CHRONICLE 15-16 ISSUE 14

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10 The Chronicle March 21 - 27, 2017 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Community The green behind garbage Dan Koehler The Chronicle On a cold winter Sunday afternoon, a tall, long-haired man sorts through recycling bins in front of houses across Whitby, Oshawa, and Courtice. William, a retiree from the Oshawa General Motors plant who started working there in the 1970s and retired in 2005, has been collecting empty bottles and cans since 2007. He got the idea after seeing others do the same. “For kicks, I said to the wife, 'I’m taking the van out just to see what’s out there',” William says. “I came back with maybe half a van load, and then once you start adding it up you’re thinking ‘holy crap this is good money’.” While many see collecting recyclables or trash for money as a small-time hobby to help with the bills, in reality there is a big business behind the idea. In the grungy industrial area of South Whitby, metal clashes and scrapes as customers drop off scrap metal and old electronics. Art Northcott, owner and general manager of ANJ Recycling in Whitby, also makes a buck from other people’s waste, just on a bigger scale. He started his business after collecting scrap on the side while working for a different recycling company. “When I was in steel, I used to watch people come in and make money and I’m going, ‘I could do that’,” Northcott says. “I drove around picking up scrap, saved my money, and opened it up.” Northcott opened his business in 2007. He hasn’t looked back since. While both Northcott and William help reduce the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill, both the federal and provincial government need to implement more initiatives to reduce waste that makes its way to a landfill. According to the Region of Durham’s annual Waste Management Report, in 2014 the region diverted 55 per cent of collected waste from landfills, an increase of 22 per cent since 2004. The region also made $5.3 million in revenue from the sale of blue box recyclables. According to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, from May 2008 to May 2009, a year after the bottle return program came back, 259 million wine and spirit containers were returned for a refund. Of that number, 145 thousand tonnes of glass was recycled rather than being dumped in a landfill. South of the border, the industry is even bigger. According to IBISworld.com, the American scrap metal industry alone provides over 34 thousand jobs and brings in $36 billion in revenue annually. In recent years, more and more governments have put in place rules to try to increase recycling numbers and lower waste numbers. Durham Region has both a roadside compost and yard waste program. In 2014 the region collected 27,007 tonnes of organic material for compost, and 32,123 tonnes of yard-waste. They are now looking into a clear bag policy for garbage. Ontario even had an Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) introduced in 2014. This is essentially a tax when purchasing electronics, but the money does come back to the public… sort of. The fee reflects the cost to responsibly recycle electronics rather than the e-waste going to a landfill. The fee is part of the Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES). The government pays for the electronics from a processor such as Greentec, the company the DC Sustainability office works with through their program. The processor breaks down and takes apart the electronics to extract precious metals. A processor buys e-waste from a generator, such as Northcott, who buys the electronics as scrap from the public, still in its original form, completing the cycle. Tanya Roberts, Sustainability Coordinator for Durham College, says since we’ve extracted so much from the earth through mines and put it into electronics, now we can start extracting from e-waste. “Now we have above-ground mines which are these processing plants,” she says. Northcott says in the past copper was the scrap metal with the best return but now electronics have taken over. “It’s definitely changing, people are going green,” Northcott says. Roberts receives equipment from IT and what can’t be re-sold as used is sold as e-waste to Greentec, who is paid by the government with the money from the OES program. “People probably aren’t even aware of how much of a lucrative business (e-waste) that has been and is becoming,” Roberts says. “Electronics, we recycle probably 2 million pounds of per year, it’s kind of our bread and butter,” says Northcott. In a perfect world, Roberts says the government would offer incentives to everyday people for recycling, but in reality that won’t happen. “The government isn’t going to offer those incentives unless there’s value,” says Roberts. Photograph by Dan Koehler Art Northcott, owner and general manager of ANJ Recycling, standing behind his receiving desk where customers bring in scrap electronics and metal. Photograph by Dan Koehler Employees of ANJ Recycling taking apart scrap before sorting it. William on the other hand, gets his scrap a little differently. He either uses a van, or a bicycle he equipped with a low horse-power motor. He hauls a child’s wagon that he rigged up behind the bike to carry the empty bottles and cans. He says the main reason for doing what he does is due to the rising cost of bills. “The one thing that’s killing middle class and lower that have a house is hydro,” William says. “My wife just smokes when she opens up the hydro bill each month.” When William retired from GM, his income dropped nearly 300 per cent. Like many in his situation, his kids, both in their early 20s, still live at home. With two kids at home, one looking for work after finishing post-secondary and another saving for a house, his GM pension wasn’t cutting it. “I just used it