understand the economics of seed production and opportunities for commercial growing. In the afternoon join Andrew Adams at Hope Farm Organics to take a first-hand look at how the selection process can work in the field and learn about the seed crops grown and regional

adaptation work Andrew has been doing on his farm just north of Prince George. Coffee and bagged lunch included. Transport to the farm site available. Cost $20.00 or $25.00 for

both workshops.

Course instructor: Patrick Steiner has been growing organic seeds for close to two decades, and operating his own seed company Stellar Seeds, for the past seventeen years. He farms in the mountainous West Kootenays in British Columbia, where he balances the work of producing seeds and running a seed business with equally important work in local food securi-ty issues.

For more information

To register

Vegetable Seed Production in the North: Intro & Advanced Workshops

Friday July 20 to Sunday July 22, Wetlandkeepers Work-shop, Mackenzie BC

Join the BC Wildlife Federation over 2.5 days for a special Wet-landkeepers Workshop July 20 – 22 in Mackenzie. This hands-on workshop will teach participants wetland classification and plant ID, amongst other topics. By special request, this workshop will also introduce wetland restoration techniques as well as feature guest speaker Mark Thompson of DWB consulting, who will teach participants about the region's amphibians. Great for First Nation members, NGO groups, government staff, or conservation enthu-siasts. This workshop is free due to the financial support of our funders: Wildlife Habitat Canada and The Fish and Wildlife Com-

pensation Program.

More info and registration: https://WKMackenzie.Eventbrite.ca

PAGE 4 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND BC

Four Years after Launch Recycle BC Close to Covering all Corners of BC source: News 1130

Vancouver Votes to Ban Plastic Straws, Foam Cups, and Containers by June 2019 source: CBC News

As a province-wide recycling program marks its fourth anniversary, it’s close to getting all munici-

palities on board.

Four more regions are set to sign on to Recycle BC, formally known as Multi Materials BC, before

the end of the year.

For the first three years, the non-profit organiza-tion that was officially launched May 19, 2014, had problems collecting fees from some compa-nies – the biggest offenders being newspaper

companies.

The program collects the fee based on how much packaging is generated by the company. It’s 11 cents a kilogram for newsprint and mixed paper. It’s a dollar a kilo for things like flexible

packaging and plastic pouches.

That money is then used by Recycle BC to collect, sort and sell the recycla-bles for the cities that have signed on

to the program.

The non-compliance of the companies

meant the program couldn’t be expanded.

But last year that changed, when News Media Canada was formed, to represent several inde-pendent newspapers and five major publishers in BC, including Glacier Media, Black Press, Postmedia, the Globe and Mail and Sing Tao

Newspapers.

Together, they offer in-kind advertising to the government, while the government pays the fees

to Recycle BC.

Now, the program can be offered to the munici-

palities which have been waiting in the wings.

“The next one up is the Township of Langley, which we are hoping to add this summer. For the final part of the year, we’re looking at the Thomp-son-Nicola Regional District, the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District and the East Koote-

nay Regional District.”

Though the City of Delta has not signed on, Langdon says the program now reaches almost

all the province.

“When you talk about areas that have curb-side service, we are well over 90 per cent in terms of households around the province. I think at this point we have about 1.35 million curbside and

multi-family households.”

He maintains the big bonus for municipalities to belong to Recycle BC is removing the burden from them to collect and then process the materi-

als.

For example, China is no longer taking paper from North America. Langdon says many munici-palities across the continent are now having to

throw paper in landfills, whereas in BC, Recycle BC takes on that prob-

lem on behalf of the member cities.

Vancouver has voted to ban the distribution of plastic straws as well as foam take-out containers and cups as part of its zero-waste strat-

egy. The ban will be introduced on June 1, 2019.

The move is part of the city’s Zero Waste 2040 strategy, which was

approved by councillors in a vote on May 16, 2018.

Council also approved a new, flexible bylaw to reduce the amount of disposable cups, as well as plastic and paper shopping bags

handed out across the city.

