MAYNE ISLAND RECYCLING SOCIETY
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September 2022

9/22/2022

 

Re-visiting the B.Y.O.C. (Bring Your Own Containers) Project

In 2019 the Mayne Island Recycling Society spearheaded an environmental project with the  community called the B.Y.O.C Campaign. Twenty island families took up the challenge to  greatly reduce the amount of single-use plastics and disposable containers used over a 60-day  period. Items such as plastic bags, plastic beverage cups and lids, plastic straws, plastic take out containers, and plastic cutlery were targeted. It was a very successful experiment! It was  estimated that 2,680 plastic containers were averted from landfill by this group of 20  households during the 2-month campaign. As well, overall awareness by the community of  the need to reduce single-use plastic was achieved. 


Unfortunately we lost some ground when Covid restrictions came into effect. Not much we  could do about that at the time. However, as many of these restrictions have now ended, perhaps  now is a good time to re-visit the challenge and put renewed effort into cutting down on our  consumption of single-use plastic.  

Some of the recommendations to avoid use of these throw-away plastics are fairly obvious —  bring your own reusable grocery bags when shopping, use mesh or cloth bags for produce  rather than plastic bags, and carry personal travel mugs for take-out coffee and beverages.  Some further suggestions are: bring your own containers for take-out food and restaurant left overs where possible; refuse plastic straws, lids and cutlery; use food storage containers for  leftovers at home rather than using cling wrap plastic; where possible resist buying  merchandise with excess packaging; frequent the local farmstands for fresh produce where  there are no plastic bags; and try re-usable cloth gift bags rather than disposable gift wrap. 

In situations where we haven’t been able to avoid single-use plastic, perhaps we could start a  respectful dialogue to see if some alternate solutions can be found. A little discussion and  some thinking outside the box can be the breakthrough.

There are no doubt countless other ways to help us ‘kick the plastic habit’. Why not take up the  challenge to see how many plastic containers you’re able to avoid each week! Let us know  about any tricks you’ve learned on reducing the amount of packaging consumed, by sharing  your experience with us on our Mayne Island Recycling Society Facebook page.

- Lynda Smyth

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DEPOT LOCATION
 

390 Campbell Bay Rd
Mayne Island, BC
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​250-539-3383
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© Mayne Island Recycling Society 2025
  • Home
  • Recycling Info
    • Hours
    • What Can and Cannot Be Recycled
    • Pre-Sorting
    • FAQs
    • What Happens to the Items We Recycle
    • News Bulletins
    • MayneLiner Article Archive
  • Programs & Events
    • Upcoming Events >
      • Beach Cleanup 2025
    • Ongoing Programs >
      • Backhauls
    • Past Events >
      • Beach Cleanups
      • Recycle your Bicycle
      • Bring.Your.Own. Container. Campaign
      • Pollution Solutions
      • Green Cone Initiative
      • MIRS at Community Events
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Employment
    • AGM Documents
  • About
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Funding
    • Our Team
    • History
  • Links
  • Contact