Recycling rules revamped
Trinity Western University students will now have to think twice before throwing anything away: as of January 1, a number of items were banned from Metro Vancouver garbage bins as part of the region’s Zero Waste Challenge.
Banned items include corrugated cardboard, newsprint, office paper, pharmaceuticals and all beverage containers excluding milk.
TWU, along with all other residents and businesses in the Metro Vancouver area, will be fined if contraband items are found in general waste receptacles.
According to Tom Fehr, Custodial Services Manager, the new policies should be easy to implement on campus. “We’re already doing most of this,” he said. The main change will be the ban on tossing electronics – TWU has just acquired a bin for all electronic waste in compliance with the Zero Waste Challenge policies.
“It’s just doing a little bit extra to get us to 100 per cent,” said Fehr.
Fehr says that the recycling program should be good for TWU; the university currently pays $65 per ton of waste removed, and increased recycling should cut the expense down. That is, of course, if students participate.
“Everybody must do their part to find the correct bins,” he said, estimating that initial fines to the university for contraband items will probably be around $400, and increase if there are multiple offences.
A Rocha TWU, the university’s environmental club, supports the campaign, and hopes to help with recycling education on campus. The club recently established two composting bins on campus to deal with food waste, said ARTWU member CJ Janes.
“We want to get more [recycling] bins for papers, plastics, and more as well,” she added.
Though it will take participation from all entities on campus to keep banned items out of the trash, some students feel they do not have the resources to comply.
“I think a lot of students care,” said fourth-year resident Jessica Stults, “but without the proper bins and facilities they won’t engage in it.”
Stults feels that bins must be accessible for students to participate, or else “the motivation won’t be there to do it.”
Fehr notes that there are some roadblocks to recycle bin placement on campus. For instance, bottle and can recycling containers cannot be kept inside, as they result in problems with odour or insects. Most residences, he added, have a variety of bins located just outside the building. For instance, the university owns over 80 paper recycling bins, which are located across campus.
“But,” Fehr added, “we probably do need more bins.”
Fehr asked that students email suggestions about making recycling easier, as well as questions or comments about the program, to recycling@twu.ca.
For more information on what can and cannot be thrown away, visit Metrovancouver.org.
Some facts:
1 aluminum recycled can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours.
It takes 8–12 weeks for a glass bottle to be recycled and return to the store shelf.
It takes 1,000,000 years for a bottle to break down naturally.
1,000,000,000 lbs of plastic fill landfills per year discarded as electronics.
Source: Recycling Council of BC
Yes! Recycle these:
- Corrugated cardboard
- Newsprint
- Office paper
- Gypsum drywall
- Yard and garden waste
- Beverage containers (except milk)
- Blue box recyclables
- Lead-acid (car) batteries
- Medications/pharmaceuticals
- Paint Solvents
- Flammable liquids
- Gasoline/pesticides
- Vehicle tires
- Oil
- Oil filters and empty containers
- Electronic waste including personal computers
- Printers
- TVs
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