No. BLUE BOXES have been in the news of late, as a result of the discovery that a company had used glass from a recycling program to help fill a Surrey farmer’s field, rather than ensuring it was recycled. A similar public furor arose last year after the broadcast of a CBC Marketplace episode that tallied the financial expense of blue box programs and the fact that many of the materials collected were difficult te find viable markets for. While recycling workers in gov- ernment departments and private companies would generally opt for multiple root canais rather than be the focus of such negative publici- ty, it seerns to me that these news stories can promote, rather than hinder, the public’s knowledge of, and commitment to, environmen- talism. Nowhere is it written that the blue box system is infallible. On no stone tablet will you find etched the message that putting your discards in a blue plastic bin will magically solve our waste woes. Once we create waste, there is ho. process by which it will simply ‘vaporize before our wondering eyes. All options will have nega- tive environmental -implications, all will have associated costs, and all will be subject to the vagaries of the marketplace. Media reports that open peo- -ple’s eyes to the fact that there can be problems. associated with ‘curbside recycling programs may ‘also serve ‘to remind people that the reduction.:-of waste — not recycling — is’ where our. best solutions await. . This*is not to say ‘that blue box programs. should ‘not be ad- ministered efficiently and with en- : “ronmental integrity, eggy Trended- Whittaker a ECO INFO It is to say that people who are unduly shocked by the occasional negative press on recycling should perhaps become more aware of the problems and pitfalls facing government’ and businesses in- volved in the imperfect world of recycling. e¢oo According to a recently released waste audit commissioned by the Greater . Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), our rate of recycling is nothing to be sneezed at —— especially in the. area of demolition, land clearing, and _ construction (DLC) waste. . DLC waste, which is disposed of at private, not GVRD-run, fa- . cilities, comprised ‘approximately 36% of the total GVRD waste TE EN Life seminars scheduled THE TEEN Life program is a_ two-day, one~evening seminar — designed to empower tvenagers to live great lives. - Teens come to a place, where ‘they..can fully express themselves in an- unbiased atmosphere’ of ‘trust and compassion. The program is for all teens aged 13 to 19 years old: It does not distinguish between a good teen or: bad teen, an intelligent teen or otherwise. The program recognizes teens as young people who want to be accepted and who want to make a difference. The next TEEN Life seminar is on Saturday, Feb. 20 and 2! at the North Shore Community Cen- tre. There is a completion evening on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 7 to 10 p.m. Parents, teachers and friends are encouraged to attend - the Thursday evening session. For in- formation call Greg Gerrie at 739-2084. Spring into Shape with these great savings on . _ Warm-up Suits, Aerobic Wear & Running Tights * Heavenly Bodies ¢ Hind * Moving Comfort © Gilda Marx * Moratti * Insport * Head © Sergio Tacchini ® Pirquette * Spyder * plus many more up to Sale ends February 28/93 Check out our Great Selection of Aerobic & Running Footwear. Let the professionals help you choose the shoes that are right for you! Competitive Prices Selected by Runner's World Magazine (FebJ93) as one of the best running stores in North America. PARK ROYAL SOUTH Vi ‘were not fully operational, IRON! stream in 1991. Of the over 800,000 tonnes of DLC waste generated, almost half (48.9%) was recycled. The vast majority of recycled material was concrete, asphalt and gypsum. Industrial, commercial and stitutional (IC&i) waste came in at just under 800,000 tonnes in 1991, 32% of which was recycled. Only 11% of the residential waste stream was recycled in 199], but that was because some municipalities’ curbside programs and composting had yet to be actively ipromoted with subsidized com- ‘poster saies and other awareness cainpaigns. On the North Shore, for exam- ple, recycling diverts about 15% ‘of the waste stream from the in- cinerator. In 1991, the rate of recycling from the total waste stream —- in- cluding DLC, IC&I and residential garbage — was 32%. Of all the waste collected for recycling purposes, only 3% had to be discarded, largely due to. unacceptable contarnination. We still have a long way to go in the field of waste reduction. We have to shop smart, compost more, and think. about ‘the issues harder. But don’t underes timate what’s already being done — and don’t stop filling up your blue box. iENT agic solution to society’s waste woes North Shore recycling coor- dinator Al Lynch recently issued some current information on the status of recycling on the North Shore. ‘The total weight of recyclables collected in 1992 was 8,742 ton- nes, 75% of which was newspa- per. Ten per cent of the weight was colored glass, 8% was clear glass, 6% was tin and aluminum, and plastics, while they may: ‘*e bulky, weighed in at only 1% of the total. All newspaper Newstech, Coquitlam. It is reprocessed back into pulp, which -is sold to MacMillan Blocdel and Fletcher Challenge for re-use in producing newsprint. Such newsprint is largely sold to California printers, where state laws now dictate a minimum quantity of recycled newsprint that must be used in the produc- tion of newspapers. - The marketing of glass con- tinues to be a problem. There is very little demand for colored glass (because while we import wine and other beverages bottled in green glass, local manu- facturers prefer to bottle in clear glass), and even clear glass is only accepted periodically at the Fibers International plant in Washington. of our newspapers and inserts are the de-inking plant in sent to: As a result, International Paper Industries (IPI) is.storing most of the blue box glass it collects at its plant in Surrey, while it in- vestigates alternate markets and uses. All our tin and aluminum is baled and shipped to MRI in Seattle, although IPI is resear- ching focal markets so as to. reduce freight costs. ; Contaminated recyclables occa- sionally have to be taken to the North Shore Transfer Station. + This will occur, for example, if a person throws a pane of window glass (which is. non-recyclable) in- to the glass bin at a drop-off depot or in an apartment building, .’ and the non-recyclable glass shat- ters irretrievably amongst the bot- os tles and jars. * It can also haupen if a hinge pin is accidentally removed from the dividers separating the sections of the bin at the drop-off depots, resulting in a mixture of materials that is impossible to separate. These isolated: occurences are reposted to the North Shore Recycling Program, as IPI’s con- tract otherwise prohibits. them from delivering recyclables to: any" waste disposal facility. os For. more information, contact IPI at ~ $29-3416 ‘or the North. ’ Shore - Recycling Program at 984-,, 9730. Most will agree that Real Estate is a good investment yet knowing what to do, finding the time to do ~ it, arranging 100% financing and then managing it for a profit is not as easy as it-seems, especially with our already hectic schedules. However, now you have Another Choice... - | We Do All The Work For You. We'll find you property with break-even _ cash‘flows in excellent locations. * We'll arrange 100% financing. (CYAC) We'll arrange all property mgm’t. We’ll-even up-grade your investment know-how. Too good to be true? What's the catch? There is no catch. This is our Business. We put our clients into excellent “hassle-free” real estate investments. 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