the ReNews Edition Summer 2009
Some interesting stories about Urban Impact's growth and our commitment to the environment.
- URBAN RECYCLING
- Urban Impact to unveil its first hybrid truck, August 19th
- Yes, we recycle. But as solid waste issues rise, we need to reduce more.
- Recycling 101 for elementary school students
- URBAN SHREDDING
- Shredathons Program
- URBAN SOLUTIONS
- Report on our community impact
- Report on our Certificats of Diversion program
URBAN RECYCLING
URBAN IMPACT TO UNVEIL ITS FIRST HYBRID TRUCK, AUGUST 19TH
Please join us at Urban Impact headquarters, August 19th, at 1:30pm, as we unveil the latest addition to our fleet of vehicles: our Hybrid Urban Recycling truck! Urban Impact is the latest member of The Fraser Basin Council’s Green Fleet Medium-duty Hybrid Electric Truck program, which is an incentive program to support the uptake of electric vehicles. Participants in this program have agreed to share their vehicles' performance with other fleets, to demonstrate the benefits of medium duty hybrid vehicles. We are excited to let you know that Urban Impact is the first company in BC’s waste management sector to use a hybrid vehicle! More information on Green Fleets BC is available online at www.greenfleetsbc.com
Event Details
1:30PM: Hybrid Truck Demonstration
Remarks from Urban Impact Founders Nicole Stefenelli and Rod Nicolls
2-4PM: Complimentary Shredding and Recycling
Following the hybrid's quiet, low emissions demonstration, Urban Impact is providing two hours of complimentary shredding and recycling to anyone who brings down boxes of materials. Donations of $10 per box would be appreciated with proceeds going to Richmond Food Bank Society.
YES, WE RECYCLE. BUT AS SOLID WASTE ISSUES RISE, WE NEED TO REDUCE MORE.
As our population rises in the Lower Mainland, pressure on local landfills is increasing and will continue do so over the next few years. Cache Creek, one of the landfills for Metro Vancouver’s garbage, receives 500,000 Metric Tonnes of garbage each year. Sadly, this accounts for only about 1/6 of the total waste generated by Lower Mainland residents and businesses on a yearly basis.
Cache Creek is scheduled to close in 2010 and the question is what will Metro Vancouver [formerly GVRD] do with all our waste? Metro Vancouver is in the midst of a comprehensive plan to develop alternatives to trucking up to Cache Creek and other landfills, but, the solutions are complicated and require significant long term planning and capital. One of the proposed solutions currently being investigated, which, in my opinion will be likely be pursued further is called waste to energy.
What does waste to energy mean? It means very simply, garbage is burned, energy is created in the process which then powers other facilities. Is it the right solution for us? In my opinion it is not. Rather, I believe that reducing the waste we create in the first place is the solution. The problem is: as a society, are we able to reduce our waste fast enough to slow or reverse our waste management issues locally and globally?
On average a North American citizen creates 1000 kgs of waste each year. Another staggering fact: a citizen of the industrialized world consumes more energy in six months than a person who lives in the underdeveloped world will in their entire life.
I believe that fundamentally we need to consume goods that produce less waste and we need to embark on an overall paradigm shift to reduce the amount of waste that we generate. This means:
- We need to consume products that create less waste as they are made or as they are delivered to us, such as food items or produce. Theoretically, consuming products that are made closer to home will create less waste by as you consume less fuel and create less exhaust. So purchase from local suppliers, and plan your trips to the grocery and retail stores to be more travel effective, if you use a car to do so.
- We need to consume products that use less packaging. When you go to the grocery store or mall or toy store, choose to purchase items that don’t have excess or unnecessary packaging. Packaging is so wasteful – with any luck some of it is recyclable (like paper bags or cardboard boxes) but the most packaging is waste and cannot be cost effectively recycled. And don’t forget, buying bulk can really help reduce packaging waste: for example, choose a pack of six pairs of socks in one package, rather than six separately packaged pairs.
- We need to consume products that are packaged responsibly. Some companies do make a very concerted effort to reduce the amount of packaging they use for their products; or, at the very least, they invest in packaging that is recyclable. Choose these kinds of products over wastefully packaged products! For example, I recently noticed that Save on Foods sells bulk coffee and offers a craft coffee bag to put the grounds or beans into. I was thrilled to see this, once you are finished with coffee bag, pull of the small metal tab at the top (that seals the coffee bag while in use) and or recycle or compost the coffee bag when you are done.
