February 10th was a sad day in Ottawa…. Ottawa’s Plasco Energy Group filed for creditor protection and eliminated 80 jobs in nation’s capital, in an effort to restructure. Only 25 employees will remain through the course of this transition and the Trail Rd. facility will no longer operate. This is the latest in a series of challenges for Plasco, which was attempting to build a plant to convert municipal waste to energy. … Read more »
K-cup coffee pods are convenient items in our everyday lives. They allow us to make a single cup of our favourite tea or coffee quickly and efficiently, without the excess of a whole pot of something that goes cold. Here’s the catch. By making each pod so individual and easy to dispose of, packaging increases exponentially—packaging that ultimately ends up in landfills. K-cup pods aren’t recyclable. They’re made of No. 7 plastic – a … Read more »
Bait & Switch: a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one In this case, it’s less of encouragement to purchase something of a higher value, and more like just fraud. Late last year, a Vancouver franchisee of a junk removal company was caught on camera overcharging customers by a significant percentage. Amy Savoie … Read more »
Came across this great article in Wired Online, that outlines just how much a growing issue consumer electronic e-waste is becoming. The manufacturers of a lot of our favourite items aren’t making things any easier, either. Some 41.5 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2011, and that number is expected to rise to 93.5 million by 2016, according to the research firm MarketsandMarkets. Right now, 70 to 80 percent … Read more »
Orange Drop is a provincial initiative aiming at curbing or eliminating the number of hazardous materials being disposed of in Ontario’s landfills, or poured down sewer drains. Fully funded by industry, the province wide array of drop off sites accept nine materials. The program’s website gives a glimpse into some interesting facts and statistics about the kinds of things Ontarians don’t dispose of properly. The Orange Drop program safely manages nine materials to … Read more »
Canada is a vast expanse. We’re rich in natural landscape, unfettered by the encroachment of civilization. We live in a massive country with a tremendous amount of boreal forest and nature. Unfortunately, as a nation, we have some issues with trashing our woods and forests. The CBC published a very interesting article on this last week, and it’s a bit sobering to say the least. They even included a series … Read more »
The city’s green bin program has been a controversial subject since it’s introduction. Even that’s a bit of a understatement. Late last month, Auditor General Ken Hughes presented his internal audit of the handling of the city’s Orgaworld contract, which found $8 million in “unnecessary costs” paid to the company, plus $1.7 million in legal fees for the arbitration. The report’s findings revealed missing documents, lack of oversight, and “fundamental … Read more »
We all use cell phones, tablets, DVD players, and desktop computers. These are just a few electronic items that we employ in our every day lives – however – have you ever thought about where these things end up when we throw them in the trash? Check out the above map to find out! Canada generated 860,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2012. Toxic chemicals in electronics products can … Read more »
The good news: The amount of curb side garbage being diverted from Ottawa landfills was more than 50 per cent for the first time in 2013. Green bin collection increased 23.6 per cent to 83,000 tonnes in 2013. You read that right. Right on! The bad news: Not all of the city’s green bin waste is being processed at Orgaworld, the chair of the environment committee announced Tuesday. Only 69,000 tonnes … Read more »
By now, Ottawa’s residents are intimately acquainted with the city’s composting program. To say that it had a rocky rollout or that it continues to be a controversial program is an understatement. The program was instituted back in 2010 when the reality set in that the city was going to have to start looking for another landfill site. Council weighed the cost of finding and operating said landfill with the … Read more »