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How can we reach our 2020
Greenest City Targets?

GC 2020

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96 results found

  1. Make composting, proper recycling and waste disposal procedures in restaurants/hotels mandatory.

    I work in one of the busiest restaurants in downtown Vancouver, and the amount of food alone we throw away daily makes sick.

    I think that there are enough chain restaurants in the city that if even one caught on, it would create a demand for composting as a service and potentially lead others to do the same.

    Hotels and grocery stores are other ways the idea could expand.

    And the new fertilizer could be given to farmers for use in the area.

    180 votes
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  2. Require all fast food take-out containers to be reusable, compostable, or recyclable

    There are plenty of reusable, compostable and recyclable food take-out container options these days (see UBC's compostable take-out containers for an example).

    All facilities should also have compost and recycling collection for these containers, with clever designs that prevent cross-contamination.

    Thought should be given to whether used food containers need to be washed before being deposited into the store's compost collection bin, or whether a process can be implemented that would take care of this after collection.

    272 votes
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  3. Expand recycling program to include all Recyclable Materials

    Pacific Mobile Depots operates an number of regular depots around the Lower Mainland to collect recyclable materials that are not collecting in the current municipal programs. Residents PAY to properly dispose of material that can be recycled. The City should partner with a private operator to expand the current program if the existing programs cannot be quickly expanded. http://www.pacificmobiledepots.com/services.php

    118 votes
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  4. All single-use disposal items in Vancouver must be made of compostable bio-plastic or paper.

    It’s ironic, and unacceptable, that most items designed to be disposed after a single use, are made of plastic which takes thousands of years to decay (if at all). Many items made of plastic today could be produced using the new compostable bioplastics. This would include: packaging (produce bags, Styrofoam, etc), food containers (coffee/drink cups, baked good and takeout containers, etc), medical equipment (syringes, latex gloves etc), personal care items (razors, qtips etc). This should extend into the industrial sector too. This idea might not be feasible in 100% of the instances, but it would go a long way to…

    87 votes
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  5. Place More Blue Recycling Bins Around The City

    Usually, people don't want to hold onto their garbage while walking, so they throw away whatever they have in their hands, even if it's meant for recycling.
    I believe there should be a recycling bin right beside every garbage can, if not even more recycling bins than garbage cans.

    99 votes
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  6. Ensure all malls and public fascilities have recycling systems in place

    I have worked retail in a number of malls and I was horrified by the lack of recycling options there were for the paying tenants. No bottle/plastic recycling, sometime no paper. Tenants would often have to pay for this service.
    Implement the same recycling programs available to homes, we can not exclude rental/commercial properties if we have any intention to becoming a more sustainable community.

    59 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  7. Stop the distribution of free newspapers

    How many different free newspapers can you count that are distributed across Vancouver ... handed out at Skytrain stations, available in boxes on almost every street corner downtown and left in bundles for those of use who live in apartments and condos.

    Many of these newspapers end up in garbage cans or tossed on the street creating litter.

    My suggestion is for the City to ban the distribution of these free newspapers as people value what the pay for - if they really wanted them, they'd purchase them.

    If the City isn't willing to ban these free newspapers, at the…

    61 votes
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  8. Apartment and condo-dwellers get Freezer Compost Bins for collecting organic scraps

    Freezing organic scraps is the only sure way to get rid of fruit flies, odor, and the leftover, hard-to-clean rotting food messiness associated with composting. There are flexible silicone containers specifically designed for storing scraps in freezers. When it's collection day or you're ready to empty into a collection site, vermicomposter, or wherever, you just flex the container and the frozen scraps pop right out. Now that's an idea! Don't let the city give us plastic containers that we'll need to buy liners and bags for, make them give us a real solution instead!

    61 votes
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  9. Kitchen Compost Containers for the counter to store household compost easily before collection day.

    Distribute conveniently-sized Kitchen Compost Containers made of recycled materials to Vancouver households to allow for easy and odourless storage of egg shells, uncooked fruit, veggies scraps, coffee grounds, filters and tea bags. A convenient storage place until collection day when compost materials can be dumped in the green bin!

