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How can we reach our 2020
Greenest City Targets?

GC 2020

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96 results found

  1. Use and Promote recycled paper

    We could require the City of Vancouver to develop a policy stating that it will only use recycled paper. Encourage the use of recycled paper throughout the city, and when that is not possible - give preference to Forest Stewardship Council certified Products. We could then require that a portion of our newsprint that is collected to be used in newsprint here in Vancouver - and require a minimum recycled content in newspapers that are distributed in Vancouver (like California!) - which will reduce our climate footprint.

    6 votes
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  2. "Waste" pick up

    Have Garbage and recycling trucks able to pick up bins on both sides of each ally at once. We have a truck drive down our ally 4 times each garbage day (6 with waste bins). A ridiculous waste of resources....and where are our hybrid diesel trucks, as it is the epitome of stop and go traffic

    6 votes
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  3. Water Reclamation and Re-use

    Use a local sustainable technology such as Solar Aquatics to clean waste water for re-use within our communities. Decentralizing our waste water treatment and using fully aerated biological systems will reduce energy (pumping) costs, eliminate greenhouse gas and water pollution that come with conventional sewage treatment, reduce the amount of fresh water we need to take to take off the mountain and clean, and provide an abundance of recycled water for use in parks, gardens, green roofs, fire suppression, or a host of other needs we have.

    6 votes
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  4. compost street bins

    To reduce smell and garbage, and can be picked up daily by volunteers or city works to be put in round about gardens or used in local parks

    5 votes
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  5. Recycle Hotel Soaps and Bottled Amenities

    Every year in British Columbia the hotel industry deposits over 250 metric tones of soap and bottled amenities directly into our landfills. What if that soap could be cleaned, sanitized, and re-purposed for humanitarian emergencies and communities around the world where hand washing with soap can reduce by up to 60% the deaths of children under the age of 5. www.cleantheworld.org

    Mission Possible, a agency in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is employing women at risk by recycling hotel soaps and bottled amenities. www.mission-possible.ca

    5 votes
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  6. Ban any EPR material from being commingled in single stream totes. Specificaly packaging materials!

    Ban any EPR material from being commingled in single stream totes. Specificaly packaging materials!

    5 votes
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  7. Diaper recycling plant

    Some stats : 27.4 billion disposable diapers are consumed every year in the U.S.
    Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.
    Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste.
    No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.

    5 votes
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  8. Outlaw Freebies and Handouts

    Here's a top-down, Draconian notion that still has merit: a bylaw that prohibits the distribution and posting of leaflets and placards and other miscellaney. Fine those who insist on papering our doors, bikes, benches, cars, and streets with unrequested promotional materials. It's one thing to offer somebody an item and another to scatter them pell mell.

    5 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  9. Neighbourhood drop-off areas for dog waste

    There are so many dogs in the City now that the waste could be separated + composted or otherwise dealt with. Also options to plastic bags...

    4 votes
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  10. Instead of having trucks pick up leaves in the fall the city to lend electric mulchers to neighbours

    It saves greenhouse gases by the trucks cleaning the streets, provides compost, and gets citizens talking

    4 votes
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  11. pharmaceutical plastic packaging

    Drugstores produce lots of plastic waste. All players should be responsible for there proper disposal,

    4 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  12. Lobby provincially for increased bottle/can deposit values

    Curbside drink container recycling is great, but the recycling rate for these things in BC is still only about 70%. This is a waste of resources. Other provinces (PEI for example) have kept pace better with inflation by charging more than our paltry 5-10 cents deposit per container, and not just by coincidence have higher recycling rates.

    Side benefit: less garbage/broken glass in public places.

    Caution: those who depend upon deposits for their livelihood (e.g. "binners") might experience new hardship as more people recycle, but this would be somewhat offset by higher returns per container found.

    3 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  13. Reduce paper consumption.

    Use less paper in City Hall. Aim marketing inititatives toward businesses to go paperless, and provide incentives if possible. Stop using flyers/cardboard signs for city events or elections. And most of all - no more leaflets!!!

    3 votes
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  14. Standard office supply changes

    Our goal is to push for the betterment of our society, by providing sustainable products that cause the least harm to the eco-systems of the world we live, work and play in. We are of the mind that 5 cent’s more for a cup of coffee, or 2 cent’s more for a pen is well worth the peace of mind that we are making a difference, and that we are making the world a better, healthier place.

    The choices made in today’s market place will profoundly affect the world of tomorrow, along with the need for the diversification and an…

    3 votes
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  15. Free Landfill and Recycling Areas For All Products this will Reduce Waste the Fastest

    Citizens of Vancouver already pay enough in taxes, this service should be available to everyone in Vancouver, this will reduce the waste faster than any other idea.

    3 votes
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  16. Keep the streets clean and swept

    A trash littered and gum encrusted downtown core does not enhance Vancouver’s bohemian edginess. They make the city look filthy and encourage more littering. Cleanliness is a virtue; City, please do your job and sweep / scrape the streets much more often than you do presently. Compared to other densely populated places like Chicago, Atlanta and New York, we’re filthy. It's embarrassing and pathetic.

    3 votes
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  17. Plasma incineration

    Incinerate garbage with plasma arc gasification technology, which breaks down waste primarily into elemental gas and solid materials, which may be reused. May also be net producer of electricity.

    An analysis would need to be done to see if viable specifically for Vancouver's needs.

    3 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  18. Using GoogleMaps, connect people so they can pool their low-volume recyclables together.

    Make it possible for residences or small businesses to find other people / businesses near them, so they can pool low-volume waste streams like batteries, light bulbs, wood pallets together to make it economically viable for recyclers to come and pick them up

    3 votes
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  19. 3 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  20. Disclose the True Cost of Consumer Waste

    Use Municipal business licencing regulatory power to reveal the hidden cost of waste production. Such a bold move could invoke a paradigm shift in the way commerce is conducted. As one example: if consumers had to pay the true environmental cost of a fast food meal, fast food would soon loose its appeal. Cheap price point consumption habits are the worse legacy of the 2o th Century. The City could use its business licencing powers to initiate an immediate turn around in the fast food industry gross over production and direct to landfill disposal of plastic and paper waste. Requiring…

    3 votes
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