On the Cusp - Alberta's Circular Podcast

Welcome to On the Cusp - Alberta's circular podcast. In this episode, we're going to talk about compost. With the goal to advance a circular economy, the RCA has been leading a composting project that aims to engage farmers in compost processing on the farm and using that compost to add nutrients back into the soil. This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. In this episode, we're joined by the RCA's executive director, Christina Seidel and the RCA's compost expert, John Paul.  For more information, visit the RCA website, where you can find the publications created as a result of this project, including photos of Stickland Farms and further information on starting your own on-farm composting operation.

In this segment, the RCA’s executive director, Christina Seidel leads the second half of a discussion with service providers who collect and manage products and packaging for waste management and recycling. The podcast discusses EPR implementation and the question of inclusion of certain types of packaging such as single-use plastics, requirements for recycled content and targets. Panelists include Al Matauro from Cascades, Tony Moucachen from Merlin Plastics, and Peter Hargreave with Policy Integrity Inc.

In this segment, the RCA’s executive director, Christina Seidel leads a discussion with service providers who collect and manage products and packaging for waste management and recycling. The podcast discusses the changes in the service providers’ role that comes with province-wide EPR implementation (including examples from BC and Ontario), the balance of competition with the risk of creating monopolies, the amount of time required to adapt to changes, how to manage existing contracts and designated materials. Panelists include Al Matauro from Cascades, Tony Moucachen from Merlin Plastics, and Peter Hargreave with Policy Integrity Inc.

In this segment, Calgary City Councillor, Peter Demong, leads the second half of a discussion on EPR implementation in BC, its impact on municipalities and possible scenarios in Alberta. The panelists include Andrew Doi, Environmental Planner with Metro Vancouver, Ben Van Nostrand, the Environmental Health Services Team Leader with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, and Cameron Baughen, with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. The conversation covers targets and recovery rates, materials, contracts with service providers, and hazardous and special products.

In this segment, Calgary City Councillor, Peter Demong, leads a discussion on EPR implementation in BC, its impact on municipalities, and possible scenarios in Alberta. MLA Searle Turton and Executive Director of Water and Waste Policy with Alberta Environment and Parks, Heather von Hauff, introduce the webinar. The panelists include Andrew Doi, Environmental Planner with Metro Vancouver, