Recycling may be confusing but volunteers help get it right

June 13, 2018

Trained volunteers at large-scale public events and festivals are the most effective way to ensure people recycle correctly, suggests new UBC research. Researchers used data from the annual Apple Festival, held at the UBC Botanical Garden and attended by more than 10,000 people, to compare the effectiveness of different recycling and waste sorting methods.

Ivana Zelenika, a PhD candidate in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, explains why recommendations from the study will be crucial in ensuring recycling efforts are effective at upcoming summer events and festivals.

Ivana Zelenika, RES PhD candidate

How does contamination affect recycling?

For a long time, most recycling efforts have been focused exclusively on galvanizing participation, which is still very important, but if people are contaminating the bins it cancels out the participation effort. Contamination of waste streams makes the whole recycling enterprise costlier because it creates extra work for recycling facilities and reduces the quality and quantity of useful materials for resale. It’s no longer enough just to encourage participation—we need to encourage accurate sorting.

Recently there were a number of news stories about the cost of recycling contamination in cities across Canada. There is a huge financial incentive for event organizers, for institutions and for municipalities to recycle properly.

Why is contamination of recycling such a big issue at large events?

A large amount of waste is produced at events through food, drink and product packaging. When there are many different kinds of products and different vendors, it can be confusing for people to know what can be recycled and what can’t. When they are in social settings and in a hurry to get back to family and friends, this can lead to rushed waste disposal and contamination.

In our study, we found anywhere between 10 and 40 pieces of waste end up in the wrong bins, for example food or recyclable coffee lids being tossed into the garbage.

We tested the effect of having a trained volunteer stand by the bins to provide correct information about how to dispose of waste. The volunteers communicated with attendees so there was a chance to educate them. People like social interaction, so it also makes sense that people would approach someone standing by the bin, someone that they think is an expert that could help them, as opposed to trying to figure out signage on their own.

What were the findings of your study?

We conducted a randomized control trial at the annual Apple Festival at the UBC Botanical Garden to determine the most effective way to reduce waste contamination. We tried four different approaches: trained volunteers, bins with signs illustrating the waste products, bins with pieces of waste like aluminum cans or coffee lids attached to the top to indicate where the waste goes, and regular bins.

We determined that trained volunteers had a significant impact on the contamination levels of all waste streams. Volunteer staff were able to reduce contamination by 96 per cent in the organics bin, 97 per cent in the recyclable containers bin, 97 per cent in the paper bin, and 85 per cent in the garbage bin. The other bins—those with signage and even those with examples of waste sitting on top—had no significant effect on contamination levels.

Our results suggest that recruiting volunteer staff at waste stations is the most effective method to reduce contamination at public events.

What are the implications of this study for event organizers?

Trained volunteers are a huge resource because people need help sorting their waste. People are willing to recycle but providing bins and signage at events is not enough. We now have the data to show that volunteers are the only intervention that made a significant impact on decreasing contamination levels and we were quite surprised how well the volunteers worked to help people sort their waste correctly.

Volunteers make such a big difference, so let’s celebrate them and use them to help better support people and reduce contamination.

The study, “Toward zero waste events: Reducing contamination in waste streams with volunteer assistance,” was published in the journal Waste Management.

This piece was first released via UBC News

Why the G7 must take bold action on plastic pollution

September 20, 2018: IRES Faculty Seminar
Speaker: David Boyd

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

*********************************************************************************

The Right to Breathe Clean Air: Catalyst for Change?

The World Health Organization reports that air pollution causes approximately seven million deaths per year, a terrible burden that affects all countries but disproportionately harms low- and middle-income States, mainly in Asia and Africa. These preventable deaths are caused in roughly equal proportions by ambient (outdoor) air pollution, produced by industry and motor vehicles, and household (indoor) air pollution, produced by cooking, heating, and lighting with polluting fuels.

Yet the right to clean air seems to have garnered far less academic, political, and legal attention than the right to water. Could political and legal recognition of the right to breathe clean air serve as a catalyst for improvements in air quality? If so, what types of laws and policies might prove effective in achieving cleaner air for all, and especially the most vulnerable individuals and communities?

*** VIEW SEMINAR HERE.

David Boyd

Associate Professor of Law, Policy and Sustainability, IRES

Bio

David R. Boyd is the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment and an associate professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia. He has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from UBC, a law degree from the University of Toronto, and a business degree from the University of Alberta. His career has included serving as the executive director of Ecojustice, appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada, and working as a special advisor on sustainability for Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He has advised many governments on environmental, constitutional, and human rights policy. Along with Mayor Gregor Robertson, he co-chaired Vancouver’s effort to become the world’s greenest city by 2020.