Under the bylaw, a statement said, businesses must choose one of

the following options:

No distribution of disposable cups or plastic / paper shopping

bags at all.

Charging an extra fee for disposable cups or plastic / paper

shopping bags.

Other solutions that will be proposed and finalized through con-

sultation.

A statement said the city will bring in an outright distribution ban on single-use bags and cups if the reduction plans don’t lead to the city

reaching its target reduction rate by 2021.

The city said it plans to invest in education to support small businesses “as they transition to using more sustainable packaging

materials.”

A statement said 2.6 million plastic-lined paper cups and two million plastic bags are thrown in the garbage in Vancouver

every week.

PAGE 5 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND CANADA

The federal government advocated for a “plastics charter” at June’s G7 summit in Quebec. Many are framing this charter as a potential Paris-style agreement for the clean-up of ocean garbage and Canadians can rightly take pride in this global leader-ship.

The plastics charter couldn’t be more time-ly or necessary. Every year, humans allow more than eight million tonnes of plastic to enter the world’s oceans. At this pace, there will be one pound of plastic for every three pounds of fish in the oceans by 2025. Already, microplastics are entering the food chain through ocean organisms at an alarming rate that will only accelerate without urgent, determined and co-ordinated action by governments, busi-nesses and consumers.

Keeping plastics out of our oceans is not only right for the environment and the fu-ture of our species, it’s also good for busi-ness. Plastics are an important material with rapidly expanding uses, but 95 per cent of global plastic packaging ends up as

waste and is lost to the economy, creating costs and lost opportunity.

The plastics charter will be an important step toward achieving a circular economy

– one in which all plastics are recaptured as a reliable stream of resources to be properly repurposed. The elegant beauty behind a circular economy is that it’s an economy without a tailpipe. Nothing gets dumped into the ground, emitted into the atmosphere or shunted into our oceans and waterways. Waste is designed out of

the system.

Another essential element of a circular economy is extended producer responsibil-ity (EPR), which places the financial and operational responsibility for material recovery on the businesses that sell prod-ucts to consumers. It creates a natural incentive to design products and packag-ing that have less impact on the environ-ment. And, when accompanied by the op-eration of more efficient material-recovery systems, it can create the economies of scale necessary to support a circular economy.

In Canada, true EPR for packaging and paper is only in effect in British Columbia. Across the rest of the country, we have a patchwork of regulations and collection regimes. Four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) regulate businesses with shared responsibility pro-grams in which businesses pay either a portion or all of municipal recovery and recycling costs.

TO READ MORE

Canada: G7 Plastics Charter source: Globe & Mail Article By: JOHN COYNE

How Careless Recycling is Costing Canadian Cities Millions source: CTV News

Many urban-dwelling Canadians are confused and at times, downright lazy, when it comes to what gets tossed in blue bins, according to a civil servant who oversees recycling in the nation’s largest city.

It’s a problem that threatens to cost municipali-ties millions of dollars as more garbage gets

mixed in with what is meant to be salvaged.

In Toronto, about 25 per cent of all material placed in blue boxes in 2017 was non-recyclable, according to a report submitted to city council’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee. That number is projected to rise to 27 per cent in 2018.

More online shopping, delivered meals, even the rise of digital news is changing the main-stays of what makes up recycling, City of To-ronto General Manager of Solid Waste Man-agement Services Jim McKay stated. Today’s bins are full of black plastic food containers, cardboard, coffee cups and pods, and stand-up re-sealable freezer bags. Newspaper, glass, tin and aluminum used to be the norm.

McKay said new problem items are finding their way into blue bins when they shouldn’t.

“People think they are doing the right thing by putting it in the bin, and it’s actually contamina-tion,” he said.

While most people pay little mind to what hap-pens after the truck picks up their recyclables. In Toronto, the reality is big business and reve-nues are increasingly in jeopardy.

The report to Toronto’s public works commit-tee notes an additional $4 million in processing fees will be paid to Canada Fibers Ltd. under the current agreement, should the contamina-tion rate surpass 27 per cent in 2018.

