rubbish

Tuesday January 18, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 18, 2022

COVID-19 home testing kits: should we be worried about their environmental impact?

March 10, 2021

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to renewed interest in home testing kits. The UK is getting through millions of these tests each week, while US president Joe Biden has just ordered 500 million kits to send to Americans.

Along with vaccinations and better medication, the availability of rapid testing has meant that many countries are in a much better place to combat the pandemic than they were a year ago.

As with everything, though, testing has an environmental impact that warrants some investigation. So should we be worried about millions – or billions – of plastic test tubes and swabs?

Monday April 29, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday April 29, 2019

Canada working with Philippines for ‘timely resolution’ of waste issue

Canada on Wednesday expressed its commitment in collaborating with the Philippines to address the dumping of waste in the country.

The Canadian Embassy in Manila released a statement a day after President Rodrigo Duterte warned the North American country that he would be sailing to Canada to dump their trash back.

“I want a boat prepared. I’ll give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that thing out or I will set sail, there in Canada, I will dump their trash there,” Duterte said in Pampanga on Tuesday.

The Canadian Embassy said a joint technical working group composed of officials from both Canada and the Philippines has been looking into the issues surrounding the removal of the waste in the country “with a view to a timely resolution.”

“In 2016, Canada amended its regulations around hazardous waste shipments to prevent such events from happening again,” the Canadian Embassy said in a statement.

Canada vowed to work with the Philippines in ensuring that the waste shipment will be “processed in an environmentally responsible way.”

In 2017, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was committed to addressing the issue of waste from Canada that was shipped to the Philippines.

More than 100 container vans of garbage arrived in the Philippines between 2013 to 2014.

“I committed to him (Duterte) as much as I am committing to you that Canada is working hard to resolve the issue,” Trudeau said on the sidelines of the 2017 ASEAN Summit in Manila. (Source: PhilStar)

Wednesday May 2, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 2, 2018

Hamilton’s blue box blues: recycling ban looms for coffee lids, Styrofoam

The city no longer wants you to put coffee cup lids, black plastic or Styrofoam in the blue box — despite spending years encouraging residents to recycle those items.

April 24, 2018

The low-grade plastics are technically recyclable, but virtually no one wants to buy the collected material anymore — especially since market giant China cracked down on imported plastics in January, said city recycling manager Emil Prpic.

The city is increasingly forced to trash those lids and containers, or risk having would-be buyers reject entire loads of “contaminated” plastic sorted at its Burlington Street recycling facility.

It’s a “market-driven” eco-dilemma, said Prpic. “Two years ago there was still a market for black plastic … it’s here today, gone tomorrow.”

For now, that means it may be better for the environment for you to directly trash those lids, meat trays and takeout containers, said Prpic, after updating councillors Monday on the blue box blues.

He said such recycling rejects have contributed to a spike in the blue box “contamination rate” from seven to 14 per cent over the last five years. Contamination includes nonrecyclable items like coffee pods, bread tabs and bottle caps, but also ruined recyclables covered in food waste, for example.

On the up side, it could be worse — Toronto is struggling with a contamination rate closer to 25 per cent. Coun. Sam Merulla asked staff to bring back a comparison report on how Hamilton stacks up against other cities in keeping compost and recyclables out of the dump. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8579370-hamilton-s-blue-box-blues-recycling-ban-looms-for-coffee-lids-styrofoam/

 

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