recycling resources

Recycling Resources to Declutter Like a Pro

/in , , , , , /by

Are you busy cleaning out your garage? Do you need to recycle old bicycles and broken Christmas lights? Do you have a stash of old paint cans, electronics or power tools that you’ve been putting off dealing with? If you need help to get started with cleaning up and decluttering, read on to find out about some great Metro Vancouver recycling resources!

Metro Vancouver Transfer Stations & Vancouver Landfill
All kinds of recyclables are accepted in the recycling section of Metro Vancouver’s Transfer Stations – located in Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Surrey, North Vancouver, Vancouver, and Aldergrove. These are very convenient recycling resources that you can rely on. We love the free one-stop location to recycle everything from basics like cardboard, light bulbs and plastics to hard-to-recycle items like paint, pesticides, propane tanks and small appliances.

Zero Waste Centre in Vancouver
Another one of the best recycling resources is the Zero West Centre in Vancouver. Visit the new Zero Waste Centre at the Vancouver South Transfer Station to drop off a wide variety of recyclables for free.  Everything from electronics to batteries to bikes and large appliances can be recycled here. This centre is a gem for all your recycling needs.

Vancouver Zero Waste Centre - 8588 Yukon Street, Vancouver, BC.

Sell or Donate your old stuff
Selling or donating your reusable items is a great way to get rid of your old stuff. These are some of our favourite places to do that:

Metro Vancouver Recycles
Residents and businesses can visit the Metro Vancouver Recycles web page to find places to donate or recycle just about anything. You will be asked to select the material you wish to recycle or dispose of and provide your location information to get a list of suitable recycling options.

Call us at Green Coast Rubbish
If you still don’t know what to do with your old stuff, give us a call at Green Coast Rubbish. We take great pride in being Vancouver’s environmentally conscious waste removal company and we donate or recycle at least 75% of the materials we pick up, with much of it being donated to charity. Get in touch by emailing pickup@www.greencoastrubbish.com or by calling 604 230 4530.

Pacific Carpet Recycling

/in , , , , , /by

We love to work closely with green conscious businesses who care as much the environment as we do. That’s why we’re really excited to have Pacific Carpet Recycling as a partner. They are the only carpet and underlay recycler in Vancouver, and they’re doing great work around the Lower Mainland.

Nothing but carpet from floor to ceiling. Green Coast parked at the Pacific Carpet Recycling warehouse.

Carpet is something that most people take for granted; not really giving it much thought until they are looking to renovate a space. But the amount of waste created from carpet being thrown into our landfills is mindblowing — as much as 80 million lbs are thrown into garbage dumps in Metro Vancouver alone! Even worse, it can take as long as 50 years for it to break down once it’s in there. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Being a petroleum-based product, many types of carpet and underlay are recyclable, and can be made into new flooring, clothing, furniture, auto parts, and other items we use on a daily basis.

Peter Cox the man behind Pacific Coast Recycling. Nothing but smile and carpet!

In recent years, PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) carpet has gained popularity, because it’s manufactured using recycled pop bottles. In theory, this sounds like an excellent green alternative, but at the present time there are no effective means to recycle carpet once it is made from this material. If you are looking for the most environmentally mindful flooring, PCR suggests opting for Nylon carpeting instead, which is completely recyclable.

Though Pacific Carpet Recycling does not deal directly with the consumer public, Green Coast Rubbish has partnered exclusively with them, allowing us to remove the carpet from your home or business (and any other waste that you might need hauled away) and deliver it to PCR on your behalf. If you have any questions about recycling carpet, or the work we do at Green Coast Rubbish, please never hesitate to contact us.

Plastics

Plastics: A Complex Issue

/in , , /by

Plastics can be found in every aspect of our lives, and its widespread use has changed us as a society. On one hand, it has allowed many products to be manufactured more quickly and inexpensively; on the other, the environmental repercussions have been significant.

The amount of waste produced from plastics has created many complex issues, including negatively impacting the health of our oceans. Tidal currents cause discarded plastics to collect in many areas, where they are consumed by fish, mammals, and birds — trickling down into every part of the food chain (including humans). Between 60-80% of all debris found in the water are plastic — there’s a floating mass in the Pacific Ocean approximately the size of Texas.  And because plastics are an extremely durable material, they can take decades to breakdown once they are disposed, meaning they just accumulate in our landfills. Since the 1950’s, over a billion tonnes of plastics have been thrown away. This number is almost incomprehensible to most of us.

Thankfully, things are slowly beginning to change. Advancements in plastics technology have made some forms of plastics biodegradable — allowing them to disintegrate when exposed to water, or sunlight. Recycling programs have expanded in many cities to include more options for processing.

More recently, innovative businesses like The Plastic Bank have developed, placing more value on plastics — in turn encouraging the collection, recycling, and reuse of more of these materials in developing countries. All these steps begin to address the issues of how to deal with the overabundance of plastics in our country, and throughout the world.

At Green Coast Rubbish we work together with the North Shore Recycling Drop-off Depot for soft as well as numbered plastics, and for blended plastics and PVC piping we utilize Blue Planet Recycling Ltd. In 2013, we helped keep over 2 tonnes of plastics from our landfills and oceans. We were happy to see that Vancouver has recently changed its blue box program in May 2014 to include clamshell packaging (and more).

There are many kinds of plastics, and the rules of what can and can’t be recycled can get confusing. The David Suzuki Foundation has an excellent list which explains the differences, and various types.

Though recycling is an excellent way to help keep more plastic waste out of our landfills, ultimately, being mindful at the point of sale is important too. Plastic items will be stamped with a number on the bottom (designating how & if that material can be recycled). If there is no number present, there is a good chance that item will end up in a landfill. Being informed about your purchases before you buy is the best way to ensure you’re choosing items that are good for you, while still being good to our environment. Reduce when you can. Reuse what you’re able. Recycle when it’s done. Our environment will thank you for it!