In the interest of learning ….
Posted: June 17th, 2013
Why does our Shipper Manny in our New Westminster plant have such a big smile on his face? That’s because he is driving our brand new electric forklift- this forklift has ZERO EMMISSIONS!
Lilac Festival – Facebook Drawing Contest!
Posted: May 29th, 2013
On June 26, Urban Impact participated in the Lilac Festival in sunny downtown Calgary. It was an amazing event, where 100,000 Calgarians wandered down the Festival streets! Urban Impact showcased our brand very successfully. There are several photos of the street festival as well (on our Calgary Facebook page). The Lilac Festival is very much like the Greek Days Festival in Vancouver.
We had a fantastic time as a first time sponsor of Calgary’s May 26 Lilac Festival. What a great way to start up to Calgary’s vibrant festival season. And what better way for us to meetCalgarians and chat about recycling! A huge thanks to the hundreds of people who came by our booth. Thanks to all the kids (and a few grown-ups!) who entered our Draw Our Hybrid Truck Facebook contest.
“In order to build the Urban Impact brand in Calgary we have chosen to participate in some Festivals & Events throughout this spring and summer of 2013. Each of the events will have a contest. At the Lilac Festival we chose a colouring contest for kids – it worked beautifully and many thankful parents parked their kids at the Urban Impact booth for 15 minutes of colouring and sit down. It was really fun to watch, and some of the kids took incredible care in their drawings.”
Nicole Stefenelli, Founder and CEO
We loved being right in the heart of the amazing array of musical talent, artisan vendors, quality entertainment. We also loved standing at our booth for some really fun people watching. We met literally hundreds of people. There were thousands of dogs at Lilac Festival. Our team had a great time handing out milk bone doggy biscuits- Woof Woof!
We have uploaded the art contest entries. We will be calling the winners in our three different age categories this Friday to let them know they won! We will also update our Facebook page with the winners.
Thanks to all the Festival attendees for stopping by- We loved meeting you and talking about how recycling at work really works! On behalf of the entire Urban Impact team, thanks for making Lilac Festival such a great event to for us!
Enclosed is a link to Facebook (Calgary Facebook page) and there are three albums for the Lilac Festival entrants. The first age category was 4 to 8 year olds, the second 9 to 13 years and the last one 14 +.
Click here to see our applicants!
Nicole’s CBC Radio Interview
Posted: May 2nd, 2013Click here to listen to our CEO’s Nicole’s CBC Radio Interview!
Earth Week School Tours
Posted: April 9th, 2013We are happy to be hosting Grade 4/5 students at our School Tours during Earth Week! April 22nd – 26th For more information visit http://schooltours.urbanimpact.com/
EPR Update March 22, 2013
Posted: March 22nd, 2013It has been a few months since our last update on the PPP situation in BC, and therefore high time we got everyone back up to speed!
A few days following our last post in November, MMBC submitted an official stewardship plan to the BC Ministry of Environment. This was followed by submission of a slightly revised plan on February 25, 2013, which included clarification of some plan aspects, as well as full reproduction of additional stakeholder feedback (follow this link to view the report: http://www.multimaterialbc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/plan/MMBC-PPP-Stewardship-Plan-Feb25-2013.pdf ).
At the most general level, the plan follows this framework:
-MMBC will determine a “Market Clearing Price” for collection of PPP, based on their perceived cost of an efficient collection program; both depots and curbside collectors will receive an MCP, but it is not yet known how many different MCPs there will be for different scenarios (i.e. urban vs. rural, curbside vs. depot)
-Local governments currently in charge of collection will have the option (a “Right of First Refusal”) to accept the MCP and continue their existing programs, or to reject it, in which case MMBC would take over recycling altogether.
-In addition, MMBC will seek bids from material processors (such as Urban Impact) for different regions’ material throughout the province; there will be contracts between MMBC and their processors, which may also be contingent on certain arrangements between collectors and the processors bidding on their material.
There is no doubt that the system being envisioned is a significant departure from what exists now.
One departure that recently exploded in terms of the mainstream news media, is the issue of glass in the Blue Box. Part of MMBC’s mandate is to harmonize recycling of PPP throughout the province, part of which means a standardized list of acceptable materials collected at curbside, at depots, or not at all. MMBC has put out a draft version of such a list that includes a proposal to remove glass from Blue Box curbside programs and have it collected by other means (i.e. depots or drop spots). This suggestion spurred a backlash of sorts, mainly from local governments and residents concerned about “taking a step backwards on recycling”, and convenience issues. The main reasons to remove glass center on its negative effects on other materials in the mix and on processing equipment, as well as its negative value and limited recycling applications when collected using curbside systems.
Check out this Global News story on the issue, featuring Urban Impact President, Nicole Stefenelli: http://www.globaltvbc.com/metro+vancouver+shocked+by+call+to+dump+glass+from+blue+boxes/6442800303/story.html.
Here is another link to some of Nicole’s opinions on the issue from her blog: http://blog.urbanimpact.com/
We have also seen a recent uptick in EPR interest from producers – those responsible for making the stuff in the Blue Box and paying for the new system. MMBC hosted information sessions for producers during March which were well attended by a wide variety of increasingly interested producer groups. Following the end of March, MMBC will likely be charging late fees for new producers signing up with their program, so producers would be advised to get informed and start looking at their options immediately.
The next big event in the process will be when MMBC proposes their official Market Clearing Prices to municipalities, who will then have to decide whether they are in, or out. This will likely be a very difficult decision for many cities to make, and they will only have 60 days to do it. Things definitely have the potential to get political and controversial, so stay tuned.