- We need to communicate with those suppliers and producers who don’t consider the environment and let them know that we need them to reduce wasteful packaging in order to consume their products. I don’t want to name names, but I recently went to a local green grocer to buy some organic produce, the organic apples were individually wrapped in plastic on a Styrofoam platter. Instead of just not buying it, I took the time to let the manager of the store know that I would not buy produce unless they were free of this packaging. These small steps are crucial because
in order for real change to happen, we have to communicate our choices with suppliers so that they will respond to our pressure to produce goods in a more environmentally sensitive and responsible way. - We need to educate our children. Many behaviours are learned and if we can teach the younger generation how to consume less as part of their every day lives by modeling good purchasing and waste reduction behaviour now, that will definitely make a positive impact in future. For example, how about packaging your children’s lunches in a way that is waste free (and don’t forget to tell them how and why). How about walking or biking your kids to school rather than driving them?
Reducing our waste may mean some hard choices and changes to the conveniences we’ve become accustomed to in our personal and business lives. But often, reducing waste also can mean saving some money and creating margin in your personal and business lives. Some waste reduction efforts do require more difficult sacrifices, so recognize which sacrifices will make the most impact. Reducing on the whole and recycling what we can are two important and very meaningful ways we can reduce our impact in the Lower Mainland increasing waste management issues!
RECYCLING 101 FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
In April and through June 2009, Urban Impact generously funded the costs to bring numerous elementary school classes from Richmond and Delta schools to the company’s recycling headquarters for hands-on Recycling 101 Education Tours. The reception has been excellent and accordingly, Urban Impact plans to expand this program in the fall of 2009 significantly by inviting classes from elementary schools across the Lower Mainland to participate. Comments from the students include:
"I learned a lot about how much paper and cardboard we used a year...You’re not just business business business but you try to get people to stop wasting paper..."
"I learned a lot about how recycling plants work, and also a lot about how one person can have such an impact environmentally…this fieldtrip has made me and hopefully my classmates more aware..."
"My legs got a little tired. I also found it a little boring."
"I love the Earth and I will try my best not to waste paper or anything else."
URBAN SHREDDING
SHREDATHONS PROGRAM
For the second year in a row, Urban Impact is teaming with Vancity Credit Union to host a series of Shredathons, in which free on-site shredding is provided to anyone who brings materials to the location. In addition, identity theft and fraud prevention education materials are provided, and the RCMP Fraud Prevention team is on site to educate and answer questions. The Shredathons have proven to be a huge success and after the first few have gotten underway this spring, numerous more are scheduled across the Lower Mainland over the summer.
"People bring boxes and boxes of old tax returns, old bookkeeping items and files that they don't want to recycle because the files include potentially confidential information," says Stefenelli. "We’re proud to say we're the only Shredding company in the lower mainland which recycles our shredded materials for our clients as part of the service package."
Urban Shredding’s signature on-site shredding machine is kind of like a huge wood-chipper-like truck that grinds through paper quickly and makes it completely illegible. The shredded material gets recycled in an Urban Recycling truck.
In two recent Shredathons, Urban Impact has provided free shredding and recycling services to more than 600 Lower Mainland residents, shredded and recycled 12,000Kg of material, and helped to generate nearly $3000 of donations for local Vancity-selected charities.
Shredathons will continue throughout 2009. Check www.urbanimpact.com for dates. In addition, Urban Shredding offers shredding August 4th and August 19th from 2-4pm at headquarters: 15360 Knox Way in North Richmond, just east of 6 Road and River Road. Please note there is a $25.00 minimum charge for up to 100lbs (equates to approximately 10 full file boxes). $0.25 per each additional lb thereafter.
URBAN SOLUTIONS
REPORT ON OUR COMMUNITY IMPACT
Every year, Urban Impact commits the equivalent of 1% of our annual pre-tax profit to assist Lower Mainland charities by providing free recycling and office paper shredding services as an in-kind contribution. This helps reduce the waste disposal and operating costs of participating charities, allowing them to use their scarce funds to do what they do best – help others.
Urban Impact has donated a total of $42,000 of recycling services to local charities in 2009. For a complete list of the charities, please visit http://www.urbanimpact.com/resources/community-impact.php
REPORT ON OUR CERTIFICATES OF DIVERSION PROGRAM
Every year, Urban Impact presents Certificates of Diversion to each of its clients, indicating the volume of material that that client diverted from landfills as a result of recycling with Urban Impact. In 2008, Urban Impact diverted a total of 70,000 Metric Tonnes of materials from landfills.
Green News & Notes
- Be sure to read Nicole Stefenelli's column in the July Edition of BCBusiness. You can view it online at http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca
- Ever find yourself dealing with an existential recycling crisis at 2 a.m.? Now you can sleep easy, since the launch of the Recyclepedia on the Recycling Council of B.C.'s website: http://www.rcbc.bc.ca