22 - Friday, March 20, 1992 — North Shore News

THE INTERNATIONAL trade and business fair for the
environment, Globe 792, has just wrapped up after four
days of networking and discussions.

Peggy
Trendeli-Whittaker

It’s easy to bash big business
for causing our environmental
woes, and it’s also easy to get
discouraged at our slow rate of
progress on the green front.

So it was heartening to wander
through B.C. Place Stadium this
week, which was filled with 450
“planet-friendly"”’ exhibitors from
around the world.

Of course, not everyone would
agree that all the booth partici-
pants are as green as they are
making themselves out to be.
While they may have undertaken
one environmental initiative, they
may be continuing to pollute the
planet in 10 other ways.

But. it’s obvious that change is
starting to occur. All around the
world, human creativity and effort
are producing some partial solu-
tions to our environmental crises.

The following is ‘‘Globe at a

Glance;’’ some of the tidbits pick-
ed up from the first day of the
trade fair:
@ North Vancouver’s EVS Con-
sultants Ltd. displayed its latest
undertaking, a project in which
scientists in developing countries
can learn to use marine life as a
monitor of the environmental
quality of the surroundings.

EVS has an $8 million contract
with the Canadian International
Development Agency to equip en-
vironmental agencies in the
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia,
. Brunei, Thailand. and ‘Singapore

_with the tools and knowledge nec-
essary to use aquatic creatures as
_ ‘first-line watchdogs’? of the
. State of their surroundings.

This technique is especially
valuable as it is a low-cost, low-
‘tech. way for nations that perhaps
could not otherwise afford to im-
. plement environmental research.

e@ Kyowa’. Kako Co. Ltd. of
‘Japan was displaying its award-
winning mobile medical waste in-
‘cinerator. The smokeless, odorless
machine reduces. waste volume to

ENVIRONMENT
Globe °92 discoveries at a glance

ECO INFO

one-tenth and operates on any
available commercial water supp-

ly.

@ Pyrotech of North Vancouver
gets the award for the biggest,
most impressive piece of machin-
ery on site. The company has de-
veloped a ‘‘paving machine’’ that,
in a single pass, heats up old
asphalt, peels if off the road bed,
remixes and reconditions it, and
then resurfaces the road.

The machine can recover a road
at the rate of about six metres per
minute and currently restores
more than 1,200 km of road in
this province and in Idaho.

Recycling a roadway in this

fashion is less than half the cost
of the conventional resurfacing
technique, too. While $1 million
would previously buy less than 20
km of roadway, Pyrotech says its
new technology yields over 70 km
of new surface for the same cost.
@ The Fraser River Action Plan,
a $100-million federal Green Plan
initiative, was on display in the
Canada Pavilion.

The Fraser River basin — the
world’s most productive salmon

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waterway and 25% of the total
area of B.C. — has become the
dumping ground for our sewage
and industrial waste such as diox-
ins and furans from pulp and
paper mills and pesticides from
surrounding industries.

Fraser River Action Plan initia-
tives include virtually eliminating
the discharge of persistent toxic
substances into the river, doubling
the sockeye salmon population
over the next 20 years and
facilitating long-term partnership
arrangements between various
stakeholders to work towards sus-
tainable development in the area.

@ B.C. Environment Minister
John Cashore announced four
new solid waste programs on the
opening day of Globe °92.

Starting in September, all B.C.
retailers of lubricating oil wiil be
required to accept used oil from
their customers for recycling pur-
poses.

This initiative was spearheaded
by the Canadian Petroleum Pro-
ducts Institute, and is intended to
divert up to 20 million litres of
waste oil from entering the en-
vironment each year.

‘B.C. is the first province to
unveil an initiative of this kind.
Currently, about 63 Mohawk sta-
tions, including the two on the
North Shore, accept used oil, as
do branches of Canadian Tire.

A Green Shopper program, or-
ganized by the Environmentally
Sound Packaging Coalition (ESP),
will teach consumers to buy
minimally packaged, more en-
vironmentaliy friendly products,
and educate store buyers as to
what they should be demanding
from the manufacturer.

A new element of the Partners
in Recycling program was also
announced. It involves voluntary
contributions from B.C. industries
of funds that will be used to help
build recycling Programs for their
product.

The first partner in. “this new
area is BC Tel, which is commit-
ting about $50,000 to aid in the
recycling of various materials, ia-

cluding phone books.

Several other industries are con-
sidering contributions that couid
range between $1 million and $3
million annually.

Also mentioned by Cashore is
the R2D2 (Recycling Research
Demonstration and Development)
Fund, which offers research and
development grants to B.C. com-
panies that develop new products
from recycled rubber or that can
enhance the efficiency of rubber
tire processing.

Companies are currently resear-
ching the use of recycled rubber in
roofing materials, embedded track

PROBLEM:
SOLUTION:

Custom built
closet organisers
& mirror doors

INSTALLED OR |
DO iT YOURSELF we

systems for light rail transit, and
floor covering compounds, in
place of stone or gravel.

Remember that Enviro-Expo, |
the family-oriented sequel to
Globe °92, runs today through
Sunday at the Vancouver Trade
and Convention Centre.

Hours are today until 10 p.m.,
Saturday from 1 to 10 p.m. and
Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Admission is by donation.

Highly recommended.

Overflowing closets!
Closet organizers

OGDUNES
Custom Bullt Furniture for the home & office :
. Showroom Open Mon-Sat.. 95
CANADIAN CLOSET

‘A family owned business since 1984”
1385 Crown St..NVan. S86-4263

RENOVATION SME ;

“MAY” is closin

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FINAL
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NO GST! WO PST!
We will pay the equivalent amounts.
We would rather sell than store this

fine quality European ferniture

May Furniture continues to grow and
now we are expanding our downtown.

showroom.
@ ALL FURNITURE MUST BE CLEARED ~

to make room for construction.
PRICES WILL NEVER BE LOWER!
Choose from over 200 leather and fabric sets, sofa beds,
coffee tables, dining rooms, living room and bedroom suites.
The earlier you shop the better the selection

Ean Cyaep Ns AT BOTH re :

ALLERIES*