Why not resource recovery and recycling with Binners?~ A panel discussion and exhibition on inclusive waste management ~

~ An event as part of Waste Reduction Week in Canada, October 19th 2006 ~

Hosted by

the Community-based Research Laboratory, University of Victoria

Sponsored by

the Department of Geography

We would like to dedicate this event to the binners (informal recyclers), to improve their livelihood strategy by making solid waste management policies inclusive and by generating awareness in our

community about the benefits from strong partnerships between consumers and binners.

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thOctober 19 isWASTE REDUCTION DAY at UVICMichele Pujol Room, SUB 10 am - 3 pm

Clearihue Building, A 127 3 pm - 5 pmTopic: Why not resource recovery & recycling with Binners?

with members of local government, NGO's and representatives from Vancouver's Binning community

Exhibitions & Film Screenings

Open Panel Discussion

Organized by the Community-based Research Lab Support from the Department of Geography, UVicPictures of community recycling in the Gulf Islands

Jason and Emma interview Beetlejuice, a local binner. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Panel participants discuss opportunities for inclusive Waste Management. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Waste Reduction Exhibition

We would like to thank the following exhibition participants for their contribution:

reFUSE

Founder: Jason Adams

reFUSE’s major focus is on recovering and recycling organic discards from grocers, hotels, restaurants, insti-tutions and private households from Victoria through Nanaimo. Website Link: www.refuse.ca

Compost Education Center

Volunteers: Beverly, Ilex and Francine

The compost education center provides public education pro-

grams in the areas of composting, organic gardening and con-

servation. Website link: www.compost.bc.ca

Breakdown Recycling

Representative: James

Breakdown Recycling recycles computers, keyboards, mice, moni-

tors, printers, cell phones and all electronic peripherals. Contact

number: (250) 381-2373

University of Victoria, Facilities Management

Representative: Jerry Robson

Facilities Management develop, operate and maintain the campus facilities in a responsible manner while

enhancing and preserving the physical environment. Website link: web.uvic.ca/fmgt

International Composting Corporation

Representative: Roger Collier

The company’s focus allows for the composting of organic materials and the resulting range of clean end

products, including top soil, soil amendments, and Grade ‘A’ compost.

Website link: www.internationalcomposting.com

Capital Regional District Environmental Services

Representative: Elaine Leckie, Anke Bergner

CRD environmental services provides business and residential waste management services, and educational

outreach programs on waste minimization, recycling, and composting.

Website link: www.crd.bc.ca

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Compost Education Center exhibit. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Participatory Sustainable Waste Management Project

Project Director: Dr. Jutta Gutberlet

The Participatory Sustainable Waste Management

(PSWM) project is a collaboration between the University

of Victoria in Canada and Centro Universitário Fun-

dação Santo André (University of Santo André) in Brazil.

This six year project is funded by the Canadian Interna-

tional Development Agency (CIDA), through the Associa-

tion of University and Colleges Collaboration (AUCC).

The project focuses on participatory waste management as

an opportunity to generate income and to improve the

quality of life of informal recyclers (called catadore/as =

collectors), while promoting environmental sustainability

and inclusive public policies on integrated waste man-

agement.

Website link: www.pswm.uvic.ca

Urban Binning Unit (UBU)

Representative: Mike and Larry

The UBU is a utility cart designed specifically for binners,

and is intended to replace the shopping cart as the pre-

ferred means of collecting and transporting recyclable

beverage containers. The UBU is being developed by

industrial designer Michael Strutt in conjunction with the

United We Can bottle depot as a sustainable community

initiative. Website link: www.unitedwecan.ca

Tony’s Trailers

Representative: Tony Hoar

Tony Hoar has been building top-quality human powered

transportation devices in British Columbia for more than

20 years. His professional experience as an engineer and

metalworker have been put to good use, building custom

lightweight racing and touring bicycles, tandems, a range

of trailers and wheelchairs. Tony provides local Victoria

binners with carts to collect materials, and has designed a

unique ‘shelter in a cart’ for sleeping. Website

link: www.tonystrailers.com

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Dr. Jutta Gutberlet (far right) talks about the PSWM pro-ject. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Jason (CBRL) interviews Mike from the UBU project. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Tony Hoar displaying his carts. Photo: J. Gutberlet

