Recycling?That’ssooldschool

The next time you’re out shopping, don’t just think about the product you’re about to buy Consider how it’s made and where the cardboard or plastic packaging around it will go And then ask yourself this: How will I reuse the packaging so that it won’t go into the landfill?

That question is also on the minds of the National Zero Waste Council, a group of municipal and industry leaders started a decade ago by Metro Vancouver, of which Coquitlam Coun

Craig Hodge is now chair

Hodge, who is also vice-chair of Metro’s Zero Waste Committee, said the national group’s mandate is to go beyond recycling by eliminating waste in the first place To do this, Hodge said, the Council meets with companies to try to cut packaging at the source For example, instead of bread and meat being wrapped in plastic, businesses can use paperCompanies can also use organic packaging like pellets that can dissolve in water, he said

But consumers have a responsibility, too: Clothes that have a hole don’t have to get tossed; they can be repaired and donated

And food containers, like coffee cups, don’t have to be single use; rather, people can bring their own

The change in behaviour, by the industry and consumer, harkens to the war rationing years “Grandma was the original recycler,” Hodge said, referring to when little went in the trash

This month, the Council rang the alarm about the amount of food Canadians put in the can

In its Food Waste Action Week, which ran from March 6 to 12, it highlighted the following facts:

• Canadian households toss $1,300 worth of edible food a year about 4 5 meals a week

• Food waste adds up to 2 3 million tonnes a year in the landfill

• The most common foods dumped by weight are vegetables, fruit, cooked leftovers, breads, baked goods, dairy and eggs

Besides the packaging and food waste push, the national Council is tapping into other programs to lobby the federal, provincial and city governments for change

This includes the Right to Repair, a movement that seeks to ensure manufacturers provide the tools, software and instruction manuals to their consumers

Regionally, Metro has its Think Thrice campaign (Reduce, Repair, Reuse) that the Council promotes, giving consumers tips on caring

The goal of the National Zero Waste Council is to prevent the creation of waste so it doesn’t end up in the garbage or recycle bin, says Coquitlam Coun. Craig Hodge, who now chairs the council.

JANIS CLEUGH/TCN

for clothes, and repurposing and even renting them out

And in Coquitlam, where the landfill diversion rate is 72 per cent (versus 64 per cent regionally), Hodge said the city is doing its part by providing backyard composers for yard trimmings and food scraps, among other things He’s hoping for a Repair Café in the city soon, similar to what PoCo does

Still, Coquitlam has its work cut out with unnecessary waste from multi-family units, where residents can hide their unwanted goods in black bags and big bins

As well, Hodge said, he’d like to see the city give incentives to homeowners who relocate homes as he’s seen too many wrecking balls on well-built, older homes

He's also pushing for a lendable library where residents can borrow big items such as power tools, cooking pots and pans, and sewing machines That way, consumers don’t have to buy them for small jobs and have them collect dust

“We shouldn’t be creating waste in the first place,” Hodge said

Coquitlam will change the way it reaches out to residents to see how satisfied they are with civic programs and services

On March 6, city staff said they’ll contact residents every two years rather than annually through an Ipsos survey to avoid “engagement fatigue”

And, as more people have cellphones, they’ll now invite residents randomly by mail to fill out an online poll, as well as call residents on their landlines to conduct the statistically valid survey City staff say using cellphones for the Ipsos survey would be too costly

Residents invited to the online questionnaire will be mailed a unique code to take part; respondents can also call Ipsos directly if they don’t want to use a computer

Still, the mailed-out invite typically yields a 10 per cent response rate, according to other Lower Mainland jurisdictions using Ipsos for their customer satisfaction surveys, said Graham Stuart, Coquitlam’s director of corporate planning

Conducted each year in Coquitlam since 2003, the Ipsos poll gauges community trends and the public’s perceptions and attitudes about the city’s performance on such issues as emergency protection, housing and roads

“The value of this is finding the issues that percolate in the community,” Stuart said at the committee-in-council meeting

“This is important data that we collect,” Coun Craig Hodge added “It is helpful to see the change in trends”

The cost to Coquitlam taxpayers for administrating the poll will jump from $27,000 a year to $40,000 every two years a savings of $14,000, according to a report

In 2021, the spring Ipsos survey drew nearly 500 respondents of which 96 per cent said they were satisfied with the city services and 89 per cent said the municipality offered good value for their tax dollars

The 2021 findings also showed the COVID-19 pandemic had little effect on the public's sentiment of city hall; however, 59 per cent of respondents said the pandemic affected their mental health