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Business development 2. I want to import/export recyclable materials from/to Canada. What do I need to know? 4. I want to start a “scrap metal” recycling business. Can you point me in the right direction? 5. Where are the markets for the main recyclable materials and how can I access them? 6. Where can I go to track the value of recyclable metals? 7. I’m looking for funding for a recycling project in my community/business. Can you help me? 8. I live in Africa (for example) and I want to start a recycling program. What should I do? Promotion
and public education 10. I want to set up a recycling program in my school. What should I do? 11. Where can I find some recycling promotional materials? 12. I’d like to know all about the recycling logo (the mobius loop). Can I use it as I like? Materials 14. Which parts of my computer are recyclable? 15. What is the status of electronic scrap recycling in Canada? 16. I am doing a project on battery recycling. Where can I find some information? 17. I have several questions about recycling plastics. Where are some good sources of information? 18. I’m looking for some facts and figures on paper recycling in Canada. 19. Can you identify some useful glass recycling web sites for me? 20. Who can I contact to find out about tire recycling in Canada? General
research 22. I’m doing a project on solid waste management in Canada. Please send me all relevant information. 23. Where can I find provincial regulations concerning recycling? 25. What happens to Government of Canada computers? 26. How can I bid on Government of Canada cast-off (recyclable) items? 27. Where can I find some recycling storage containers?
Business development 1. I want to buy some scrap metal from Canadian generators. Please send me all the information I need. To promote and support the business of recycling mineral and metal materials, the Canadian Metals and Mineral Recycling Database was established by the Minerals and Metals Sector of Natural Resources Canada. It is located at the Recycling in Canada web site and is free to use. With the database you can search on specific material types as well as geographical location (by province or city). Forty-five different recyclable mineral and metal materials are listed including automotive hulks, drywall, electronic waste, rail scrap, white goods, and all of the nonferrous metals from aluminum to zinc. The businesses listed in the database sell or buy scrap materials; however, all of the information shown needs to be verified (once you’ve conducted a search and are reviewing a list of firms, click on “More Info” for contact details). Also posted on our web site you will find “links.” Check under “Metals - Canada” or “Mineral” for other associations that you can contact. To identify Canadian suppliers of scrap metal you may want to consider advertising in an association’s newsletter. This can be done, for example, at the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries, but you will have to provide precise details on what you want, where it needs to go and who you are.
The import and export of recyclable materials may be subject to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations, which are managed by the Transboundary Movement Branch at Environment Canada. For more information on the “Export and Import of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recyclable Material Regulations,” go to the dedicated Environment Canada web site. Of particular concern are those materials deemed to be of a hazardous nature under international protocol. Transport Canada provides a summary of the Transport of Dangerous Goods Act that includes a list of materials considered to be hazardous. See Transport Canada for more information. Two other Government of Canada web sites of interest to businesses that want to import or export recyclable materials are provided below. Topics covered include pertinent regulations, controls and standards, in addition to roadmaps, trade maps and other planning tools.
For the purposes of importing and then marketing materials or products in Canada, it is recommended that you first consider general labelling requirements, which can be found at the following site: More relevant to recyclable materials are the proposed “New Environmental Labelling and Advertising Guidelines." Also, the Environment Choice® Program (ECP) is Environment Canada’s eco-labelling program. To receive the EcoLogo certification, businesses submit an on-line application that is evaluated and verified according to pre-established criteria (one criterion might be material or product recyclability, for example). For more information, go to the Environmental Choice web site. This is optional.
According to the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI), the vast majority of scrap metal firms started as family businesses and many remain that way. As a result, family members or staff learn the trade over time, which allows them to either start their own enterprise or take over an existing one. CARI may be able to provide some assistance regarding contracts and liability. Increased global demand for metals has resulted in increased competitiveness, which means that larger corporations have also become involved in this business (via mergers and acquisitions). Other sources of information are trade journals. "Scrap" and other journals are listed on the Recycling in Canada web site. The Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI, based in the U.S.) provides some courses, possibly some that cover business start-up. Another source of information is American Metal Market with articles on many different aspects of the trade, including scrap.
Recyclable materials are global commodities. As a result, the materials in your blue box may end up anywhere in the world. With the advent of the Internet, finding the markets has become much easier. Various search engines are shown below – there are probably more:
There are several web sites that track the value of scrap metals. Use a search engine and the terms “metal scrap” and “prices.” Some examples of what you will find are as follows: Another source of related information is Recoup’s Materials Recycling Markets, which is available under subscription. Telephone 613-448-2268 for additional information on this Canadian-based publication.
The Internet is an excellent place to look for funding opportunities. Use any search engine and try the words “funding, recycling programs, Canada” without the quotation marks. Several of the sites listed below provide lists of funding options.
