The Waste Reduction Store

In my opinion not very green.

The Sysco Canada environmental brochure sysco-environmental-brochure-apr7082 is filled with false marketing and false-hoods.

First up: Sysco’s claim that their paper cup and paper food containers are an ‘eco-friendly’ alternative to Styrofoam.

The wax that covers the paper is made from petroleum derivatives.  This wax is intended to plasticize the paper.  The fact that these take out products are in contact with people mouths (and millions of bacteria) AND that they are plasticized makes them not recyclable and they cannot be composted.

Which brings me to their next false claim: That paper cups can be shredded and composted!

At best what would happen in a composting situation is microorganisms would eat the cup from the outside and leave the wax IN the compost, thus contaminating the compost with plastic materials that could not be screened out.  This would reduce the quality of the compost.  This is why conventional paper cups are NOT approved as compostable.

Another little scientific fact: polystyrene (commonly know as Styrofoam) uses less petroleum derivatives (because air is used in the chemical process) than a paper cup the same size covered with petroleum derived wax! The same thing goes for food containers.

NEXT UP: OXO Degradable bags.

In the USA numerous companies faced challenges from the Federal Trade Commission on claims of bags being ‘green’ that biodegrade in a landfill.  First off oxo-degrdables bags are made from the exact same type of plastic materials as plastic bags we were buying before.  Next they have a chemical additive added to fragment the plastic molecules.  Last the bags are going to the landfill. So what is the wonderful green fuzzies here?

Last on the List: Earth Plus Cutlery

I first saw this cultery when I visited St-Francis Xavier University in June 2009.  Sodexo, who runs food service at that univeristy and others was sourcing this cutlery from Sysco Canada in an effort to meet the increasing ‘green’ demands of the students. The cutlery had the word compostable right on it, along with the trademark of a Toronto company called Gallimore and the logo from Din Certco- a certifying organization in Europe, that determines whether or not cutlery is in fact compostable.

I was curious as to why the BPI (www.bpiworld.org) did not have this cutlery approved. So TWRS did some further research on the source of the Earth Plus cutlery: Gallimore.

Funny thing about the Gallimore cutlery we obtained in circulation in North America.

We sent Gallimore cutlery and food containers into one of the most reputable testing labs in the USA to verify the claims.

The test results on the ‘compostable’ foodware confirmed such high levels of polypropylene (aka plastic) that there is no way the cutlery being sold in the market by Gallimore would be certified as compostable. See it for yourself here: 09p1201_revised21 .

We also contacted Din Certco. Neither Sysco Canada’s Earth Plus cutlery or Gallimore’s were approved as products to use the Din Certco label by Din Certco.

Sysco recently released a similar cutlery under the Earth Plus name, still baring the Din Certco logo and the word compostable.  Stay tuned: we have sent it into the same lab to be tested.

UPDATE:  Here are the test results from Sysco cutlery we obtained from St-Francis Xavier University 09p1310-11

You will hear more and more companies talking about carbon offsets and being carbon neutral. Many airlines now offer their customers the option to ‘offset’ the carbon footprint of their travel.  Soon you will see carbon neutral ketchup and pineapples in grocery stores.  What do these claims really mean?

To start off it is important to understand what this carbon stuff means.

The term “carbon” is a derivative of carbon dioxide. When humans breath out they release carbon dioxide.  It is something that is natural to our ecosystems- when released naturally.  Trees usually take in this carbon dioxide and utilize it.  So do our soils and bodies of water. Trees convert carbon dioxide and release oxygen which we and other animals breath in to live.

Carbon dioxide levels naturally shift as a result of the interaction of numerous biological processes on the earth.  The problem with carbon dioxide is the type.   With industrialization came the increased release of man made (not natural) carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases from industries like petroleum extraction and refinement, large agri-business and chemical fertilizers, construction and landfills containing numerous chemicals and plastics.  These man made industries are not natural and therefore did/do not have natural ways to offset their impact.  Worst industries like pulp and paper, agribusiness and petroleum extraction remove forests, destroy soils and water systems, affecting the natural ways of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

You do not need to believe global warming theories to conclude that Mother Nature is under stress and needs a serious pink happy pill or we are headed for a major feminine melt-down.  So let’s put all those debates aside and just look at carbon footprints and offsets as a simple way of measuring, for the world of business, the negative effect on our planet from doing business.

Imagine a basement in a house.  When we add carbon to our world it is like adding water to our basement.  The more and more we add, the bigger and bigger the problem.  When we are talk about carbon offsets it is similar to figuring out ways to remove the water from the flooded basement, preventing the basement from becoming flooded or even better, building better basements so flooding won’t even be an issue.

When governments begin to measure the carbon impact of man-made industries they can begin to hold companies accountable for their impact on our planet.  Governments around the world are looking at how to cap, meaning limit, how much these companies/industries should (if at all) impact our planet.  Once they set these limits, companies will be forced to pay fines, to change their impact and/or purchase carbon offsets. Bad companies will be able to offset some (or all) of their impact by purchasing carbon offsets from companies who are doing things which reduce carbon in the world.  The success of this model will depend on governments and the market applying pressure on corporations to actually change.