Boyd is also the author of nine books and over 100 reports and articles on environmental law and policy, human rights, and constitutional law. His most recent books include The Rights of Nature (ECW Press, 2017), The Optimistic Environmentalist (ECW Press, 2015), Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Canadian Environmental Laws and Policies (UBC Press, 2015) and The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment (UBC Press, 2012).

Photo Credit: Ivana Zelenika, IRES PhD Candidate

February 21, 2019: No Seminar due to Reading Week

No Seminar due to Reading Week

Photo Credit: Ivana Zelenika, IRES PhD Candidate

October 4, 2018: IRES Student Seminar
Speakers: Johnnie Manson and Rainer Lempert

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

*********************************************************************************

Theories of “the land,” political consciousness, citizenship, and their implications for conducting research with urban Indigenous peoples.

Abstract:

Research on urban Indigenous peoples is burgeoning field encompassing a wide spectrum of theoretical perspectives. These social theories contain descriptive and normative components about the “natural” world, urban communities, and consciousness. As such, this presentation will critically engage with theories of political consciousness (ranging from Indigenous ontological to contractarian) to understand their claims about how the world operates causally. This presentation will demonstrate that the descriptive components of each theory of political consciousness is laden with dualist assumptions which impact the normative components of their theories. This presentation will also demonstrate that these theories contain key theoretical insights which demonstrate that the human social world is complex, dynamic, and subject to power relations. This presentation will conclude by using insights from these theories of political consciousness to develop an analytic framework – which I call traditional differentiation – for conducting research with urban Indigenous peoples.

*** VIEW SEMINAR HERE.

Johnnie Manson

Bio:

Johnnie Manson is a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. His current research is interested in urban Indigenous people, conceptualizations of nature, and conceptualizations of citizenship. Johnnie Manson is also a poet whose poetry has been published in numerous literary journals.

******************************************************************************************

Understanding Carsharing Demand: a lifestyle choice or an economic necessity?

Abstract:

Carsharing memberships have increased rapidly in the past decade. Municipal governments have supported this through various accommodations in the belief that they help address their key challenges related to mobility: e.g., reducing car ownership, VKT and GHG emissions. Here we provide findings from a 2017 survey providing further differentiation between one-way and two-way carsharing members in Vancouver, BC. One-way members take more than three times as many trips by private vehicle and twice as many trips by car share vehicle as two-way members, who inturn make more weekly trips walking and biking. Reported motivations for car share use correspond with these travel patterns. Two-way members preferentially view car-sharing as a way to live efficiently, save money, be environmentally friendly, and reduce their dependence on car ownership.

*** VIEW SEMINAR HERE.

Rainer Lempert

Bio:

Rainer is an MSc student at IRES under the supervision of Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi. He studies sustainable transportation, using a data driven approach to determine policy or business innovations that result in positive social and environmental impacts. Rainer graduated from Amherst College in 2015 with a BA in Geology and Mathematics. He then spent two years working in Boston for an environmental consulting company. His experience in the consulting industry, which involved enacting solutions for predetermined policies, influenced his desire to do work that helps shapes policy.

Photo Credit: Graham McDowell, IRES PhD Candidate

October 11, 2018: IRES Student Seminar
Speakers: Abhishek Kar and Zachary Sherker

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

*********************************************************************************

Is India’s Ujjwala program enabling a cooking energy transition? Analysis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) purchase trends in rural India

***CLICK HERE FOR SEMINAR VIDEO***

Abstract:

Fifty million poor women in India adopted cleaner-burning liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) since May 2016 under an ambitious Indian government subsidy and loan program called Ujjwala. Analysis of the enrollment and purchase history of 25,000 customers from rural India provide three insights. First, Ujjwala beneficiaries and non-Ujjwala consumers used LPG for 25% and 50% of their cooking energy demand in the first year respectively. Second, as LPG consumption of pre-Ujjwala consumers does not change over the first few years, Ujjwala consumers would likely continue to depend heavily on polluting solid fuels in near future. Third, there is a strong seasonal variation in LPG consumption due to climatic and economic reasons. As the envisaged economic, ecological, societal and health gains from clean cooking are linked to usage, policies directed at incentivizing usage, including seasonal discounts, is needed. Ujjwala is only the first-step towards cooking energy transition.

Abhishek Kar

Bio:

Abhishek Kar is a Ph.D. Candidate in IRES at UBC and was a participant in the 2018 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He was previously a Research Fellow at the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an Indian think-tank.

Over the last ten years his multi-disciplinary research experience (and published work) spans aerosols, human behavior, and policy analysis related to household air pollution in specific and energy access in general. His doctoral dissertation entails application of classical behavior change theories in conjunction with large consumer behavior datasets to better understand clean cooking energy transitions.