    98 votes
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  10. Materials Reuse/ Exchange Program

    Similar to the Industrial Materials Exchange Program, small businesses and the public will be able to log into a database to list materials (such as packing paper, bubble wrap, shelving units, etc.) that they would like to give away for free before they are forced to throw it away. Using this principle of community-resource-exchange, our company was able to reduce their waste dramatically. The success of such a program will dependent on the promotion of it to the public and small businesses. Maybe a database and already popular site such as craigslist would be interested in a collaborative effort in…

    57 votes
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    started  ·  3 comments  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  11. Ban all disposable bags

    It won't take long for people to learn to how easy it is to bring their own bags. Somehow, I've gone two years without taking any paper or plastic bag for my groceries or purchased items.

    146 votes
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  12. aerobic composting

    To have all high desity apartments as well as all hotels use aerobic composting units. Unlike traditional compsting that attracts vermin and creates green hose gasses with the decomposition, aerobic composting units produce very limited amounts of green house gasses, they also have the ability to turn large volumes of organic waste into soil in short periods of time, this soil could then be used in parks or on farms to complete the cycle. Aerobic Composter are also faster in turning waste into soil some are able to process a ton within 24 hours, this would reduce the amount of…

    46 votes
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  13. eco fee for non-recyclable containers, not recyclable ones!

    Currently if you walk into a grocery store and buy a product in a recyclable container you will pay an eco-fee (this is not a deposit) to cover the cost of the recycling.... Hellooooooo. Why are we not charging a "landfill fee" for everything that's NOT recyclable instead???

    Eco-fees on products
    When you buy many products with a take-back program, you’ll pay an eco-fee to cover the cost of recycling. It’s not a tax, meaning it doesn’t go to the government. The eco-fee goes directly to the take-back program to pay for the cost of recycling or safe disposal. Eco-fees…

    29 votes
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  14. Paperless Receipts for Retailers

    It would be nice if everywhere I shopped could offer me a digital receipt, instead of a paper one. Seems to me there are an awful lot of trees being cut down just to give me a few inches of paper that says I bought something.

    And in the digital age we live in, this should be pretty easy to implement.

    214 votes
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  15. Make waste a waste of money

    Metro Vancouver is on the right track by increasing the cost of garbage disposal. Businesses listen when they are affected in areas that they understand, rising costs and decreasing profits. If recycling is cheaper than waste disposal there will be real incentive to recycle.

    20 votes
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  16. lets make recycling mandatory for supermarkets

    I work in a supermarket that doesnt have a good enough paper recycling program. The city should make it mandatory for supermarkets especially to have a recycling program in place.

    29 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  17. refillable containers at supermarkets

    Refillable milk, butter, juice, etc. stations at supermarkets would eliminate such an enormous amount of wasted packaging. Think about bringing your refillable bottles every week to get what you need. This goes beyond the local level though - we'd need to get producers onboard. Taking it a step further would be to fill all the stations with locally produced food/drinks.

    35 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  18. Reduce the use of faresaver and replace it with a resuable and reloadable card.

    Instead of wasting paper on faresaver cards, why not use a plastic card that resembles like a credit card that you never have to throw out. Then you can reload it with as much money as you want on the card, either online or at a store. Also, you can put an option of reloading the card with a "virtual" bus pass, so you can get on the bus as many times as you want during that whole month that you chose to pay for.
    Then on the bus, you'll just have to scan it and the machine will recognize…

    28 votes
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  19. Dumpster free alleys

    Neighbourhood business improvement associations are behind this idea. So is Zero Waste Vancouver. The era of Dinosaur Dumpsters is coming to a close. By taking back our public right-of-ways from the garbage industry, we will motivate the industry to evolve into a recycling industry. Let's get together, Vancouver, and show the world how it can be done right. Small is beautiful.

    23 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Reduce waste  ·  Admin →
  20. Promote hotels that offer biodegradable guest amenities

    Plastic is a problem in landfill because it takes over 450 years for plastic to break down (if it ever does break down). Hotels dispose of billions of hotel size shampoo bottles in landfill each year. Technology exists to produce plastic shampoo bottles that will biodegrade in landfill in less than 9 years. Vancouver can offer special recognition to the hotels that offer guests this new environmentally responsible product as the more hotels that contribute to this cause, landfill waste will be saved one inch at a time. Starting small can offer big rewards.

    27 votes
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