Panel Participants

We would like to thank the following panel participants for their contribution:

Tom Watkins Environmental Services Division, Solid Waste, Capital Regional District

Ann Johnson Southern Gulf Islands Recycling Coalition, Mayne Island Recycling Society

Ken Lyotier Director of the United We Can Bottle Depot, Vancouver

Mike and LarryRepresentatives from the Binners Association and Urban Binning Unit Project

Sarah Fraser Director of Inner-City Partnerships Branch, Ministry of Community Services

Malcolm Harvey Communications Officer, Encorp. Pacific

Agenda:

3:00 Opening Remarks – Dr. Jutta Gutberlet (Director, Community-based Re-search Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Victoria)

3:10 Assets and barriers to inclusive waste management 5 minute statements from panelists

4:00 Questions and comments from the audience

4:45 Future actions and recommendations 3 minute closing statements from panelists

4:55 Closing remarks – Dr. Jutta Gutberlet

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Opening Remarks

We are living in an era of excessive mass consumption and continuous disposal of our leftovers, products con-sidered unwanted, phased out or obsolete. As a conse-quence, landfills, the primary form of waste management, are rapidly filling up, almost everywhere. At the same time, most product cycles still rely on the use of virgin resources and hence contribute to further resource ex-haustion, environmental degradation and contamination.

Consumption and the generation of waste are also major causes for climate change; indirectly by depleting more natural resources and by generating greenhouse gas emis-sions from industrial production processes, and directly by producing landfill gas. Therefore, we can conclude that consumption and wasting materials cause a complex chain of environmental impacts in our region.

A focus on current social predicaments in our communi-ties brings to our attention issues of poverty, homeless-ness, unemployment and social exclusion. This is a critical problem particularly in larger cities like Vancouver, but also Victoria, or smaller, resource dependent communi-ties up island that are facing restructuring of the primary sector have similar social and economic problems.

Why not resource recovery and recycling with Binners? the title of our panel discussion today will take us to re-flect on complex social and environmental issues related to the generation and management of waste. Resource recovery encompasses the act of recovering, providing a value to what has been considered unwanted. It is linked to recycling, when the material re-enters the production cycle. Binners, are the people that recover these resources out of the bins. It is the vernacular name for informal recycler according to the Binners.

Inclusive resource recovery as a co-adaptive solution is able to tackle these problems. What we call waste, are re-sources for others. Binners are providing this important environmental service of recovering wasted materials from the waste bin. The binners working with United We Can

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Hartland landfill, Victoria. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Binner in Vancouver. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Binner in Vancouver. Photo: M. Strutt.

in Vancouver, for example recover on average of up to 50,000 bottles/day. And yet, they are stigmatized and criticized for doing this job, and sometimes they are even accused as thieves. However, ultimately binners contribute to extending the life of our landfills and to diminishing the extraction of new raw resources. Alltogether, this translates into a reduced ecological footprint.

In an environment allowing for capacity building and per-sonal development, and supported with adequate tools (transportation, gloves and other risk protection meas-ures, etc.) and infrastructure (recycling centres), binners can become important environmental service providers. They are able to building the necessary links between the industry and the consumer. They can establish partner-ships in our community that contribute to our social co-hesion and bear the potential to produce other even un-foreseen benefits to the community. Malcolm Harvey, Communications Officer of Encorp might be able to tell us about how significant bottle return is in terms of bot-tles and cans being redirected into the production stream and the resulting potential for income generation. Tom Watkins, Planner for CRD Solid Waste Programs will inform us about the current situation in terms of waste management in the Capital Regional District; probably with more barriers than assets for inclusive recycling.

I would like to also mention that experiences from other cities and countries can assist us in the search for ade-quate and efficient solutions to our socio-environmental problems. The city of Diadema in the southeast of Brazil is just one example from which we might be able to learn something. At the beginning of 2006 this municipality has published a by-law allowing the city to pay the binners for the amount of material recovered out of the waste stream. Binners in Diadema receive the same value as the city would be paying for the waste to be deposited at the landfill. Furthermore the recyclers, organized in not for profit associations or co-ops receive the material, separate and sell it to the industry. With this measure the city is contributing to poverty alleviation and environmental improvements.