to help supplement my pension,” William says. “I realized it was a pretty good thing to do.” Roberts has been watching people collect bottles the same way William does for years outside her home. She thinks collecting bottles is a great idea, and has seen it come a long way over the years. “It (collecting bottles) has definitely evolved,” she says. “There are a lot of opportunities from the government for rebates.” At age 67, William’s health is limiting his ability to collect empties. “This year hasn’t been a good healthy year for me, this will probably be my last year doing it,” he says. For Northcott, 2017 is looking to be a big year. He is opening up a new location in Courtice that is twice the size of his current location. Unlike his current location, the new place will be equipped to take in steel, something he’s never been able to buy. “When we open the new location we’re gonna have 5 or 6 more guys,” he says. “We’re hoping summer, July or August.” Northcott says he doesn’t want his business to get too big. “I don’t want to get too big. When you get too big you get too many headaches,” he says. He is hoping to pass the business on to his son when he retires, who is already part owner. Even with people and businesses like William and ANJ Recycling, Canada still has a lot of work to do to catch up to countries such as Germany, a powerhouse when it comes to clean energy and recycling. According to GB Resources Group and wefuturecycle.com, 80 per cent of waste is recycled in Germany, while 80 per cent of waste in Canada goes to a landfill. Like Germany, Canada needs to make it worth the public’s while to recycle. More incentives need to be made towards recycling, both private and commercial, which will lead to the already lucrative waste market increasing even more. If you live in Whitby, Oshawa, or Courtice North of Highway 2, chances are you have heard the putter of William’s makeshift motorcycle cruising down your street. Where there is waste there is opportunity. In a never-ending world of garbage, one man’s trash really can be another man’s treasure. (Since what William does is illegal under City by-law, only his first name can be used.)
Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca March 21 - 27, 2017 The Chronicle 11 Help save our planet Toby VanWeston The Chronicle Global warming is one of the greatest concerns facing our generation today. It’s not a matter of debate anymore, it is a fact. The Earth is heating up. 2016 was the warmest recorded year on the planet. Modern recordkeeping began in 1880. Data collected by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show that the Earth’s surface temperature was warmer last year than ever before. This is part of a trend, one that is happening very quickly. Last year was the third year in a row to set new records for global average surface temperatures. The changes in environment are largely due to increased carbon dioxide, and other man-made emissions to the planet’s atmosphere. The key to solving this problem is to make changes in how our society interacts with the environment. Perhaps just as crucial, however, is the need to instill awareness and passion in the next generation. “Do little kids need to know about global warming and climate change? No, not a chance. What they need to do is love the earth,” says Jacob Rodenburg, instructor for Environmental Science for Teacher Education at Trent University in Peterborough. “So instead of waiting until they’re adults, and then hitting them with these massive problems, teach them to be advocates and ambassadors while they’re growing up.” Rodenburg is also the Executive Director of Camp Kawartha, a notfor-profit organization that teaches environmental education to youth. The main camp is located on Clear Lake, and an Environment Centre is located at Trent University. The camp’s focus is to foster stewards, which Rodenburg defines as “people who care for each other and care for the land”. Rodenburg found a lot of the problems about environmental education over the years was “issues-based.” He found children, the future protectors of the environment, did not respond to this kind of approach. “There’s a term for it, it’s called ‘Eco-phobia’. If we’re not careful, and you keep dumping these ideas into kid’s heads without giving them tools and a sense of hope, you do them a disservice,” explains Rodenburg. “In fact, you scare them into apathy.” With Camp Kawartha, Rodenburg sought to find a different way to get children interested and passionate about protecting the environment. “We see environmental education and stewardship very much about building hope, and empowering and inspiring,” says Rodenburg. The camp sees about 10,000 people come through each year. Camp Kawartha focuses on teaching children through experiences, games, activities, science projects, and art. It offers traditional day and overnight summer camps. The outdoor education centre provides programs for elementary and secondary students. The Environmental Education Centre located at Trent is “one of Canada’s most sustainable buildings” and provides environmental education training for future teachers. Rodenburg believes kids should be fostered to be stewards as early as possible. This means naturalizing schoolyards, creating more nature-rich cities, having access to green spaces, and the chance to care and tend to space. The hope is that creating passionate children will lead to passionate adults. Tanya Roberts is the Sustainability Coordinator for Durham College. Roberts increases environmental programs and initiatives on campus, improving campus operations. She also works on projects with students to make the college “greener”. Eric Lacina is one such student. Photograph by Toby VanWeston Eric Lacina, Environmental Technology student, poses with a #muglife mug, an initiative he helped start. Lacina is in the Environmental