“This concept of extended producer responsi-bility is becoming very important,” McKay said, pointing to urban centres throughout British Columbia. Contamination rates are as low as 3.6 per cent in West Vancouver, for example.

PAGE 6 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

AROUND THE WORLD

Many groups and organizations made an-nouncements for World Oceans Day, which was observed Friday, June 8. The following is a roundup of some of the key details that have come out of statements and reports in

the runup to the celebration.

G7 charter addresses plastics: Leaders of the Group of 7 countries met in Canada last week, and ocean plastics pollution was among their topics of discussion. Five coun-tries in the group (Canada, France, Germa-ny, Italy and the U.K.) signed an Ocean Plas-

tics Charter, pledging to “move toward a more resource-efficient and sustainable ap-

proach to the management of plastics.”

The countries pledged support for a range of actions, such as policy measures, incentives or requirements for product stewardship, design for recyclability and recycled content. The charter also includes a number of specif-

ic goals with target dates, including:

100 percent reusable, recyclable or re-

coverable plastics by 2030

50 percent recycled content in plastic

products by 2030

55 percent recycling and reuse of all

plastic packaging by 2030

100 percent recovery of all plastics by

2040

Leaders from the U.S. and Japan declined to

sign the charter.

TO READ MORE

Ocean Plastics in Focus: G7 Charter, Product Bans source: Plastic Recycling

China Roundup: CCIC Update, Inspection and More source: Plastic Recycling

Many developments related to the Chinese recycling import market have taken place in recent weeks. The following is a look at key

updates.

CCIC’s U.S. suspension ends

Inspections by the North American branch of China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) resumed June 4. The organization provides pre-shipment inspections for com-panies that export all types of scrap material to China. Virtually all loads of recyclables that travel from the U.S. to China must ob-tain pre-shipment approvals, and CCIC is the only organization that has been allowed

to conduct them.

The Chinese government suspended CCIC’s ability to inspect and certify shipments for

one month beginning May 4, putting a virtual freeze on recovered material shipments from the U.S. to China. However, two weeks into the suspension Chinese authori-ties announced they’d allow the Canadian CCIC office to conduct inspections on U.S.

loads.

Some industry insiders have downplayed the importance of the CCIC suspension and reinstatement in the saga of the Chinese import restrictions. For example, paper ex-pert Tedd Powers commented during a re-cent webinar that even with CCIC able to inspect loads, the overarching material ban on mixed paper and other materials remains in place, and the tightened contamination

requirements are active.

CCIC inspections resuming “does not mean

that exports now are going to flow freely from the United States; they didn’t lift the ban, they didn’t change any of their regula-tions,” Powers said. “So I don’t think that action in and of itself really is going to have

much of an impact going forward.”

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries also noted that “a CCIC pre-shipment in-spection certificate is not a guarantee that materials will be cleared at the port of arri-

val.”

Additionally, the Chinese government on May 29 issued its latest round of import

permits, but none of them applied to plastics.

TO READ MORE

Recycled-fiber Bottle Maker to Expand Production source: Resource Recycling

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) ap-proved a low-interest loan for $1 M for Man-teca, Calif.-based Ecologic Brands, a small manufacturer boost its production of recy-

cled-fiber-content bottles.

The company’s eco.bottle is made up of a 100 percent recycled fiber shell with a plastic

inner lining. The fiber comes from OCC and ONP. The monolayer plastic lining can also

use recycled content.

The bottle is used to package personal care, food and beverage, pet care and home

cleaning products.

“The expansion will provide the business with

greater capacity to

process cardboard and

waste paper that is

destined for a landfill,”

according to a CalRecycle

memo.

