Last week, The Ottawa Citizen’s Kelly Egan wrote an article about cardboard recycling in Canada. In Thinking inside the box — pandemic creates crush of new cardboard, Egan provides some stats about paper packaging recycling and the consumption of trees — some of which are correct, and some of which are confusing. Egan reached out […]
Providing Clarity on The Ottawa Citizen’s Cardboard Recycling Article Read More »
This will be my last blog as executive director of PPEC, the environmental council I have run for the past 30 years. Yes, 30 years. Unbelievable how time marches on, isn’t it? I remember my first day on the job being asked to take the minutes of the board meeting. I knew only two people
What is it about pizza boxes that they always seem to get singled out for special mention? Is it the guilt we feel at scoffing down all that cheese and pepperoni? At tearing into that soft fresh crust knowing full well that our long-delayed and somewhat erratic weight-loss program will be pushed back a few
What is it about pizza boxes? Read More »
Green visions, aspirational goals, and political grandstanding are all very well in their place. But at some point, we have to be realistic. The fact of the matter is that the overall waste diversion rate of Ontario’s Blue Box is unlikely to improve much over the next ten years, and the new diversion targets proposed
Recycled content is the key component in the creation of a circular economy. It keeps raw materials flowing within the economy longer, reduces the pressure to extract more virgin materials from the earth, and delays their eventual disposal as waste. Recovering more materials for further use also creates jobs. A circular economy is something that
How about a different approach to recycled content and the circular economy? Read More »
The good news is that Ontario householders are generating less paper, plastic, glass and metal waste these days, 14% less than they were back in 2003. That is the year the province regulated industry to share the net cost of the province’s popular Blue Box program and waste statistics became more widely available. Of course,
Good news and bad news on Ontario’s Blue Box Read More »
An analysis of the last 10 years of data on Blue Box-type materials generated by Ontario households shows a 34% increase in the amount of plastic packaging ending up in the home. And most of it (70%) did not get sent on for recycling. The major increase is in the catch-all category of “other” plastics,
Almost 80,000 more tonnes of plastic in Ontario homes than 10 years ago Read More »
Une analyse des données des 10 dernières années sur les matières recueillies dans les boîtes bleues par les ménages de l’Ontario révèle une augmentation de 34 % de la quantité d’emballages en plastique qui se retrouve dans les maisons. Et la plupart de ces emballages (70 %) n’ont pas été envoyés au recyclage. La principale augmentation concerne la catégorie fourre-tout des « autres » plastiques, comme les contenants
Près de 80 000 tonnes de plastique de plus dans les foyers de l’Ontario qu’il y a 10 ans Read More »
An opportunity has opened to lead the Canadian paper packaging industry on environmental issues. The Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) was formed in 1990 as an umbrella organisation to focus on environmental issues affecting the sector. Its membership includes over 90% of the packaging mills in the country and most of its packaging
Executive Director (Part-time) Read More »
As a long-time admirer of Canadian broadcaster and author David Suzuki’s pungent style, it’s tough to have to point out three major errors in his latest opinion piece. I do so because his claim that paper does not represent a circular let alone a sustainable economy is dead wrong and based on patently false information.
Suzuki dead wrong on paper’s circular economy Read More »
