Finally, we talk about recycling !

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The Committee Operation-Glass-Green, Special Collaboration

Saturday, February 3, 2018 05:00

UPDATE
Saturday, February 3, 2018 05:00

Look at this article

The decision of China not to import the major part of our recovery tank causes currently a shockwave of a magnitude at which it is to be expected. In recent weeks, almost all the media and organizations concerned have reported on the situation particularly embarrassing.

During the past year, however, Eco-Company, we had been inundated with several advertisements triomphalistes on the recovery in Quebec. Without ever giving indication on what happened to this recovery. The word recycling was not part of the vocabulary.

Bundles of waste

With the refusal of China, we now know that this recovery was to be recycled elsewhere, and that it was so poorly sorted that the Chinese no longer want to import our waste. We already knew that our glass was returning almost all of in landfills (14 % recycled paper, therefore 86 % in landfills).

And now, by the force of things, we will have thousands of tons of such waste into bales that will accumulate in the course of sorting centres. We are told that nothing will be sent in the landfills, what other provinces have already started to do.

We are told that we will have opportunities elsewhere, in India, Thailand, etc, This will be for when, for how long and at what cost ? Because we never spoke of the performance of these materials sent to you in China. Is it not costing us nothing because we would be by chance be exempt from paying for transportation ? The empty vessels that return to China, they have to be ballasted to make the return journey ? We did not speak more of the Co2 cost, because the greater part of the paper and plastics exported is used as fuel.

In addition, we have not and we will not have before a time in Quebec, the machines that could improve the sorting. Maybe there in there for the few that are in the process of experimentation, but the cost is very high. So, for how long will we have to build up ? And possibly build warehouses gigantic to that the material is not subjected to the weather. Bundles of wet paper, it does not heat safe.

Local recycling

At the end, why not recycle a Quebec ? There are factories and processors of glass who want the clean glass. All the glass. There is the company Cascades who claimed that there was little time that she could recycle all the recovered paper in Quebec, provided that it is clean. It must import much of its recovered paper.

Most of the conditioners of plastic are missing from the map because the recovered plastic was too dirty, contaminated especially by the glass. Think for a minute to the job creation related to local recycling and community enrichment that would result.

The goal of waste zero has just eaten a big kick in the kidneys. So, why not rethink the system of collection of the recovered materials ? Why tie it all together and then unravel, with the cross-contamination that ensues ? Einstein said that we cannot solve a problem by the same causes which have produced.

And the ultimate question : who benefits from the maintenance of such a system ?

The Committee Operation-Glass-Green : Micheline Jeanson, Mary Bombardier, Viator, H. Blais, Diane Deschesnes, Jean-Claude Thibault, Gaston Michaud atquebec.org/tag/operation-verre-vert/