Search the Internet for the “Canadian Subsidy Directory” – it is updated annually and may be another good reference on funding. 8. I live in Africa (for example) and I want to start a recycling program. What should I do? If you represent a community and you want to start a recycling program for your residents, you would be well advised to consult a report entitled “Solid Waste as a Resource: Guide for Sustainable Communities” that can be downloaded for free at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ web site. If you want to start a recycling business to recover materials from places of industry or commerce or perhaps large institutions (colleges, hospitals, government buildings, etc.), a good starting point is to talk to someone already in that business. Find out how they began, what they learned along the way, and how they would do things differently if they were starting over. Some preliminary steps to take are as follows:
The following web sites provide further ideas to consider:
Finally, you should prepare a business plan for mapping out the path forward. Try searching the Internet using the phrase “business plan.” Here are two example sites: Promotion and public education 9. I want to introduce some recycling concepts in my classroom. Do you have any information or materials that you can send me? There are a number of sources of recycling information on the Internet geared towards children and education. The following sites may provide you with some ideas in this regard. Also see the list of recycling associations and councils under a previous question about promotional materials as well as the industry associations identified in response to the following question. We do not have any materials to send out. 10. I want to set up a recycling program in my school. What should I do? Some of your first steps to take are conducting a waste audit (exactly what is being discarded in your school and in what quantities?); identifying what is recyclable (that is, is there a market?); finding out about current waste management in your school (check the contracts - there may or may not be the flexibility you need to add in a recycling program); investigating collection and storage options (within the school); and finally, determining costs (it often costs more to recycle than to dispose, depending on where you live). Here are some sample web sites that may provide more useful advice:
Use any Internet search engine and the terms "recycling" and "schools" and you will find many more information sources. For promotional materials, see response to other question “Where can I find some recycling promotional materials?” for a list of Canadian recycling associations and councils. 11. Where can I find some recycling promotional materials? Various Canadian recycling councils and associations can be contacted to see if they have recycling promotional materials available. Generally speaking, their primary mandate is public education and promotion.
It is always worth checking with your local municipality as it may have promotional materials to hand out as well. 12. I’d like to know all about the recycling logo (the mobius loop). Can I use it as I like? Recycling symbols used in the United States are neatly summarized at a web site created by EarthOdyssey. Gary Anderson is identified as the person who modified the mobius loop in order to symbolize recycling. The loop itself was discovered by the mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858. A simple search on the Internet will lead to many other related sites. However, according to the Forest Stewardship Council (Canada), “There is no internationally accepted system for verifying whether material in a product is actually recycled, or according to which definition of recycled. The standard recycled mobius loop symbol is not systematically audited and is therefore not trusted by many companies and organizations.” The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has prepared a document entitled “CAN/CSA-ISO 14021-00 Environmental Labels and Declarations - Self-Declared Environmental Claims (Type II environmental labelling)" for guidance on use of environmental claims, which is available for about $60. The Competition Bureau is working with the CSA to prepare an explanatory document about these standards called "CAN-ISO 14021 Essentials," which will be free of charge to the public. Publication is expected in late fall 2006 or early in 2007. The
Australian
State of Victoria has posted a discussion of the mobius loop on
the Internet. For the most part, the Canadian standard will be like
the Australian one since they both have the same ISO 14021 base. 13. I want to find out how aluminum, copper and/or steel materials are recycled. Can you point me in the right direction? There are many metal recycling web sites available for general research. The following Internet sites provide an example of information sources that are available.