Technology program, and a member of the Student Green Team at Durham College. One project the Green Team has found success with recently has been the #muglife campaign, an awareness campaign to reduce disposable coffee cups by offering reusable mugs. So far the campaign has received well over 100 pledges from Durham College and UOIT. Lacina says every little bit of recycling makes a difference, and reduces the amount of waste that simply sits in the open. Research from POLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), reveals startling statistics about land-waste. According to research conducted in 2014, there are more than five trillion plastic pieces floating in the world’s oceans, weighing over 250,000 tons. “E-waste always ends up in landfill. And it just sits there. It doesn’t do anything. So if we are diverting to e-waste programs, we’re reducing the need for it being shipped over to China,” says Lacina. “[There’s documentaries about it] and it’s actually horrendous to see three-year olds digging through piles of copper-wire.” Stay connected to nature so that you realize that you're dependant. This is something Roberts has personal experience witnessing. Ten years ago, she volunteered in Guatemala City, and saw first-hand the effects of mishandled e-waste. “There were all these families built up around the landfill. The men went and collected materials, and built tin shacks that didn’t even have air-holes, and they were cooking in them,” says Roberts. This left a strong impression on her, and Roberts encourages students to volunteer if possible. “It opened up my eyes to the environment,” says Roberts. “Young people: get out and volunteer overseas. See the world.” Students should get out and explore the world now, because it is changing at an alarming rate. NASA data shows globally-average temperatures were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit (0.99 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-20th century mean. Furthermore, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century. Temperature is rising at a fast rate. Most of the warmest temperatures have taken place in the last 35 years. In fact, 16 of the 17 warmest years recorded have taken place since 2001. Eight of the twelve months in 2016 were the warmest recorded in history. January through September (excluding June), all set records . Not surprisingly, the warm temperature patterns have bled into 2017 as well. Records have already been set this year. This affects our population in ways you might not realize. The warm temperature does not necessarily translate to tranquil weather. Weather patterns have fluctuated drastically. Days have ranged from record warm to freezing in the span of a single week. On February 6, Environment Canada issued a weather statement warning snow, rain and freezing rain for Toronto. On February 7, thousands were left without power after the freezing rain hit the city. By February 18, the city was setting record high temperatures. The 18th saw temperatures hitting 11.9 Celsius, breaking 2011’s record of 10.8 Celsius. Spring-like weather continued for the rest of the weekend. This fluctuation has an adverse effect on our food as well. “Crops are losing their entire production because of weather. It’s on a cusp. [Depending] if there’s another couple of good rainfalls, you can have the best season ever. But if you don’t get that, you’ll have to pull your crops altogether,” explains Roberts. According to Environment Canada, Toronto only had 48.8 hours of sunlight in the month of January. That’s only slightly more than half the seasonal average of 85. This is attributed to the rising temperature, as warmer weather produces cloudier days. Environment Canada recorded this January as the fourth warmest in over 80 years. Roberts explains there are a lot of simple things that everyone can do in their day-to-day life to help the environment. These range from Photograph by Toby VanWeston Tanya Roberts, Sustainability Coordinator for Durham College, holds a #muglife mug, one of DC's Living Green projects. reducing water, turning lights off in rooms, unplugging your devices when they are fully charged, and being mindful of the products you buy. Recycling and using re-usable packaging goes a long way to reducing waste. “Especially in this area, we primarily run off nuclear. But once you go past nuclear, everything is taken up by natural gas,” says Lacina. “So if we can reduce our energy use to that baseline of nuclear, we won’t have to use natural gas.” Roberts says one of the simplest and most important things people can do to help the environment is to stay connected to it. By doing this, she says you realize how dependant you are on it. “Get outside, stay connected to nature so that you realize that you’re dependant. Your water doesn’t just come from a tap. Your air isn’t just clean because your house is clean,” says Roberts. “It’s all inter-connected. Stay connected to that external life.” “Also, maintain an understanding of where things come from. And what happens to your waste. No one just comes by with a magic wand and it just disappears,” adds Lacina. Despite all the challenges of facing the problem and the necessary work ahead, Jacob Rodenburg, Executive Director of Camp Kawartha, remains hopeful that this is a struggle that can be overcome. “Nature is extremely resilient, and it will bounce back. The effects that we’re causing, eventually will heal. I have every hope that somehow, someway, people can learn to live in more balance,” says Rodenburg. To Rodenburg, this begins with education. “Instead of thinking about what kind of world we want to leave for our kids, we should think about what kind of kids we want to leave to the world,” says Rodenburg.
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CHRONICLE 15-16 ISSUE 14

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