Plastic waste

UBCO engineers are testing research that uses discarded plastic bottles to help stabilize clay banks in landfills (UBCO).

B.C. engineers study how repurposed plastic bottles could protect landfills

The research is published in the journal Waste Management and funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grants Program

 

B.C. Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman says new regulation concerning shopping bags will benefit the environment and the bottom line. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

New single-use plastics bans coming in time for B.C. holiday shopping season

New regulations around shopping bags, other single-use plastic items comes into effect Dec. 20

 

Besides landfills, tires are commonly dumped on beaches or in forest areas in British Columbia. The new partnership between Ocean Legacy and the B.C. Tire Stewardship aims to reduce tire pollution, and bolster recycling of discarded tires in the province. (Tire Stewardship B.C./Contributed to Black Press Media)

Tire pollution reduction rubber meeting the road in new B.C. partnership

Tire Stewardship B.C. helps fund Ocean Legacy Foundation cleanup work

 

FILE - A child sits inside a canoe with empty plastic bottles he collected to sell for recycling in the floating slum of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria, Nov. 8, 2022. Negotiators from around the world gather at UNESCO in Paris on Monday, May 29, 2023, for a second round of talks aiming toward a global treaty on fighting plastic pollution in 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

Delegates working to end global plastics pollution agree to craft a draft treaty

Environmental advocates cautiously welcomed the outcome of five days of U.N. talks in Paris on plastic pollution

FILE - A child sits inside a canoe with empty plastic bottles he collected to sell for recycling in the floating slum of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria, Nov. 8, 2022. Negotiators from around the world gather at UNESCO in Paris on Monday, May 29, 2023, for a second round of talks aiming toward a global treaty on fighting plastic pollution in 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
Discarded cups in a garbage container seen Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Vancouver city council votes to repeal 25-cent single-use cup fee, effective May 1

Businesses are still encouraged to accept customer’s reusable drinking cups

Discarded cups in a garbage container seen Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
A piece of plastic along the Dallas Road waterfront in March, 2023. Victoria is looking at a bylaw to curb single-use products, but it won’t involve a fee. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Victoria council won’t bring in fees on single-use cups, takeout containers

220,000 single-use items disposed of every day in the capital

A piece of plastic along the Dallas Road waterfront in March, 2023. Victoria is looking at a bylaw to curb single-use products, but it won’t involve a fee. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
The B.C. government brought in new regulations at the start of 2023 that expanded the list of items that can be recycled through blue bin and depot programs. Some are calling for more to be done in quelling the amount of single-use items making it to market. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Groups want plastic waste reduced at the source as B.C. expands recycling list

Environment minister says more single-use bans being looked at as more plastic regulations coming

The B.C. government brought in new regulations at the start of 2023 that expanded the list of items that can be recycled through blue bin and depot programs. Some are calling for more to be done in quelling the amount of single-use items making it to market. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
The B.C. government brought in new regulations at the start of 2023 that expanded the list of items that can be recycled through blue bin and depot programs. Some are calling for more to be done in quelling the amount of single-use items making it to market. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Groups want plastic waste reduced at the source as B.C. expands recycling list

Environment minister says more single-use bans being looked at as more plastic regulations coming

The B.C. government brought in new regulations at the start of 2023 that expanded the list of items that can be recycled through blue bin and depot programs. Some are calling for more to be done in quelling the amount of single-use items making it to market. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
Food is packaged into a polystyrene foam box in Honolulu in a Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo. Restaurants have been going through months of trial and error in preparation for the phase-in of a federal plastics ban that will eventually aim to remove many single-use plastics, such as takeout containers, from the market altogether. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Audrey McAvoy

Restaurants debut new takeout ware amid phase-in of single-use plastics ban

Recyclable fibre lids, bamboo cutlery and paper straws among alternatives being tested out

Food is packaged into a polystyrene foam box in Honolulu in a Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo. Restaurants have been going through months of trial and error in preparation for the phase-in of a federal plastics ban that will eventually aim to remove many single-use plastics, such as takeout containers, from the market altogether. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Audrey McAvoy
Paper straws are seen at a market in Montreal on Thursday, June 13, 2019. Canada’s ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Manufacturing, importing straws and other single-use plastics now banned

Plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and takeout containers can’t be made in Canada

Paper straws are seen at a market in Montreal on Thursday, June 13, 2019. Canada’s ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
FILE - A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste at the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

