How B.C.’s hospitality sector is trying to solve its garbage problem
CBC
Cody Irwin’s business is simple. Provide businesses with plastic, reusable foodware — and then take it back after it’s been used, wash it and make it available again.
His ShareWares business got its biggest boost when it was put into practice for 54,000 people at a Vancouver Whitecaps soccer game at B.C. Place last weekend.
“That was the biggest game that we did, and it went great, and we're super excited about it,” he said.
“We're proving that this is totally possible.”
B.C.’s biggest stadium is trying to be at the forefront of what’s possible in waste reduction across the hospitality sector, especially as it’s set to host seven FIFA World Cup matches next year.
“We're going to have guests here from all over the world who have different levels of understanding of waste management and recycling and sorting,” said Jenna Visram, B.C. Place’s assistant general manager.
The operators of B.C. Place, which was built 43 years ago, have been steadily making changes to help divert the 5,300 kilograms of waste created when it hosts a sporting event and only the lower bowl seating is used.
That number goes up to 47,500 kilograms of waste when the entire 55,000 seat stadium is being used.
“That's significant,” said Visram about the amount of beverage and food containers being used and then discarded.
She said 80 per cent of that waste from smaller events, and 77 per cent from bigger events, is being diverted away from landfills.
Since 2020, the stadium has been making changed to use wooden cutlery, compostable food containers — and now the ShareWares cups — stadium-wide.
If you’re wondering about what happens to the mix of discarded cups and containers piled under seats at events, Visram says there are teams that sort it all.
She says B.C. Place can get to a 90 per cent diversion rate by the end of next year.
“We always want to be a leader in the industry and we saw trends emerging, and so that was our cue to really take the lead and become the first stadium in Canada to, for example, launch a reusable cup program,” she said.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.
A memorial to remember lives lost to gender-based violence was held in Charlottetown Friday, ahead of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which is marked annually on Dec. 6.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.