
Many of you may have watched the CBC Marketplace program on plastic recycling in BC, and found it disturbing. It is, within a small set of parameters and doesn’t reflect the Provincially regulated programs that we here at GIRR are involved in.
I have included a couple of quotes from a statement released by RecycleBC below, and the link to the full response is here.
The statement is fairly short and contains vital information that should help you feel more at ease about our local recycling program.
“We are deeply concerned with Marketplace’s juxtaposition of three simple commercial transactions as a proxy for the sophisticated system of checks and balances that exist within BC’s residential recycling system. The stakes could not be higher – the world is faced with a global plastics crisis – and this misleading report could erode faith in a system that is producing the best environmental outcomes in Canada, which is a disservice to the people of BC, Canada and the world.”
“The transactions that Marketplace executed as part of its story were one-time, business-to-business transactions outside of the Recycle BC program. They did not leverage or reflect the rigorous processes that underpin Recycle BC’s full producer responsibility system, which Recycle BC shared with them but were not reflected in the report.”
We at GIRR are proud to be a part of a world leading recycling program here in BC. It is important to understand the difference between a local business offering recycling services on their own and the residential program that we at GIRR provide on behalf of RecycleBC.
Ken Stauffer, OM, GIRR