When it comes to a carbon offset, these will be available from companies who are reducing the carbon levels for the planet.  Some of these offsets are legitimate while others are total bunk.If you are going to be purchasing carbon offsets do not be fooled by so-called ‘non-profit’ status of an organization.  Dissect who has approved their carbon offsets and if the approval body is a legitimate internationally recognized organization for the approval to trade carbon offsets. More and more are popping up jumping on this carbon frenzy.

The key to a company offering a legitimate carbon offset is whatever they are doing to benefit the planet CANNOT be a result of legislation and it should have something called additionality.  The purchase of a carbon offsets should ideally help projects and green companies that would otherwise not survive in today’s economy.  They do not have government legislation to help drive business to them.  They are taking a green business risk.  Carbon offsets are legitmitaly helping them stay in business while the market adjusts to bring up the cost of doing business for the ‘bad’ business.

Do your research carefully when you book your next trip on an airline.  Will your carbon offset change how the airline itself is impacting the environment?  Ask them what they are doing to offset the impact of their planes, other than encouraging you to buy offsets.  Inquire about the company or organization they are offering up as a source of carbon offsets.  Is it a tree-planting effort?  Could these trees have been planted by a pulp and paper mill who  cut them down instead?  Is there a more worthy green project that could use your money towards their efforts to positively impact the planet by doing business in new ways.

And when someone promotes their product as carbon neutral or cabon positive, dare to ask how it is.  We all need to keep asking questions.  Let’s not just eat environmentalism up without asking the important questions that will make this movement create lasting change.

It would be so simple if we could just trust businesses like we trust our friends and family.  If a business says it has a green product, or is a green company, or donates to charities, it would be so much easier if we could just believe them.  And we can…if they have verifiable and transparent ways of backing up their claims.

Today when I choose to spend more money on an organic apple over a non-organic apple, I do so with the peace of mind that there is a certification process that is verifiable and done by third parties, not the farmers or the shop keeper.  As soon as the business community realized they could get more money for an organic apple over a non-organic it was open season to boost your profit margins with claims, whether true or false.  To protect the public, the market needed to determine ways to make sure claims were verifiable.

The same can be said about biodegradables.  These products offer the market no standard- just a lofty idea of something we think is somehow ‘green’. Not much substance in that.  Biodegradables are nothing worthy of an extra dollar unless a manufacturer ponnied up the cash to certified that product as compostable through a reputable, arms length, verifier like BPI in the USA and OK Compost in Europe.  In today’s market, where I expect my customers to pay more money and buy my ‘green’ and more ethical products, the onus is on me is to be as ethical as I can be to back up my claims to attract those sales.

It is one thing to see food service companies like Sysco and Unisource flooding the market with so called ‘green’ foodware.  I kind of expect them to be totally out to lunch about the need for a compostable standard to protect the environment.  They could not distinguish the words degradable plastic, biodegradable and compostable if they tried.  And as long as they can avoid the topic, they are happy to keep clocking the ‘green’ sales.

It is quite another thing to see ‘green’ companies presenting themselves as environmental advocates and stewards while selling products that are not certified as compostable by BPI or OK Compost.  This is business as usual if not worst as it plays upon the public’s trust that environmental advocates are somehow more ethical. Don’t fall for the smoke and mirrors, advocacy and granola act.  There was nothing that happened in the birthing process that made these people more ethical.  Ask for transparent and verifiable standards.  Don’t even fall for the non-profit act (another new form of business that gets me spinning.)

Today we have entered a savvy era of marketing where we are sold the notion of a do-good business over the bad business.  It’s all business as long as you are paying for a product and someone is getting a pay check.  Don’t be fooled.  If they say they are donating ask how much and to whom. Look to see if they joined an organization like 1% for the Planet to audit their donations and verify their do-good claims.  If they say they are green look for the standard they are using to make their green claim and verify where it is ending up at the end of their life-cycle.  If they say they are ‘non-profit’ well ask them to provide information on how much lower their salaries are then a small business that would do the same thing.  if they say they are carbon neutral ask for an explanation of how they are and what they are doing.

I am not saying we all need to turn into angst ridden skeptics.  Our planet needs us to stay awake in this world. Even though we are greener, and some of the steps we are taking are good, we need to keep this movement in check, transparent and accountable.  We cannot afford to just believe. That type of laissez-faire attitude is exactly what got us in this mess. We simply cannot afford to do business the way it was always done.

In theory everything is recyclable. I could recycle a building, an airplane, a DVD, a camera…or even my tooth brush. For something recyclable to actually be recycled someone needs to take that something and want to turn it into something new. That is exactly where the problem lies with the recycling concept.

