Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on Planning and Environment

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT:

Promotional Inserts from Outside Recycling Organizations in the 2003 Garbage and Recycling Collection Calendar Mailing

 

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council approve the insertion of promotional material from the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation in our 2003 garbage and recycling collection calendar mailing.

CONSIDERATION

B. THAT Council consider the insertion of promotional material from the Salvation Army's "Blue Bag-it" clothing recycling program in our 2003 garbage and recycling collection calendar mailing.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek Council approval to include promotional material from two outside recycling programs in our 2003 garbage and recycling collection calendar mailing to residents.

BACKGROUND

Both the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation and the Salvation Army approached City staff this year to see if there were any opportunities to promote their recycling programs through the City. After discussing this, the two organizations asked if their promotional material could be mailed out with the City's garbage and recycling collection calendar. This general idea is consistent with the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan, where Vancouver and the other municipalities in the GVRD are committed to helping promote private and nonprofit reuse and recycling programs for our mutual benefit. This type of promotion most often takes the form of information placed on our brochures, newsletters and web pages, along with referrals by our municipal hotlines. The best existing example of this is the municipalities' strong support and promotion of the beverage container return system that is run by the nonprofit company Encorp for the beverage container industry. However, the requests from the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation and the Salvation Army are a more direct form of promotion.

DISCUSSION

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) is asking to include a bookmark that contains information about where residents can take their old rechargeable batteries. A draft of the bookmark is attached as Appendix A. Encouraging residents to recycle these types of batteries is important because they contain chemicals that are best kept from the landfill. RBRC is a nonprofit organization formed by the rechargeable battery industry to promote and coordinate the recycling of these batteries in North America (similar to what Encorp does for the beverage container industry in B.C.). RBRC represents about 90 percent of the industry in Canada and the United States. There are many drop-off locations in the lower mainland for these batteries as part of the RBRC program, including large retailers such as London Drugs, Canadian Tire, A& B Sound, Radio Shack and Future Shop. This program is therefore almost exclusive for these type of batteries, similar to the Encorp program for beverage containers, and the City can support it without much concern in terms of fairness to other recycling organizations.

The Salvation Army is asking that we include a flyer with information about their "Blue-Bag-it" clothing reuse and recycling program. A rough draft of the flyer is attached as Appendix B. The Salvation Army uses the resale of donated clothing in their thrift stores to help fundtheir community programs. There are many drop-off locations for this program in the lower mainland and, in August of this year, the program collected 7 million pounds of clothing across Canada.

The reuse and recycling of clothing in Vancouver is very competitive and quite a few other charities and businesses are involved. If the City partners with the Salvation Army in this way, it may be perceived by other recycling organizations that the City is unfairly promoting one participant in the used clothing market over the others. The value in postage for this type of mailing is about $7,000, so the City would be providing a significant benefit to the Salvation Army. If Council approves this, staff will review the reaction of residents and other recycling organizations. If the reaction is favourable, staff will consider helping other recycling organizations in a similar way in the future, subject to Council approval.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

RBRC and the Salvation Army will be paying the full costs of preparing and printing the promotional material they want included in our collection calendar mailing. However, the inclusion of the RBRC and Salvation Army materials will require two extra "stuffings" in the mailing envelope, and this will be the City's direct contribution. The costs for the extra stuffings will only be about $400 each because the job is already set up to stuff the City's materials (the collection calendar, a small recycling newsletter and perhaps utility fee information and a "yard can" label). This extra cost will be funded from the City's existing budget for recycling promotion. There will be no extra cost for the postage because the inclusion of the two outside promotional items will not put the mailing over the allowable weight at the existing rate.

CONCLUSION

This is a good opportunity to get information out to Vancouver residents about other recycling programs at very little cost to the City. RBRC's program prevents the chemicals in rechargeable batteries from reaching the landfill and staff recommend including their material in our mailing. The Salvation Army's "Blue-Bag-It" program prevents large amounts of clothing from reaching the landfill and funds their worthwhile community programs. Staff supports including the Salvation Army's material, but Council must consider the issue of fairness to other organizations involved in the used clothing market before approving this.

LINK TO APPENDICES

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