"The Road to Zero Waste"

Harvinder Gill, Information Services Manager, Recycling Council of BC

The 3R’s, everybody’s heard of them – but how can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle play a part during your home renovation or new-home project? Learn how to reduce the amount of material being sent to landfill with simple, easy and cost-effective ideas.

METRO Waste (located in Surrey, BC) provides recycled materials for use in manufacturing and construction.

Visit http://www.metrowaste.com

Living a lifestyle that supports sustainability often offers significant benefits such as better health and less stress due to a supportive community and healthy, organic food. This workshop explores the “transition to sustainability” by providing you with information and tools for setting priorities and allocating your valuable time and financial resources.

Philip Be'er, Be'er Necessities $39 - 1 eve - Th Jan 31, 2008, 1745-2200, (50305)

The Canadian Waste and Recycling Expo is taking place in the
Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre November 28-29th. Click here to register.

A modest 1,300sf home north of Seattle has been lovingly disassembled with a new home rebuilt from the components. Due to rising landfill costs, tighter recycling guidelines and the growing trend toward ecologically sound building methods, this sort of home “deconstruction,” as the practice is called, is starting to catch on. About 1,000 homes a year are disassembled this way, according to the US Building Materials Reuse Association, a nonprofit educational group in State College, Pa., which reports growing interest in the practice.

Looking for information on waste reduction for renovations/demolitions.

The issue is partly to do with the total waste material generated but more to do with diverting it from landfill. In the GVRD about 67%% of construction waste is diverted to other uses. On some projects (not houses) we are getting over 90% diversion rates.

Destruction Boom: Demolition produces huge amounts of
waste, and recycling is limited by facilities available
Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, July 7 07

Click on the pdf attachment below for the full article.