There are also local examples to be highlighted, such as the experience of UWC in Vancouver. Ken Lyotier from UWC, Mike and Larry, Representatives of the Binners

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United We Can bottle depot, Vancouver. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Door to door collection of recyclables in Vila Popular, Diadema, Brazil. Photo: J.Gutberlet.

Member of the Urban Binning Unit project in Vancouver. Photo: M. Strutt.

Association and Urban Binning Unit project will tell us their stories on the successes and difficulties of binning in Downtown Eastside Vancouver. Our nearby Gulf Islands, Hornby, Maine, Saltspring and others, have equally inter-esting community based recycling programs in place of which we can learn a lot. Ann Johnson will tell us about the perspective from the Southern Gulf Islands Recycling Coalition.

We are aware about the fact that the praxis of inclusive recycling is more complex and multifaceted than the logi-cal and reasonable ideas presented in theoretical dis-courses. So let us hear from the practitioners, their per-spective of the assets and barriers of inclusive waste management. We will then finally open the discussion to the audience.

I would now like to invite the first panelist to make a short (5 minutes) statement on inclusive resource recov-ery, by pointing out the difficulties and the gains from such an approach.

Dr. Jutta Gutberlet

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Members of the Urban Binning Unit project in Vancouver. Photo: M. Strutt.

Member of the Urban Binning Unit project in Vancouver. Photo: M. Strutt.

Summary of Statements from Participants

Ken Lyotier outlines his past life experience as a binner

in Vancouver and how he became obsessed by the activity

both out of desperation and passion. Ken highlights his

instrumental role in establishing the United We Can bot-

tle depot in the Downtown Eastside Vancouver, now a

gathering place for binners to cash-in bottle deposits and

share stories from their trap-lines. The value in return-

able beverage containers is the main source of wealth for

many who live on the fringes of society in Vancouver, and

in most urban areas. Ken emphasizes that more material

resources should be valued as bottles are, stressing that

material “from cardboard to pickle jars” need to be val-

ued. There is opportunity, through collaboration be-

tween government, industry, and non-profit groups to

increase the value of more types of materials.

Ann Johnston describes herself as the driving force in the

establishment of the Mayne Island Recycling Society and

later the Southern Gulf Island Recycling Coalition. She

has also been an active member on the Recycling Council

of British Columbia. Her passion for local recycling ac-

tivities has culminated in ongoing public education cam-

paigns in her community of Mayne Island. The small-

scale community depot on Mayne Island accepts a vast

selection of recyclables and the income generated from

recyclable beverage containers provides a significant por-

tion of their funding. Despite the seemingly small-scale

efforts here, participation rates in community recycling

are high and individual actions towards reducing waste

are commended by the Society. Ann states that “we need

all the recyclers we can get.” Ann’s activism towards

product stewardship legislation has remained fierce

throughout her career. She repeatedly emphasizes her

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Ken Lyotier speaks to the audience. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Ann Johnston talks about community recycling programs. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

belief that industry should take full responsibility for

waste produced.

Mike and Larry offer eloquent speeches detailing their

daily experiences as binners on the streets of Vancouver.

They emphasize that by collecting bottles from trash cans,

they recover hundreds of bottles each day that would oth-

erwise end up in landfills. The value redeemed from

these beverage containers remains a very important source

of income for many impoverished people, some homeless

and destitute. Their actions are not without confronta-

tion, however, as scavenging through garbage bins remains

an illegal activity. Frequent encounters with police more

often than not lead to fines or arrests. Also, humiliation

and degradation towards binners is a common reaction

from the community at large. Support from the commu-

nity is needed to improve the quality of life of these indi-

viduals. Binning has provided Mike and Larry the ability

to become independent, without having to resort to beg-

ging or crime. The Urban Binning Unit (UBU) is de-

signed to help improve the negative stereotype that bin-

ners carry. Typically, shopping carts are the mode by

which binners collect bottles, but the UBU solves the

contentious issue of stolen property and opens a much-

needed dialogue with the public. Binners need a venue

to voice their experiences and this panel is the first chance

that they have had.

The Ministry of Community Services stresses inclusive

development practices in their many initiatives. Sarah

Fraser outlines the Vancouver Agreement and Olympics

projects that aim to improve the situations for disadvan-

taged people living in inner-city environments. While

inclusive recycling has not been an issue previously con-

sidered by the department, Sarah stressed the importance

of partnership arrangements in tackling social inequality.

