I have a confession to make. I have always supported refillable bottles, but deep down, I never really thought the idea was economically viable in our global marketplace. However, after my trip to Germany — where refillables are available for nearly all beverages — (in all shapes, sizes, glass or PET), I believe the case […]
Articles and Publications
Who Pays What 2006-2007
An Analysis of Beverage Container Recovery and Costs in Canada
White Paper – Understanding the issues associated with beverage container recovery (2008)
Summary of findings While program funding options exist to pass the cost to consumers (CRF, Half-back), direct brandowner responsibility ensures cost scrutiny, and provides incentives for environmentally friendly packaging choices. Deposit return programs generate the bulk of program revenues from polluters and recovered material revenue Increasing the deposit level from 5-cents to 10-cents on existing […]
Eco-Economic Savings from Composting (2008)
Finally, an end to the diversion debate Today more than ever before, lifecycle assessments (“LCAs”) are being used to measure the true environmental impact of products and processes from cradle to grave. LCAs have become the primary tool to assess the environmental efficiency of one system versus another. However, the results of LCAs are generally […]
Composting — Best Bang for MSW Management Buck (2008)
FOR many years, life cycle analyses of end-of-life management practices have been available for allof the basic recyclables as well as organics. The life cycle data, usually derived by the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency’s WAste Reduction Model (WARM), represents the net greenhouse gasimpact of recycling, landfilling or incinerating a variety of material streams. The model calculatesemissions […]
Garbage In, Garbage Out (2007)
The pros and cons of waste to energy — a disposal strategy that’s making a comeback. Municipalities across Canada are enticed by the prospect of what seems to be an elegant solution to their waste disposal problem. Once termed “incineration” or “energy from waste,” today the politically correct terminology is “waste to energy” (WTE) or […]
Embodied Energy (2006)
We can’t measure the impact of solid waste unless we study the energy we throw away. Waste discussions have traditionally focused on the back-end management of garbage: the significant economic and environmental implications of finding safe disposal sites, for example. But the obvious often escapes us — that garbage is made up of basic materials […]
Who Pays What 2004-2005
An Analysis of Beverage Container Recovery and Costs in Canada. Across Canada, beverage container recovery continues to emerge as a challenging and highly political issue for industry and governments. As the recycling sector has evolved so too has a range of recovery initiatives, each emphasizing their own strategic value. In assessing these initiatives it’s remarkable […]
Recovering Canada’s Containers (2004)
Analyzing the performance and costs of Canada’s beverage container recovery programs reveals a stark disparity between deposit-return and curbside collection programs. Canadians are proud of their success when it comes to recovering beverage containers. Overall, Canada maintains a total recovery rate of 70 percent, representing just over 10 billion units collected per year. About 63 […]
Mercury Madness (2004)
Perhaps Lewis Carroll was referring to the twinkle of mercury used for hat production in the 1800s, which led to the Hatter’s ultimate madness. Mercury use dates back to 4,500 BC when Egyptians and Chinese used it as a pigment to paint their tombs and preserve their dead. Since then humans have used this unique […]
