The RCA has developed positions and sent the following letters in an effort to promote waste reduction.

• Letter to all Alberta MLAs outlining how the government's Too Good To Waste strategy offers resource solution (PDF 283 Kb)
• Letter to Alberta Recycling Management Authority stating RCA's position that the tire program should incent the highest level of recycling (PDF 393 Kb)
• Welcoming new Minister of Environment and Water, Hon. Diana McQueen, to office and requesting a meeting to discuss key issues (PDF 106 Kb)
• Letter to Rogers Communications Inc. regarding concern about environmental impacts of marketing campaign (PDF 389 Kb)
• Letter to the Alberta Teacher's Association and Alberta Council for Environmental Education in response to a statement in their May 2010 press release (PDF 407.93 Kb)
• Letter to Alberta Recycling Management Authority stating RCA's position regarding the potential application of tire-derived fuel (TDF) within the tire recycling program (PDF 381.25 Kb)
• Letter to Alberta Recycling Management Authority in support of discontinuation of the collection incentive for bulked latex paint (PDF 378.86 Kb)
• Letter to Rocky View County in support of proposed composting facility (PDF 45.50 Kb)
• Letter to Alberta Recycling Management Authority in support of proposed changes to tire program (PDF 374.59 Kb)
• Letter to all MLAs and Municipalities advocating for implementation of the proposed Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion Program, incl. fact sheet (PDF 383.53 Kb)
• Letter to Yellow Pages Group supporting their recent initiative to reduce the distribution of telephone directories (PDF 366.93 Kb)
• Letter to Minister John Baird regarding Infrastructure Canada funding for waste management infrastructure (PDF 371.92 Kb)
• Letter to new Parliamentary Assistant Cal Dallas to ask for a meeting to discuss RCA's key issues (PDF 368.88 Kb)
• Letter to Environment Minister Renner recommending province-wide economic incentive measures to stimulate an increase in waste diversion (PDF 372.39 Kb)
• Letter to the Alberta Used Oil Management Association proposing an environmenal seat on that organization's board of directors (PDF 100.68 Kb)
• Letter to Parliamentary Assistant Diana McQueen to ask for a meeting to discuss RCA's key issues (PDF 399.84 Kb)
• Joint letter from RCBC, RCA and SWRC to Refreshments Canada regarding the soft drink producers' move away from reusable transportation packaging (PDF 180.22 Kb)
• RCA commending Town of Banff Council for considering EPR for manufacturers contributing to Banff's waste stream (PDF 1.32 Mb)
• RCA's input to Alberta Environment regarding the Beverage Container Recycling Regulatory Review (PDF 259.31 Kb)
• Concern about practice of open burning at landfill sites, introduction of ag plastics recycling pilot, update on waste-to-energy presentation project (PDF 98.49 Kb)
• Introducing newly elected RCA board, reaffirming current key issues (PDF 89.29 Kb)
• Supporting landfill bans for materials with established recycling programs and markets, suggesting pending bans as driver for markets to come to Alberta (PDF 196 Kb)
• Welcoming new Minister of Environment, Hon. Rob Renner, to office and introducing RCA's key issues (PDF 200 KB)
• Encouraging Canadian Library Association and Canada Post to find a way to keep using reusable mailing bags for mailing library books (PDF 168 KB)
• Commending Air Canada on recycling practices and suggestion to implement waste diversion and recycling measurement and reporting (PDF 188 Kb)
• Concern about introduction of new 15-litre one-way water container into Alberta's market, and suggestion to Beverage Container Management Board to increase deposit level for large bottles (PDF 192 Kb)
• Concern about Arrowhead Water's move from reusable water containers to one-way 15-litre water bottles (PDF 696 KB)
• Call for a mandatory waste diversion component in Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification program (PDF 188 KB)
• Supporting implementation of paint stewardship program in Alberta (PDF 188 KB)
• Suggestion to address fast-food packaging waste (PDF 192 KB)
• Strategy towards Zero Waste (PDF 204 KB)
• Concern about packaging waste of TELUS advertising campaigns (PDF 192 KB)

Albertans Embrace Recycling

Poll shows Albertans place high priority on reducing waste through recycling and composting.

A poll conducted last month showed that Albertans embrace recycling and understand the important environmental benefits it provides. The poll, which surveyed 1200 Albertans, showed that 97% of Albertans approve of Alberta’s Too Good to Waste strategy, that promotes the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste intended for disposal. The survey was conducted by Think HQ Public Affairs and has a margin of error of +/‑ 2.8%.

The poll showed that Albertans are generally unaware that up to 80% of the materials currently intended for disposal can be diverted for recycling and composting, but once those polled understood this, 77% felt that issues related to garbage and waste disposal were a high priority.

A strong majority of Albertans felt overall that diverting materials for recycling and composting was preferable to any form of disposal (either landfill or incineration).

The Recycling Council of Alberta was extremely pleased to see these survey results, as it shows that Albertans are supportive of the waste management hierarchy, which ranks Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (including composting) above disposal options. “We are also pleased to see that Alberta’s “Too Good to Waste” strategy is still relevant”, said Christina Seidel, Executive Director of the Recycling Council of Alberta. The “Too Good to Waste” strategy remains a good roadmap for where we want to go with respect to waste management in this province, and could be a key element in moving us towards being a leader in waste reduction in Canada”.

Visit www.recycle.ab.ca or contact Christina Seidel at 403.843.6563 to find out more.

Documents

Alberta's Too Good To Waste Strategy - [Download]

3Rs Waste Management Hierarchy - [Download]

About Recycling Council of Alberta

The Recycling Council of Alberta (RCA) is a not-for-profit, non-political organization formed in 1987, and approved as an official charity in 1995. The RCA's mission is to promote and facilitate waste reduction, recycling, and resource conservation in the Province of Alberta.