PAGE 7 REAPS REPORT HOTLINE 250-561-7327

Technology Allows for Wider Coffee Cup Recycling source:Pulp & Paper Canada

Water-based polymers are allowing disposable paper cups a chance to be recycled and not bog down landfill sites. BASF has developed a technology that doesn't interfere with the paper repulping process and allows cups to be sorted with regular paper. Contrary to what many consumers believe, coffee cups are not wide-ly recyclable in North America. Paper cups have two basic parts—paper and polyethylene. Comprising only per cent of the whole con-tainer, the polyethylene liner is what forms the liquid barrier that keeps heat in and prevents the cup from getting soggy, but it's also a contaminant in the paper waste stream. Most contaminants can be removed, and paper mills can easily filter out unwanted substances like dirt, dyes and other residue during the repulping process. What makes the plastic liner different from other contaminants is that it breaks up into large flakes that pass through coarse pulping screens and clog the fine screens. The filter clogs are so disruptive to the equipment that most paper mills send the cups to the landfill automatically. "What we can take from this is that people still want paper cups, so the solution can't venture too far outside the box," Katherine Grisson, industry marketing manager for printing, packaging and adhesives, BASF, said. "Designers are up against tight parameters: paper cups have to be recyclable, but they also have to be affordable, and work

within existing infrastructure, and meet performance standards." It has been difficult for the industry to find the ideal cup. Polylactic acid (PLA) liners are made from plant-based resins that can be com-posted, but they are more expensive, and most retail locations aren't equipped to compost. Another strategy uses the same PE liner, but applies it differently by lightly gluing it onto the fibre instead of extruding it. The idea, howev-er, assumes that MRFs have the equipment to process the cups correctly. If they don't, it is functionally the same as trying to recycle existing cups on the market. The water-based polymer solution is practical. "It's a practical alternative for formulators and converters, because they don't need any additional equipment," Grisson said. "It's applied during the converting process at a comparable cost-in-use pricing. They can use their existing gravure printing or rod coating process-es. It also eliminates the extrusion or liner gluing step required for polyethylene coated cups."

Huge amounts of microplastics trapped within Arctic sea ice will be released into the world’s oceans with global warming, researchers have

warned.

The Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany found 12,000 microplastic particles per litre of ice when it surveyed five regions in the Arctic

Ocean.

Analysis of ocean currents showed much of the debris had flowed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world, which lies between

California and Hawaii.

British experts said it showed that the garbage

patch was “literally the tip of the iceberg”.

Dr Ilka Peeken, biologist and first author of a study published in the journal Nature Communi-cations, said: “More than half of the microplastic particles trapped in the ice were less than a twen-tieth of a millimetre wide, which means they could easily be ingested by Arctic microorganisms. No one can say for certain how harmful these tiny

plastic particles are for marine life, or ultimately

for human beings.”

The movement of sea ice in the Arctic means much of the waste is eventually transported to waters off the north east coast of Greenland. British experts said the amount of microplastics in the oceans will only increase as sea ice melts

because of climate change.

Prof Ton van den Bremer, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, said: “The study ties together two global

environmental problems: plastic pollution of the ocean and climate change, as the melting of the arctic ice cap will lead to the release of large

additional quantities of micro-plastic.”

The researchers found particularly high concen-trations of polyethylene particles, used mainly in packaging, which most likely came from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, brought through the Ber-ing Strait and into the Arctic Ocean by the Pacific

inflow.

They also discovered paint particles from ships and nylon waste from discarded fishing nets in the seas off Siberia. Cellulose acetate, primarily used for cigarette filters, was also found in high

quantities.

Dr Jeremy Wilkinson, sea ice physicist at the British Antarctic Survey, added: “Sea ice grows vertically downwards, thus it was incorporating microplastic particles as it grew. It suggests mi-croplastics are now ubiquitous within the surface waters of the world’s ocean. Nowhere is im-

mune.”

Global Warming Means Trapped Microplastics Will Be Released from Arctic Sea Ice 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

TOP 5 REASONS TO HAVE A RAIN BARREL

1. You’ll cut back on water usage for your

lawn and garden

2. Rain water is actually better for your

plants

3. You can help minimize direct runoff

4. You’ll help create healthier drinking

water and natural waterways

5. You can actually

collect tons of water

Whimsical Garden Ornaments

1/ collect bottle caps

2/ cut out design on a plastic sign, piece of wood, old boat

mat

3/ arrange caps on design

and fasten in place

4/ add to garden