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EESTI ELU reedel, 20. augustil 2021 — Friday, August 20, 2021
Re-Thinking Recycling and the Puzzle of Single-Use Plastics Vincent Teetsov Have you ever stood by your recycling and garbage bins and wondered which bin to put a piece of waste into? At one point, I felt pretty confi dent about my ability to dis cern which item belonged where. I would also clean out food packaging to make sure there wasn’t any detritus or grease to compromise batches of recycling when it was pro cessed. Waste from the gar bage can in the bathroom wouldn’t find its way into the blue recycling bin. A year ago, however, after washing a black plastic takeout container and reaching for the recycling bin, I was told about how black plastic can’t be recy cled. Incredulous about such a statement, I was shown the City of Toronto’s “Waste Wizard” web page. Lo and behold, black plastic has to go into the gar bage bin. Then I started to search regarding other common household waste. Shredded pa per must be in a clear plastic bag before it’s recycled. Greasy cardboard goes in the green bin. Bubblewrap is garbage. If you search for info on everything you throw out in a given week, you may be surprised at what you find out. Any contamination and mix ing of non-recyclable materials with recyclable ones can make it difficult for the recyclables to be sold, such that they end up in a landfill. With our existing system, there are high recycling contamination rates across Canada. CBC reported in 2018 that the rate was 26% in Toronto, 24% percent in Edmonton, and 21% in Halifax. In other cities, the percentage was lower, but still a factor: the recycling contamination rate in Vancouver was 4.6% and 7.5% in Montréal. It’s a missed opportunity when, once sorted successfully at a facility, many materials have excellent recycling pros pects. Aluminum and other met als have no limit to the amount of times they can be recycled.
The same can be said for glass, provided types of glass with different melting points are sep arated. Paper can be recycled five to seven times. But then, plastic varies widely in how many times it can be recycled; some plastics, like the PET that is used in water bottles, have a longer lifespan, while other types can be recycled just once. Considering the dilemma of contamination and the limita tions of materials used, what would happen if packaging was made out of materials that could be thrown away and left to biodegrade instead? One alternative to petro leum-based plastics are those made out of cellulose. In 2019, Andres Krumme, Professor of Polymer Technology at Tallinn University of Technology, shared with several news outlets that he had researched and de veloped “new polymers – cellu lose fatty acid esters...[that] can be processed in the same way as the commodity polymers”, in the sense that these bioplastics can be melted or processed. If they are indeed processed in the same way as other plastics, it could potentially resolve one of the criticisms of bioplastics, in that it can interfere with the processing of petroleum-based plastics when they mingle in batches of waste. In addition, the cellulose doesn’t necessarily have to be sourced from dedicated plots of land that are otherwise needed for growing food, which has been another worry surrounding bioplastics. Instead, the cellu lose could come from more pe ripheral sources like algae. There is a balance between making the plastic biodegrad able enough, so that it decays quickly in landfills, but is also durable. Krumme and his fel low researchers have been find ing ways to improve the perfor mance of these bioplastics, as they will need to contain not only dry goods but products with moisture like fruit, vegeta bles, and meat, without break ing down prematurely. There are many variables to
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ESTONIAN RELIEF COMMITTEE IN CANADA (ERC)
Call for DIRECTORS The 2021 Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held in September 2021. Some directors are standing for re-election. The Board is also accepting applica tions for new directors. Ehatare needs directors with an uncompromised commitment to the needs of our Estonian elders. In addition, the Board needs diversity: individuals with strong familiarity with finance, fundraising, health care, law or property develop ment. Nomination Forms are available at: http://www.ehatare.ca/erc and at EHATARE 40 Old Kingston Rd, Scarborough, ON, M1E 3J5. 416-284-0828 The completed nomination form must be received by the ERC Nominating Committee, at the above address or emailed to eak.ehatare@gmail.com by 6 pm, Aug. 27, 2021 ………………………………………………………………………………………… Note. According to our bylaws the nomination should be accompanied by the endorse ment of 5% of the voting members, i.e. 5 members ERC Board of Directors consider, while also making the packaging more affordable and enticing for companies that would use it. Furthermore, con sumers will still have to be mindful of not littering, so that the plastic doesn’t end up in the ocean, for example. The best approach could be to continue perfecting these bio plastics so that, soon, we can use them for single-use packag ing; but then, endeavour to bring back the use and re-use of non-plastic materials for shop ping. For instance, more gro cery stores could adopt a Bulk Barn-esque format, where cus tomers bring reusable fabric, glass, ceramic, and metal con tainers to collect their groceries. Individual suppliers would have to be on board with this, too. There will be some compro mises for consumers to make, but new technology like what we see being developed in Estonia shows that there is still a chance of preserving modern conveniences at the same time.
EFC Scholarship recipient
Triin Taal Triin Taal is an Estonian-Canadian uni versity student who received a 2020 EFC Scholarship with funding from the new Martin & Heljo Mäeks Fund. Born and raised in Tallinn, Triin now makes her home in Ottawa where she is in the 3rd year of her Bachelor of Commerce E-Supply Chain Management at Algonquin College. She previously com pleted a Bachelor of Science in Sports Therapy in London, England and was an Athlete and Ambassador on the Estonian National Basketball team for 6 years. On being Estonian The small size of the land inhabited by Estonians and in deed the Estonian population itself are unbelievable when compared to the rest of the world. Foreign forces have en slaved Estonians for centuries, but this small nation has man aged to survive and preserve its beautiful language. It is very uplifting to be part of it. Wherever I go in the wide world, I am proud to introduce everyone to this small but unique and extraordinary cultural fragment. I am extremely fortunate to have been born of this nation, to be born in my homeland Estonia, to spend my childhood there and to hear the stories of my grandmother about her family’s terrible deportation to Siberia. These are the tragic events of our family, but they have made us strong. I have grown just as tenacious and ambitious on the basis of these stories, I have also learned to deal with difficulties where at first sight everything might seem impossible. During those times I remind myself that as an Estonian, I cannot give up so easy, that I am from a country where, according to Tammsaare, love comes from hard work! Now I can proudly say that I have been fortunate to represent Estonia in the na tional basketball team. However, as a true Estonian, I hope to achieve even greater things in my life and to hold Estonia’s torch high. On EFC
E STO N I A N LI F E
Your source of news about Estonia and Estonians, home and abroad
Abroad, in a foreign language and cultural environment, it is sometimes more difficult to preserve our Estonian heritage. Estonian Foundation of Canada has worked very hard for it and invested a lot of time and funds to promote cultural heri tage. These traditions, so important to Estonians, have been kept alive here with great care and pure enthusiasm.