Single-use bags of any type represent wasteful resource use. Recycling of plastic and paper bags is environmentally preferable to disposal, but is less preferable than reduction and reuse options. The Recycling Council of Alberta supports programs that encourage the use of durable, reusable options rather than single-use shopping bags. Examples of these programs include financial incentives/ disincentives and supporting education campaigns.

1) EPR Should Drive Design–for–Environment
EPR should encourage Design for Environment by sending the appropriate economic signals to the producer. Ideally, the product should bear its full life-cycle environmental costs.
Issues / Comments

• Flow-through or retail fees download costs onto the consumer, rather than encouraging redesign, and should therefore be avoided.
• Advanced Disposal Fees must vary by product/material based on actual management costs in order to send accurate price signal.
• Producer Responsibility Organizations may be practical and effective management organizations, but tend to remove competition through uniform fees.

2) EPR Programs Must be Environmentally Sound
Programs should encourage environmentally-preferable products and management options.
Issues / Comments

• Although the least environmental impact is the desired outcome, in absence of definitive research, the 3 Rs hierarchy is assumed to be valid.
• Environmentally-sound decision-making can be encouraged by having an environmental conscience on the Producer Responsibility Organization.
• Program reviews should include environmental performance.

3) EPR Programs Need to be Designed to be Financially Sustainable
Financial sustainability must be inherent in any EPR program to provide long–term stability.
Issues / Comments

• It is critical that the responsibility and cost is borne by the generator and user, not the taxpayer.
• It is difficult to accurately predict funds required to deliver program up–front, which presents challenge in Advanced Disposal Fee (ADF) schemes. To account for this, the ADF must be adjustable, and based on the program’s current operating budget.
• Producer-pay programs provide the most elegant solution to financial sustainability, i.e., cost of program = payment from producer
• Sharing costs between the producer and other players leads to a distortion of the price signal. Some of industry’s desire to share costs comes from a confusion over respective roles in shared responsibility.
• However, industry rightly has a fear of escalating cost if they do not control the program’s management and infrastructure. It is important that producers be involved in program decisions in a meaningful way.

4) EPR Programming Must Provide a Level Playing Field
All producers must participate in an EPR program to provide equity.
Issues / Comments

• Level playing field can be effectively managed through backdrop legislation.
• Level playing field does not imply everyone pays the same, but rather that everyone participates, i.e., no free riders.
• Harmonization is important as is relates to level playing field, but not a goal in itself.
• Harmonization is more a priority for industry than government, as they are more affected by lack of harmonization. For this reason, any move towards harmonization must be driven by industry.
• Harmonization will never succeed as a desire to drive programs to the lowest common denominator. It also must never be an excuse for inaction.

5) Cross-Subsidization Should be Minimized in EPR Programs
To deliver accurate price signals, products need to bear their full environmental costs, but not support other products.
Issues / Comments

• Products and materials need to be separately tracked and accounted.
• Producers can work together on common collection/processing systems to produce efficiencies while maintaining product independence.
• Separate accounting can still be accomplished through composition surveys and material handling research.

6) An EPR Program Should Strive to be Socially Responsible
Community issues and local economy should be considered in programming decisions.
Issues / Comments

• Cost factors may conflict with social issues.
• Political involvement and monitoring is important to managing this element of EPR programs, as these are societal issues.

7) The Program Must be Performance Driven
Goals or mandates should be set by government in consultation with stakeholders.
Issues / Comments

• Public reporting requirements should include financial and environmental information, and all reported data must be transparent and verifiable.
• Performance standards must apply to voluntary as well as mandated programs, allowing for industry to implement effective voluntary programs, but preventing ineffective voluntary programs from being introduced as avoidance mechanisms.
• In order for performance standards to be effective, there need to be serious consequences for non–performance.

8) All EPR Programs Need to be Transparent and Inclusive
There should be full public access to program reporting. Multi-stakeholder input needs to be incorporated into program decision–making.
Issues / Comments

• Composition of the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) is an important element of this principle. PRO Boards should be multi–stakeholder, and allow for no balance of power, i.e., one representative from each stakeholder group.
• PRO composition should include Environmental Non–Government Organization and public seats.
• The PRO, and the funds it collects, should be arms–length from government to provide autonomy. This seems to be important to public confidence, and counters the impression of fees being “taxes”.
• The PRO should promote ongoing communications with stakeholders and the public. It also needs to be seen as responsive to issues.

3Rs Waste Reduction Options

Reduce
Source reduction, also called waste prevention, means consuming and throwing away less. Source reduction can be achieved by purchasing durable, long-lasting goods, as well as seeking products and packaging that represent a reduction in materials, energy consumption or toxicity.

Reuse
Reusing involves the use of a product more than once without altering its form, either for the same or for a different purpose.

Recycle
Recycling: Diverting products from disposal at the end of their useful lives, sorting, transporting and processing them to produce secondary sources of materials that are subsequently used in the production of new goods.
Closed-Loop Recycling is when materials are reprocessed and manufactured into the same or similar recyclable products, which in turn will re-enter the recycling loop upon the end of their useful life.
Open-Loop Recycling is when the waste product is reprocessed into a different product that cannot readily reenter the recycling loop.

Residuals Disposal Options

Recover
Recovery involves utilizing the embodied energy in waste materials to produce needed heat or electricity.

Recovery is represented by a variety of combustion processes that capture varied amounts of available energy. Recovery is considered an alternate disposal method for residuals after the 3Rs have been maximized.

The Hierarchy

In terms of priority, the hierarchy of the 3 Rs is as shown above: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Recover is an alternate disposal technique that may fall higher on the waste management hierarchy than landfill, depending on the material and technology in question.