Computers that reach the end of their life fall into a group often referred to as electronic waste or e-waste, e-scrap or WEEE as in Europe, which is Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The type of materials that comprise e-scrap include glass, ferrous metal, copper, aluminum, plastics and other metals and materials. A very rough estimate for e-scrap in general is provided in the pie chart:
Data Source: PHA Consulting, 2006, Electronic Waste Recovery Study, Resource Recovery Funding Board, Action Plan 2000, et al. For a more detailed estimate of the composition of materials found in Information Technology (IT) equipment, Environment Canada has posted some related data on its site. Also note that IT equipment is constantly being redesigned (e.g., light-weighting), which means that the material components are subject to change. 15. What is the status of electronic scrap recycling in Canada? The most recent and comprehensive report on waste electrical and electronic equipment (“WEEE,” as it is called in Europe), is found at Waste Diversion Ontario. Based on the Ontario data, it is estimated that 180 300 tonnes of WEEE are discarded in Canada each year and about 2 900 tonnes of material are recovered. The amount of material collected for recycling will increase as the provinces introduce stewardship programs. The following web sites provide further discussion:
By province: International: 16. I am doing a project on battery recycling. Where can I find some information? There are many different kinds of batteries. Lead-acid batteries are mostly recycled in both Canada and the United States. For more information, go to Battery Council International. For rechargeable (household) batteries, go to Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC). A search on the Internet includes many other sites related to batteries, such as:
In Canada, the main industry group for plastics recycling is EPIC (Environment and Plastics Industry Council), a creation of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. If you are looking to buy or sell used plastic material, the EPIC web site has a link to the “United States and Canadian Recycled Plastics Markets Database.” It can be used for free. For information regarding plastic bags, EPIC developed a web site called “My Plastic Bags.” EPIC commissioned a report entitled “An Overview of Plastic Bottle Recycling in Canada” and it is posted on the Solid Waste & Recycling journal’s web site. For PET bottles, a couple of associations were established to represent industry interest: Petcore in Europe and NAPCOR in the United States. The Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association (CPRA) is located in Ontario where it has a facility to recycle post-consumer polystyrene materials. 18. I’m looking for some facts and figures on paper recycling in Canada. As with metals and plastics, many Internet sites focus on paper recycling. Any web-crawling search engine will locate many points of interest. Three such sites are provided below: According to Statistics Canada, an estimated 2 698 kilotonnes of waste paper were recycled by Canadian mills in 2003. The recovery of paper has increased from around 26% in 1990 to about 40% today. 19. Can you identify some useful glass recycling web sites for me? Glass recycling has been going on for a long time. A couple of good web sites are as follows, one from Canada and one from the United States: 20. Who can I contact to find out about tire recycling in Canada? Thanks to all of the stewardship programs across the country, most passenger and truck tires are recovered and recycled. These efforts are organized at the provincial level. The relevant points of contact are provided at either the Environment Canada or Rubber Association of Canada’s web sites: The tires that are not so easily recycled are referred to as off-the-road tires, which are the ones used by the mining, forestry and agricultural industries, often in remote locations – these tires can weigh up to 1 400 kilograms. General research 21. What are the benefits of recycling? There are many good reasons for recycling, including:
22. I’m doing a project on solid waste management in Canada. Please send me all relevant information. Statistics Canada prepared a summary document entitled “Solid Waste in Canada.” This product, catalogue no. 16-201-XIE, is published annually in electronic format at a price of $26.00. To obtain a single issue, contact Statistics Canada and select “Our Products and Services.”
23. Where can I find provincial regulations concerning recycling? The following links will take you to each of the provincial and territorial ministries or departments responsible for recycling (usually included under “waste management”). Each provincial program is unique. Please note that these links are subject to change.
24. I would like to know more about product stewardship in Canada. Who are the players and what’s happening? There are many Internet sites that provide a definition of product stewardship, often referred to as extended producer responsibility. The definition accepted by the OECD can be found at Five Winds International. For a national overview of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and stewardship, go to Environment Canada. The following list contains private-sector non-profit associations that address a variety of materials and products, most of which are specific to certain provinces: There is some debate on whether any of the current stewardship activities in Canada are true EPR. For a third-party evaluation of some Canadian programs, the journal of Solid Waste and Recycling provides some perspective. 25. What happens to Government of Canada computers? All computers and peripherals to be disposed of by the Government of Canada are sent to Computers for Schools (CfS) for refurbishment and re-use. In 2006, CfS will manage between 200 000 and 300 000 pieces of equipment including computers, printers, scanners, etc. Those items that cannot be fixed are managed as “Crown Assets” and tendered to the highest bidder. 26. How can I bid on Government of Canada cast-off (recyclable) items? All federal government end-of-life products and materials are managed by Crown Assets, which is part of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Crown Assets no longer maintains a bidders list. Interested buyers need to monitor the Crown Assets web site on an ongoing basis. 27. Where can I find some recycling storage containers? If you are a householder that participates in a local curbside recycling program, most municipalities will provide new containers to new residents and will replace blue (grey, black or yellow) containers that are either broken or stolen. If you are a business and you want to acquire some collection containers for recyclables generated at your office or facility, check with your local municipality to see if they can help you (some will, some won’t). Otherwise, there are many companies that make and sell reusable plastic storage containers. Some on-line directories are provided below (their identification should not be construed as endorsement by the Government of Canada). Using an Internet search engine with “storage container” and “recycling” as key words will lead to many other options.
The best place to look for recycling information in the United States is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or USEPA. This is a very extensive resource that covers basic facts, recycling publications, American industry associations, waste and recycling data for each state, and a myriad of other topics directly or indirectly related to recycling. Another good U.S. web site is the California Integrated Waste Management Bureau. Be sure to look at its “Online Directory and Database Listing,” which is an amazing one-page compilation of recycling (and waste) resources for residents and businesses in that state.
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