4 10B - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 27, 1990 The Environment TIME FOR BUSINESS TO CLEAN UP! by Janet Banting According to information I received last fall from the Recycl- ing Council of Ontario, it is estimated that industrial and com- mercial operations "produce more than 60 per cent or approx- imately 5 million tonnes of the waste that goes to Ontario land- fill sites every year." This means that, while we all as householders have a large part to play in reducing waste, business operators have a major one as well and need to start getting serious about it! With as many as 300 municipalities in Ontario needing new landfills over the next few years, the garbage problem is not simply going to go away. Governments at all levels, municipal, regional, provincial, and federal, are being forced to take ac- tion to reduce the amount of garbage going to landfill. We all know that when governments legislate, people tend to resist the measures that are forced on them (seatbelt legisla- tion is a prime example of this). This means that it is much bet- ter for companies to find their own solutions to waste problems than to have regulations imposed on them from outside. What I am going to do in this week's column is talk about some large businesses that are already involved in waste reduction projects, in the hope that it will inspire readers to borrow ideas or generate their own new ones. Then, in a couple of weeks, I'd like to do a column on what local business people are doing so that their good ideas can be passed along to others. An excellent example of a responsible corporate citizen is Mother Parkers, a major coffee manufacturer. This company receives coffee beans in jute bags, which are later sold to the public as tree and shrub protectors. They also make residue from roasted coffee beans into pellets and sell it to farmers as livestock feed. Corrugated cardboard and scrap metal are sent out for recycling and wood pallettes are either re-used as firewood or by transportation companies. The company estimates that these methods have helped it to reduce its waste by 85 percent. The Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspaper has been recycl- ing its newsprint for 20 years and also collects, cleans, and reuses ink that overflows during printing. Printing plates are manufac- tured from recycled aluminum, and silver recovered from the photography department is sold and recycled. Soft drink cans and fine paper are also recycled. At Boeing/deHavilland, an airline manufacturer, aluminum shavings are recycled and many other scraps are sent to school for art projects, while the fine paper and cardboard used at the plant are recycled. Purity Packaging, a plastic container manufacturer for the food industry, sells scrap metals and uses recyclable resins and polymers. Some plastic trimmings are reused while others are ground and sold to be used in piping and toys. Rather than use a plastic in their condiment cup line that was too acidic to be recycled, Purity found a company that can recycle the plastic without damaging the environment. (Credit for the above infor- mation goes to the Recycling Council of Ontario). Then there are the Imagination Market and Arts Junktion, both of which I learned about from a recent Ontario Recycling Update magazine. Both organizations were created to receive manufacturers' discards and promote their creative reuse. Van- couver's Imagination Market has a van that collects discarded material from 200 manufacturers and drops it at their own warehouse for sorting. The materials are then either sold in the storefront location or through the mail order service, or used in workshops or special events decoration. It is estimated that 250,000 people used the Imagination Market's services in 1989. Arts Junktion, which is located in Toronto, is funded by the Toronto Board of Education's Visual Arts Department. The manager, Jane Bonnell, tracks down manufacturers' scraps, off- cuts, and recyclable material from hundreds of firms and then makes it available at little or no cost to interested teachers within the Board for use in various class projects. Ms. Bonnell claims that this organization diverts at least a tonne of garbage per week from landfill. This is an impressive achievement! Space has once again run out. Next week's column will have specific suggestions for businesses on how to reduce waste. Meanwhile, if you are practicing the 3 R's at your workplace and would like to have others read about it in this column, give me a call (985-3225) and tell me about it! Port Perry Counselling Service MED. AL ASSOCIATES, 462 PAXTON ST. & 1 oh M .ureen Salkeld, B.A., M.Ed. GK P PSYCHOTHERAPY -- 985.0757 AGE & FAMILY COUNSELLING -- -- DAY or EVENING -- -- MA DIVORCE MEDIATION -- TRESS MANAGEMENT -- 'OE ATT. NTION ... All Hearing Aid Wearers of Port Perry and Area ... AN"S HEARING AID CENTRE 30 Queen Street, Port Perry For tt '"lonths of March and April (Mon. & Wed. Only), ar sing a Sale on all their Hearing Aid Batteries. $4 ( Pack of 3 BATTERIES Now 3.00 $5¢ Pack of 4 BATTERIES Now 4.00 $8.00 Pack of 6 BATTERIES . Now 6.00 E---- gy oa Curling Club Cash Spiel Winners 5 ht | L In the A Division of the three-day "Cash Spiel" held at Port Perry Curling Club, a rink from Humber Highlands in Etobicoke took the trophy sponsored by Ken and Dianne Gore- ski (Goreski Roofing) Skip Stewart Schart accepts trophy from Ken. With him are Cary Luner, Paul McInnis and Dave Henderson. The curlers also took home top cash award of $1,000. Runner-up was Greg Nelson of Unionville whose rink won $600. Uys yr BY In the B Division, sponsored by Donna Fairman and Square Boy Pizza, Port Perry, John Steski and his rink from Lindsay went home with the honours and a cheque for $400. With the skip are Chris Lawes, Sean Gerster and Sean Slapnicar. Ralph Fairman's rink from Port Perry was runner-up. A He Seas _ : 7 4 Rr o> % > 4 2 - #4 § Fo, In the C Division, Randy Scott, representing Gllbey Canada, presents cheque for $400 to skip Murray Millar of Oshawa and his rink of John Carrick, Mel Miller and Jeremy Phil- lips. Paul Griffen and his team from PP Curling Club finished second In this division. Club bonspiel convenor Bert Hutcheon presents D Division winners with cheque for $400 to a rink from Bayview Curling Club In Toronto. Skip is Rob Houston with Rob Cum- mings, Spike Tully and Al Hardman. Another Port Perry rink was runner- Scott Howey. ry up, skipped by