******************************************************************************************

Pacific great blue herons may be impacting the recovery of threatened Pacific salmon

***CLICK HERE FOR SEMINAR VIDEO***

Abstract:

An array of opportunistic foragers (brown trout, sculpins, common mergansers, North American river otters, American mink, and Pacific harbour seals) are suspected of preying on juvenile salmon in rivers and estuaries—and may account for critical low numbers of Chinook salmon in British Columbia. However, there is another piscivore predator that has been left off the list of usual suspects—the Pacific great blue heron. We investigated the role that herons might be playing in the decline of salmon by estimating rates of mortality caused by herons on juvenile Chinook salmon tagged with PIT tags in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 (~10,000 tags per year) in the Cowichan River on Vancouver Island. We scanned three heron rookeries located ~10, 20, and 30 km from the mouth of the river using a Biomark IS1001 mobile array, and found 410 tags in fecal remains under nests. Most of the tags (406) came from the closest rookery with ~100 nests, and the remaining few were from the two smaller more distant rookeries (7 nests, ~30 nests). Predation occurred primarily in the lower river and was higher during years of low water flow. Recovering so many tags at heron rookeries was unexpected, and indicates that blue herons are a major predator of juvenile Chinook. The location of heron nests relative to the distance to salmon bearing rivers is likely a good predictor of the impact on local salmon runs, and a potential means to assess coast-wide impacts of great blue herons on salmon recovery.

Zachary Sherker

Bio:

Zachary is completing his MSc in the RES program at UBC investigating freshwater and estuarine predation on juvenile salmon during their out-migration from natal rivers. Prior to coming out west, Zach completed an interdisciplinary BSc in Aquatic Resources and Biology at ST. F.X. University in Antigonish, N.S. During his undergraduate degree, Zach ran field and lab experiments to explore predator-induced phenotypic plasticity in intertidal blue mussels exposed to the waterborne cues of a drilling predator snail. He also conducted biological surveys on lobster fishing boats and worked as a fisheries observer for offshore commercial snow crab fleet.

Photo Credit: Robin Harder, Postdoctoral Fellow at IRES

September 13, 2018: IRES Faculty Seminar
Speaker: Julia Baird (Brock University)

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

*********************************************************************************

Understandings of water resource systems through a resilience lens

Abstract: Resilience has been identified as a promising concept for governance and management of social-ecological systems in the era of the Anthropocene. This extends beyond scholarship and into practice, with the term ‘resilience’ becoming increasingly common language in relation to goals of organizations, government agencies and other actors. Resilience scholars acknowledge the diverse ways in which we use ‘resilience’ and have spent considerable time reviewing the literature and developing typologies, however, the extent to which clarity around how resilience is being understood and used in society is unclear. I will describe some of the research I have been involved in over the past six years to assess how stakeholders and the public understand and think about their water resources, using a resilience lens. I will outline the main findings and some of the challenges of this line of research.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SEMINAR

Julia Baird

Julia Baird, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience at Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre.

Bio: Julia Baird is an Assistant Professor at Brock University and a Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience. Her research interests and expertise include the structure, function and outcomes of water governance networks, perceptions and understanding of water resource systems, and social factors that enhance water stewardship and engagement. Her research has been conducted in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia. Julia received her doctoral degree from the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan, with a M.Sc. also from Saskatchewan and a B.Sc. from the University of Alberta.

https://brocku.ca/esrc/julia-baird/

September 6, 2018: IRES Faculty Seminar
Speaker: Charlie Wilson
(First Seminar for Term 1)

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

*********************************************************************************

Transforming Energy Demand to Meet the 1.5°C Climate Target and Sustainable Development Goals Without Negative Emission Technologies

Abstract:
Scenarios limiting global warming to 1.5°C describe major transformations in the energy supply and ever-rising energy demand. We provide a contrasting perspective by developing a narrative of future change based on observable trends which results in low energy demand. We describe and quantify changes in activity levels and energy intensity in the Global North and South for all major energy services consistent with our scenario narrative. We find that global final energy demand by 2050 reduces to 245 EJ, around 40% lower than today’s levels despite rising population, income and activity. We show how changes in the quantity and type of energy services drive structural change in intermediate and upstream supply sectors (energy and land use). Down-sizing the global energy system dramatically improves the feasibility of low-carbon supply-side transformation by renewables and electrification. Our scenario meets 1.5°C climate and other sustainable development goals, without relying on controversial negative emission technologies.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SEMINAR

Charlie Wilson

Bio:

Charlie Wilson is a researcher in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (UK), and a co-leader of its Accelerating Social Transitions research theme. He is also a Reader in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia where he teaches modules on energy and climate change, social research methods, and envi- ronmental field skills. Charlie’s research lies at the intersection between innovation, behaviour and policy in the field of energy and climate change mitigation, working at both a systems level and a micro level. Charlie was also a PhD student at IRES many moons ago.

Project website: http://silci.org/