The issue of recycling has resurfaced.
The provincial government has engaged in the creation of something called "Multi-Material British Columbia" or MMBC. Technically, it is not the government that has created MMBC but the industry. However, they are doing so as a consequence of a legislated mandate.
For example: "The British Columbia Recycling regulation under the Environmental Management Act requires that every producer of packaging and printed paper products that wishes to sell, offer for sale or distribute their products to residents in British Columbia must operate, or be a member of, an approved plan concerning the end-of-life management of their products."
That quote is quite a mouthful from the Packaging and Printed Paper Stewardship Plan developed by MMBC. Essentially it says that if you sell a paper product in B.C., you need to have a plan in place for its disposal.
The plan claims to be unique in that it address residential packaging and printed paper product category. Presently, an estimated 50 to 57 per cent is already being recovered through local government and other initiatives. Presumably, with the power of legislation behind it, this number can be increased.
The MMBC website, as a consequence, contains all sorts of rhetoric about a cleaner environment and a better British Columbia. Pictures of various animals in the wild or spectacular landscapes accompany the assurance that MMBC is the most responsible, economically efficient and environmentally prudent approach to maintaining and enhancing the recovery of residential packaging and printed paper.
What is missing from this discussion is an answer to a very simple question: "What objective are we trying to achieve?"
I ask this because if the effort is to make us all feel better about our environmental footprint, then great. We can ship everything off to MMBC and not worry about our landfills.
It will cost us a lot of money. It is going to show up in price increases at the check-out counter. After all, the manufacturers are going to be paying the costs of the program and that is money that they will need to recoup. With too much recycled material in the market place, the revenue streams will be reduced and it will end up costing more to recycle than is recovered by the process.
One can think of it as a "non-refundable" deposit. Or maybe one of those "enviro-fees" that show up on your bill when you buy certain items such as pop cans.
In any case, it will give everyone the appearance that they are doing something to help the environment and that has to be worth something.
But if the real objective is a reduction in, say, greenhouse gases or environment toxins or pollution, then MMBC is not going to work.
The reason behind this - and the reason that Prince George is likely not participating - is that shipping recyclable material to the Lower Mainland doesn't make a lot of sense.
Consider the life cycle of a week's worth of newspapers that you take to a local recycling bin. The paper must be collected at some point and transferred by truck to a local sorting centre.
There it is sorted by type - glossy inserts are removed and other forms of packaging are sorted out. The resulting material is then bundled and shipped to Vancouver by truck. Trucking, I am sorry to say, is not one of the most carbon emission friendly modes of transport.
In Vancouver, it is sorted again and baled again. Depending on market prices, it is then shipped to a recycling centre that could be anywhere in North America but is increasingly overseas. Transportation burns carbon and the longer the trip, the more carbon emissions will be produced.
Once at the recycling centre, the newspaper needs to be de-inked and any other material needs to be removed. This is a chemically intensive process resulting in effluent. Depending upon the use that the recycled paper is being used for it may need to be bleached again.
Finally, the resulting pulp can be processed to paper and shipped once again to its final destination.
Depending upon all the steps in this process, energy and chemical consumption can range from 80% to 120% compared to using virgin wood. However, that isn't the end of things as the recycled paper has to ultimately meet its fate. After recycling a few times, the fibres will no longer be suitable for use and the material will be rendered back to its constituent atoms.
Recycling is only one of the 3R's. Reduce is much more effective. Re-using is important. Recycling is what we can do.
If MMBC results in the reduction of packaging and printed paper, then maybe it is a step in the right direction. But there is still the question of cost and you know who will be paying that.