The CRD position on scavenging remains that it is an illegal activity due mainly to liabilities and con-tract agreements.

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Mike, member of the Binners Association speaks to the audience. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Larry, member of the Binners Association speaks to the audience. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Sarah Fraser speaks to the audience. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Tom Watkins emphasizes that product stewardship legis-

lation is a provincial issue and beyond the control of local

government bodies. The CRD has been active in lobby-

ing for extended producer responsibility and more mate-

rials are being streamed through this system, such as

paint, tires and electronics. Municipal waste management

provides a service to dispose of waste and recyclables and

is not necessarily concerned with social welfare problems.

Inclusive recycling opportunities would not offer disad-

vantaged people much of an improved quality of life if

they continued to sift through garbage. Bottles make up

no more than 2% of the waste stream so the service of

binners is not seen as sufficient to warrant formalization.

Malcolm Harvey, communications officer for Encorp.

Pacific, a not-for-profit stewardship corporation, expresses

the need to expand depots in Vancouver, since there are

only half as many depots that are needed. There is neigh-

borhood opposition for extending depots services to some

areas, such as the West End, due to the stigma associated

with binning. “Four applications were turned down for

depots in Vancouver.” “It’s not that depots create binners

or binning activity, they exist already…it makes them a

physical presence when they bring their containers”.

Harvey also explains some barriers in the type of devel-

opment occurring in Vancouver. In Vancouver and Vic-

toria recycling programs only service single family dwell-

ings and not apartment buildings. Apartment building

and condominium managers have to make arrangements

for waste and recycling pick-up with private waste collec-

tors. In Vancouver, “50% of the people do not live in a

single family dwelling, and therefore recyclable materials

are inaccessible.” Harvey emphasizes that we need to

build on the depot infrastructure and find innovative so-

lutions.

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Tom Watkins talks about the CRD’s role in municipal waste management. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Malcolm Harvey, spokesman for Encorp. Pacific addresses the audience. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Larry and Howard at the exhibition. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Discussion Section

Binners face many challenges. Restrictions in access to materials and legislative constraints are major barriers. Furthermore, binner’s dignity and integrity is challenged by society’s negative perception, which has in many cases lead to harassment and exclusion.

Urban housing developments, such as condominiums and apartments, restrict binner's access to garbage con-tainers and recycling bins as they are generally locked un-derground or gated. Multi-family residences are not in-cluded in the municipal recycling programs, and therefore are serviced by private contractors to remove waste. Re-moving access to this material prevents binners from re-covering resources that are essential to their livelihoods. Tom Watkins feels that "binning is really outside the CRD's mandate... it's between the property owner and the binners." Increased competition and monopolization for waste and recyclable materials prevents binners to be rec-ognized as providing a legitimate service. Public attitudes towards waste need to change; beverage containers are not garbage but a resource.

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Binner displaying ‘shelter in a cart’. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Photo: J. Gutberlet.

Binner attending the exhibition at Uvic. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

When materials are accessible in blue box containers, binners risk being fined for scavenging. Bylaw 2290 states that no person, except the owner and the CRD recycling collection contractor, shall remove materials prior to col-lection. Binners must deal with municipal bylaw officers if caught taking refundable bottles from blue boxes. "That's our biggest issue here, is the CRD," Beetlejuice, one of the Victoria Binners, said. "Not only do they take all our bottles, they slap a fine of $100 on you too." De-spite protests from binners at the panel discussion, Tom Watkins, CRD project waste manager hinted that the CRD is lenient with "scavengers". "We're very cognizant of people going through the blue boxes. We could be more diligent in enforcing that than we are."

The CRD has a seven-year contract with Metro Materials Recovery to provide the maximum quantity of materials available. The CRD pays the contractor based on the estimated amount of recyclable material. Paper products are the most valuable materials in the blue box and com-pensate for financing the recycling program, therefore benefiting tax payers. Beverage containers therefore do not substantially contribute to funding the residential recycling program. An alternative could be to exempt bev-erage containers from the scavenging by-law, or create a diversion so that bottles don’t end up in blue box. One comment from an audience member suggested a solution could be through public education to not place bottles in the box but leave them out for someone who needs them.

