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As a recycling community, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mo Sihota. As Minister of the Environment in the mid 90's, his fight (against the huge lobby of international businesses) for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) moved recycling in BC from a haphazard patchwork of Provincial (Litter Act) and Municipal (reducing the materials going into shrinking landfills) efforts into a Recycling powerhouse which is the envy of most of the world. The government of the time was savvy enough to give the Business community what they wanted - control over the process - while maintaining regulatory oversight. In other words, the Government said, "here is what you need to do - you figure out the most efficient way to do it". So despite fierce opposition, businesses worked with the government to find the most efficient ways to recycle.
An unexpected bonus to this partnership is that some in the business community realized that it was only a matter of time before they would be facing regulations to recycle their products so they started to figure out ways to recycle before they were regulated. That is what has happened with the producers of Asphalt Shingles. 84% of homes in North America have asphalt shingles resulting in 16.5 million tons of shingles entering the landfill every year. The companies producing asphalt shingles are putting millions of dollars into recycling solutions for their product (spurred on by Municipalities like the CRD who have banned shingles from their landfills). They have now figured out how to separate the three components of the shingles so that they can reuse all three. 50% of the shingle is sand, 25% is asphalt, and 25% is fiber (paper or more recently fiberglass). Three plants in Canada (Delta, Calgary and Hamilton) will be diverting 50% of Asphalt Shingles by 2035. The sand will be used in road building or for more shingles. The fiberglass will be used in concrete and flat roofing and the asphalt will be used for shingles and flat roofing. Plus recycling will result in an estimated 60% saving in greenhouse gasses compared to making the Asphalt Shingles from raw materials. All in all a very good result thanks to EPR pressure on companies to recycle. A heads up about a terrific event being held at the depot in conjunction with Tire Stewardship BC on May 23 and 24 at the Depot. There will be a free collection of old tires and tires with rims for all Mayne Islanders. The Depot will be open on May 23 from noon to 3pm and on May 24 from 10am to 4pm to collect them. Also, don't forget about the Beach Cleanup on April 27 at 10:30am sponsored by MI Nature Conservancy and supported by the MI Recycling Depot. And the busy summer season is fast approaching. The Depot will be open an extra day - Fridays from 10am to 2pm - for July and August, to help ease the congestion. |