Watchdog group casts doubt on Amazon’s claims of reducing plastic

Oceana estimates Amazon’s plastic waste jumped from 599 million pounds in 2020 to 709 million

FILE - A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste at the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)
Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, announces the ban of single-use plastics, at a beach, on Monday, June 20, 2022 in Quebec City. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, behind, looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

New stats suggest Canadians already kicking some plastic habits as national ban looms

By Dec. 20, it will no longer be legal to manufacture or import most plastic shopping bags or straws

Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, announces the ban of single-use plastics, at a beach, on Monday, June 20, 2022 in Quebec City. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, behind, looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Debris artist Pete Clarkson stands next to his latest installment, ‘Classic Plastic’ outside Gaia Grocery in Tofino. (Photo courtesy of Surfrider Pacific Rim)

Provocative art installation challenges bottled water buyers in Tofino

Beachcomber and debris artist Pete Clarkson unveils new piece

Debris artist Pete Clarkson stands next to his latest installment, ‘Classic Plastic’ outside Gaia Grocery in Tofino. (Photo courtesy of Surfrider Pacific Rim)
Ocean lovers gather for a beach clean of Cox Bay in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory on Sept. 17. (Nora O’Malley photo)

Surfrider Canada and Reef host International Coastal Cleanup Day in Tofino

About 60 volunteers pitched in for a cleanup of Cox Bay on Sept. 17

Ocean lovers gather for a beach clean of Cox Bay in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory on Sept. 17. (Nora O’Malley photo)
Laska Pare, founder and CEO of Flipside Plastics, with the Victoria company’s first soap dish model, made from coffee lids that were discarded at local cafes. (Courtesy of Flipside Plastics)

Global plastic waste leads to Victoria company’s upcycled soap dish

Flipside Plastics is gearing up to release its new and improved model this fall

Laska Pare, founder and CEO of Flipside Plastics, with the Victoria company’s first soap dish model, made from coffee lids that were discarded at local cafes. (Courtesy of Flipside Plastics)
Nulla’s reusable glass that’s been used at some Greater Victoria markets. The City of Victoria will create a new section in its 20-year economic plan and aims to become a national leader in the circular economy. (Photo courtesy of The Nulla Project)

Victoria looks to be a national leader in the circular economy

City incorporating the low-waste lens into its economic strategy for climate, waste, business goals

Nulla’s reusable glass that’s been used at some Greater Victoria markets. The City of Victoria will create a new section in its 20-year economic plan and aims to become a national leader in the circular economy. (Photo courtesy of The Nulla Project)
Plastic straws are pictured in Vancouver on Monday, June 4, 2018. More than two dozen plastic makers are asking the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s plan to ban several single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and takeout containers. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward

Plastics producers ask court to quash planned federal ban on single-use straws, cups

Feds using Environmental Protection Act to ban the sale, import and production of six plastic items

Plastic straws are pictured in Vancouver on Monday, June 4, 2018. More than two dozen plastic makers are asking the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s plan to ban several single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and takeout containers. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward
Brittney St. Amant was named one of three winners of Ocean Wise’s Innovator Labs competition and will produce a documentary on ocean plastics to motivate change. (Photo submitted)

Tofino ocean scientist inspiring change through Ocean Wise Innovator Lab

Brittney St. Amant working on plastics documentary dubbed Along the Mountains and the Sea

Brittney St. Amant was named one of three winners of Ocean Wise’s Innovator Labs competition and will produce a documentary on ocean plastics to motivate change. (Photo submitted)
Kieran Cox enters the water near Victoria’s Inner Harbour to collect fish and invertebrates for a study on how microplastics move through marine food webs. (Courtesy of Hailey Davies)

Study dives into microplastic movement in Vancouver Island marine food webs

Wide variety of species ingest microplastics, but biomagnification not found

Kieran Cox enters the water near Victoria’s Inner Harbour to collect fish and invertebrates for a study on how microplastics move through marine food webs. (Courtesy of Hailey Davies)
As plastic continues to pollute the ocean, Oceana Canada is calling on the government action (credit Oceana Canada/Elemental).

Plastic predicament: Federal group urges action on packaging legislation in Canada

Oceana Canada is calling on the government to reduce the amount of harmful single-use plastics

As plastic continues to pollute the ocean, Oceana Canada is calling on the government action (credit Oceana Canada/Elemental).