Malcolm Harvey, communications officer for Encorp. Pacific, cautioned that binning is not a substitute for so-cial policy. Tom Watkins reinforced this point by stating that recycling programs are strictly environmental initia-tives. There remains a disconnection between how envi-ronmental and social policies can be complimentary. Ken Lyotier concludes "that there really needs to be thought as to how our social policies link together to how we integrate people into society," he said. "I think anybody working in government needs to be making those links."

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Members of the audience listening to the panel. Photo: J. Gutberlet.

The panel participants make their final remarks. Photo: C. Tremblay.

The panel participants make their final remarks. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Concluding Remarks

Earlier in the opening I have highlighted the possibility for innovative waste management that generates income, cleans the environment, builds stronger communities and recovers resources which otherwise would end up at land-fills or incinerators.

We have discussed now the many challenges awaiting us on this path towards participatory sustainable resource recovery.

We believe that a paradigm shift now is imperative; rec-ognizing 1.) that nothing can be wasted, that waste is a valuable resource and needs to be recovered and 2.) that binners are already doing this important environmental service of recovering material out of the waste stream and that this service needs to be recognized and valued.

Resource recovery with binners tackles part of the most critical social and environmental problems. It is ultimately a social and economic win-win situation.

Binners in Vancouver. Photos: C. Tremblay and J. Gutberlet.

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Dr. Jutta Gutberlet addresses the panel. Photo: C. Tremblay.

Afterwards

This event has contributed to turning public some of the many problems Binners face in their day-to-day activity: from harassment by law enforcement agents or the general public to the negative stigma that is attached to them by the wider community. We have heard witnesses from this population of im-poverished and often also socially excluded individuals whose livelihood de-pends on the collection of beverage containers from dumpsters in Vancouver and Victoria.

Binning is a common phenomenon particularly in poor countries and it is becoming more widespread also in the North. It is estimated that there are at least 50 Binners in Victoria today. The value redeemed from the bottles re-mains an important source of income for them. Many of them are homeless and some identify as Aboriginal. As scavenging through garbage bins remains an illegal activity, their actions are not without confrontation. We have heard that frequent encounters with police lead to fines or arrests. Also, humiliation and degradation towards them is a common reaction from the community at large. (Photo: Binners in Vancouver. M. Strutt)

However, Binning provides the ability to become independent, without having to resort to begging or crime. The United We Can bottle depot in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, a social enterprise, plays an important role in improving the public image of Binners and in strengthening the cohesion among them. It is also a gathering place for Binners to share stories from their trap-lines when they come to cash-in bottle deposits. The Urban Binning Unit (UBU) was designed to help improve their negative stereotype that binners carry. Typically, shopping carts are the mode by which they collect bottles, hence the UBU solves the contentious issue of stolen property and opens a much-needed dialogue with the public. In Victoria, Tony Hoar from Tonys Trailers has developed several types of carts that suit the necessities of Binners in Victoria, some being able to convert into a tent.

As mentioned earlier there aqre interesting experiences happening in other countries. Last week, the federal government in Brazil has done another innovative step towards inclusive waste management. At the begin-ning of November 2006, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed a new degree under which all public offices need to recycle their waste and which makes it mandatory that all recyclables are donated to not for profit local groups. This is an important step towards guaranteeing the access of recyclable resources to the ones who most need them to sustain their livelihoods.

The community-based Research Laboratory is committed to help shed more light on quality of life issues regarding the Binning population. With our research we intend to contribute to the search of more appro-priate public policies that can tackle the social and economic needs of these people and that are integrated in the local community development. This means to develop diverse strategies for inclusive, organized and well structured waste management systems, where the participants are empowered, the environment benefits and new employment is created.

Jutta Gutberlet

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Main Organizing Team

Crystal Tremblay (MA Candidate) Emma Taylor (MA Candidate) and Jutta Gutberlet (Assistant Professor, Geography, UVic)

Specific Input

Ole Heggen and Ken Josephson (Cartography and Graphic Design)Jason Emmert (Video documention)Nanda Kumar (Logistics)Tony Luckach (Website)

Supported by the Department of Geography

University of Victoria, Department of GeographyPhone: 1 250 472 4537, Fax: 1 250 721 6216

Website: http://pswm.uvic.ca/home/

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