In 1988-89 I was one of those university students espousing the need for recycling. However I imagined that the people who were making all the stuff that was filling up the landfills would buy back all the stuff they made and turn it back into new stuff. So when recycling started I thought for many years that was exactly what was happening. Then came the nice little triangle under all sorts of containers and I thought “Wow we were really successful!”Power to the people.

Then a few years ago, let’s say five, I realized that we were not as smart as we thought we were when everyone lobbied for recycling on behalf of our planet. We never insisted that the companies who make the stuff  ending up in the landfills commit to taking back the waste they created . Instead what happened was it became societies waste to take care of. In some places the plastic industry makes a contribution to cover a small portion of the costs of running recycling depots, in other places, recycling depots receiving financing through levy systems.  In large part, the recycling depots depend heavily on financing their operation through our taxes.  In very few places do manufacturers who make plastic, glass, stytorofam, buy back what they put out in the market. All the waste that comes from the profits their companies generate becomes society’s problem.

Recycling depots are like purgatory or if you prefer a Dr. Seuss reference: ‘the waiting room’.

We diligently pick out our approved ‘recyclables’ in our little communities to ensure we minimize what we send out to a landfill. We carefully put out the blue boxes (or other colours) with a feeling of content that we are joining others in doing our part to save the planet. A wonderful truck comes along and takes our stuff to the local recycling heaven where we believe angels are hard at work magically turning everything we sent in our blue boxes into something wonderful and new right in our communities. Maybe a fairy godmother helps out once in a while and waves a magical wand with a Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and jovially exclaims: ‘Food container thou shalt become aluminium foil! Bottles thou shalt become carpets. “

(O.K. I know I am mixing up Cinderella, religion and Dr. Seuss. I aiming for mass appeal- kids, gen-x, elderly.)

Now I like most people have a decent brain. It is sometimes over-loaded but I like to think I am pretty smart. One day I woke up and realized “Hmm…I don’t think that the stuff in the blue box goes to recycling heaven in my own community.” It was like waking up and doubting the existence of God. The mere thought that the stuff I carefully put in my blue box was not re-appearing on the grocery shelves in my neighbourhood grocery store with the fancy triangles, was earth shattering.

With a bit of research I soon discovered: something is only recycled if someone somewhere in the world is willing to buy that product, and tons of it, from recycling depots and then turn it into something else. The next sad truth: that ’someone’, when they found them, was rarely found in the same community as where the recycling took place. Sometimes they were not even in the same country!

So…..

You need to be a savvy shopper when a manufacturer claims you should buy their product because it is ‘recyclable’ or made from ‘recycled materials’. Before you buy it give the manufacturer a call and ask where it is recycled; how much of that exact same product they buy back and if they donèt then who and where is buying it back to turn into something; and lastly how much recycled content is in their product. Many products with ‘recycled content’ have less than 20% that is recycled materials. Their product continues to depend heavily on the continued extraction of petroleum to obtain virgin supplies to make the plastic.

Recycling is a great solution.  I was all behind it. In theory it can minimize what we send to a landfill. However after twenty years of practice doing the recycling thing, it is about time we re-evaluate just how successful the plastic industry has been at reducing their waste in relation to the profits they have made at the expense of our planet. The plastic and polystyrene industry has more than fifty years of profiting on this planet and close to twenty of those to clean up its mess through recycling efforts supported in many communities through public taxes.

Now plastics are being made and exported in communities around the world where there is no luxury of a tax base to buffer the expense of a recycling depot.  It is no longer acceptable to say that littering is the problem.  The problem is in what we make, how we make it, what it is made from and what we can do locally when we are done with our stuff.  This emperor needs some new clothes.

There is nothing green in a sales pitch “this product will biodegrade in a landfill’. A manufacturer or a sales person feeding you that pitch is either desperate for a sale or does not know very much about the environment and landfills.

To put it simply landfills are big toxic holes in the earth which emit oodles of methane. When it comes to warming up the earth and carbon emissions, well methane is worth 21 times the impact of carbon dioxide! Unfortunately we seldom discuss the impact of all these toxic holes spread around the world. It seems no one wants to roll up their sleeves and deal with the mess. I guess it is not as elegant and attractive a project as fancy big energy projects to save the planet.

Imagine ALL the garbage your family and your parents family and their families family ever created going into one place in a hole, in the earth. That is basically how most of the worlds population is handling the waste they get rid of everyday. Even worst some are just dumping it into river systems, lakes and the ocean. Most of us are not really thinking about what to do with all our waste. We are not thinking about what happens to the planet as more and more people put more and more stuff into these holes in the earth. What will happen to the ground water systems underneath? What will happen to the land once we cover up the toxic holes?

Do you really think a product which claims `biodegrades in a landfill` provides a green solution?

A product that is certified as compostable offers communities a chance to change how we manage our `waste`. Composting can be done almost anywhere (Ok Siberia and Antartica present some challenges) could be hard- but I could find a solution for them!). As a result it offers a local resource recovery strategy for any community. Compost turns materials still recognized by Mother Nature as a food source, things like food and products made from plants, into a nutrient rich fertilizer which is entirely natural.