random recycling we do

In the spring I took a walk around to talk staff in all the areas of the complex and find out what was happening with our recycling for starters.

Here are some photos of some of the random recycling we have around our centre. Aside from the paper recycling bins, the majority of recyclable stuff saved from the trash has been going home with staff as it is not picked up by the City here on site.

The Preteen Centre

The Skating Rink

 In the lane

Hastings Education Centre

The library has an all-star team who not only minimize the waste in their area, they compete on who is reducing their waste the most at home! That's the kind of green team spirit we love!!

Pool

Info Centre

For us to improve on all this we need some new containers to keep things organized, and for staff to do their part in making sure things are put in the right containers. Cross contamination and pest problems (like ants!) are easily mitigated by taking amoment to think about what you are putting where and making sure food and drink containers are rinsed. None of us need to be green police keeping a watchful eye on each other if we all take responsibility for what we put in the containers ourselves!

The City of Vancouver is working on transitioning 30 libraries and community centres into Zero Waste zones very soon, and one day Britannia and all the other public sites will be set up too. For now we are implementing things on a trial basis so we can see how much work this actually creates as well as make the transistion easier when its time for us to join in.

Busch Systems is the company that the City has chosen to purchase these waste reduction zone bins from, and they have created a little video to showcase the ease of their systems.

Before we order our bins and get things going, I've been making my way around to all of the various areas of our centre to make sure each area will get what it needs, and looking into various means of pick up for the waste reduction streams to travel off site. I will post more when the system is ready to roll!

One thing the Green Team would love to hear some comments on is how we should deal with bottles and cans?  Currently we have an informal economy of recyclables like these just being left outside for binners to collect as they pass through. (Gone in no time) This is efficient and fulfills a need in our community...so do we bother trying to implement bins and recycle pick up for them?
The students also set up collection programs to make money in the school year, but sometimes this leads to bags of cans accumulating and leaving sweet trails for ants to follow and no one wanting to take responsibility for them while students are out of school...so should we put all of our cans outside for the binners instead?
Don't bottle up those feelings on cans! Please share your thoughts in the comments!