Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

The Yukon’s beverage container
recycling program
Since the Yukon government first
initiated a deposit-refund system on
beverage containers in 1992, the
Beverage Container Regulations have
been expanded twice. In 1996 glass
and plastic containers were added to
the list; in 1998 tin and tetrapak
containers were included.
The deposit collected by retailers
goes into a Recycling Fund, and is
used to help run registered recycling
centres. In 1997-98, 91.2 per cent
of containers covered by the
regulations were recouped based
on sales of 16.4 million containers.
Return rates in the Beverage
Container Program peaked in 1997/98
(Figure 3.17).
Recycling Club
The Yukon government started the
Recycling Club in 1996 to promote
the Yukon’s container recycling
program. In 1998 more than 1,600
Yukon youth joined the Club and
earned more than 29 million Recycling
Club points by turning in pop cans and
other beverage containers. The points
were traded in for prizes ranging from
books to bicycles.
This popular program, which is unique in
North America, is credited with helping
to increase container return rates from
80 per cent to 91 per cent in 1997/98.
Composting
Many Yukoners collect organic
household waste in their backyards,
using the rich compost to supplement
their soils. Up to 50 per cent of
household waste can be composted, so
composting can also reduce the waste
stream significantly. The City of
Whitehorse runs two composting
programs: Waste Watch and, through
contracts, the Composting Program at
the landfill.
In the Waste Watch program, compost
is collected every other week at the
curbside. In addition to vegetable and
table scraps, yard waste and other
organic items, the Waste Watch
program also accepts non-recyclable
paper such as box board and paper
napkins. These materials can be
composted because of the high
temperatures achieved in its large
compost piles. The average
temperature is 55°C.
The Waste Watch program is the city’s
main strategy for reducing residential
garbage. It is estimated that Waste
Watch can reduce the portion of
residential garbage that the city hauls to
the landfill by 40 per cent. This
reduction would extend the life of the
landfill by four years, saving $637,809
over the next 30 years.
The Recycle Organics Together Society
(ROTS) began a community composting
project in 1990, and in its first few
years produced about 200 cubic
metres of compost annually (Figure
3.18). This immensely successful program
now produces about 1,557
tonnes of compost every year. The
programme is currently operated by
Raven Recycling under contract and is
located at the landfill site. Raven Recy-
Cubic metres of compost
2000
1500
1000
500
0
cling sells this valuable fertilizer to the
public. This program has proven itself to
be the most successful waste stream
reduction activity so far.
The value of compost was demonstrated
in a pilot project, sponsored by
the Yukon Chamber of Mines, at the
abandoned Whitehorse Copper Mine
site. Different types of organic waste
were rototilled into a series of test plots
on the mine tailings. The site was
irrigated for several seasons, but since
1997 the vegetation has continued to
grow on its own. This experiment
showed a direct link between the
amount of compost used and the
amount of revegetation that took place
on different plots.
What are we doing about
special wastes?
The management of special waste has
changed dramatically since 1995 when
the Special Waste Regulations were
enacted. The regulations state that
special wastes must be disposed of in
an approved manner. The change in
disposal of waste oil is one example of
the effect of the new regulations.
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Figure 3.18 Organic material composted each year
Of the 1500 cubic metres of organic material composted in 1998, an estimated 245
cubic metres was collected from the 235 households on the Waste Watch programs.
C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 5 7