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Vancouver's Exhibition Aims to Drop the Waste

Almost all of it, in fact. Don't miss Aug. 27's 'Zero Waste' challenge at the PNE.

Jesse Donaldson 11 Aug 2014TheTyee.ca

Jesse Donaldson is an author, journalist, photographer and one of the founding members of The Dependent Magazine. His first book, This Day in Vancouver, was recently shortlisted for a B.C. Book Prize. Find his previous articles published in The Tyee here.

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PNE aims for good green fun this summer. Drop Zone photo by Here in Vancouver in Your BC: The Tyee's Photo Pool.

It's no secret that Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition has generated an awful lot of annual waste over the past century. Whether the rides, the lights or those ever-present mini doughnuts, the local institution, with its dozens of vendors, thousands of employees and more than a million yearly visitors, has the potential to inject a lot of carbon into the atmosphere, and send a lot of bags to the trash heap.

But the fair's already fairer than it used to be, at least environmentally speaking. A series of sweeping changes to the PNE's environmental policy in recent years have drastically reduced its waste output and energy and water consumption.

This summer, however, the PNE is shooting for exhibition history. On Aug. 27, in partnership with Vancity and Green Chair, the fair aims to divert as much as 90 per cent of the day's waste from the landfill.

Throughout the Fair at the PNE, there will be 76 brand-new recycling and composting bins on site. On Aug. 27, more than 200 Zero Waste ambassadors from Green Chair and Vancity will help fair-goers get familiar with recycling and composting options. Green Chair is a company that's worked on several virtually zero-waste community events over the past six years.

"It's been proven time and time again that if you don't have the recycling stations supervised, you get too much contamination and it all ends up going to the landfill," explains the company's Nicki Casley.

Ground zero

This isn't the only Zero Waste event taking place in Metro Vancouver. In July, Car Free Days held in neighbourhoods around the region kept 58 per cent of waste out of local landfills, and during the first four weekends of Vancouver's Food Cart Fest, more than 90 per cent of waste was diverted -- the equivalent of 134 large bags of garbage, or a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking seven cars off the road for a month.

"We've even managed to do some negative-waste events, where we're encouraging attendees to bring recycling from home, and then those attendees bring more recycling to the site than the event actually produced," Casley says.

As it was last year, the event will be Cowpowered, meaning that the electricity used is offset by renewable energy produced from food waste and cow manure at an Abbotsford farm. Free bike store provided by the Bike Valet supports zero carbon transportation to the Fair.

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Waste and recycling bins will be staffed Aug. 27 at the PNE. Photo submitted by Green Chair Events.

The PNE already has a number of waste-reduction initiatives in place, including low-flush urinals, energy-efficient lighting, and a new $300,000 climate-control system for the Pacific Coliseum. It's encouraged vendors to source local food products, and mandated the use of environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies.

Last year, the PNE requested its vendors refrain from using Styrofoam, a measure met with 90 per cent voluntary compliance. This year, Styrofoam is strictly forbidden as are non-recyclable plastics, along with the use of lights before dark. Recalcitrant vendors are issued a $125-per-day fine for noncooperation.

During last year's exhibition, close to 17 tons of food scraps and leftovers were diverted due to post-consumer composting. Suggestions on reducing the PNE's environmental impact were taken from both employees and fairgoers, a sort of crowdsourcing for sustainability.

"We got some crazy ideas -- like human-powered rides," Vancity's Maureen Cureton recalls. "But overwhelmingly people said: waste reduction, recycling and composting."

The results of both public and private consultation have resulted in a sustainability plan for the PNE that looks ahead 10 years. In the past few years, according to an internal audit, the fair has managed to increase its waste diversion from 35 to 60 per cent.

As PNE sustainability manager Michael Woodman notes, the initiatives also make economic sense. "To collect and deal with compost, it's significantly less expensive than to haul general waste," he explains. "So, if we can do this successfully, we're going to be saving money, let alone the fact that it's just the right thing to do."

It ain't easy being green

So what's to keep every event from being Zero Waste? According to Casley, clearly budget and education are two mitigating factors.

"The waste haulers provide a very cheap, dirty service," she notes. "It's a lot more labour-intensive, what we do."

At the end of the Aug. 27 event, Green Chair will issue a report detailing its successes and failures, and provide hard data on exactly how much waste was diverted to non-landfill locations. The recycling and compost stations will also remain in place for the duration of the PNE. Change will be a challenge, and the fair's goals are lofty, but to Woodman, the goal is simple: "To prove that it can be done." "On any given day, we're hoping for hundreds of thousands of people on-site," he said. "If we can have a little impact on what they do with their waste -- whether they bring it in, or generate it from us -- we can educate them a little bit, maybe even take that knowledge home."

No word on those human-powered rides, though. They may still be the stuff of dreams.  [Tyee]

Read more: Environment

This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are either put on by us or by our select partners. The Tyee does not and cannot vouch for or endorse products advertised on The Tyee. We choose our partners carefully and consciously, to fit with The Tyee’s reputation as B.C.’s Home for News, Culture and Solutions. Learn more about Tyee Presents here.

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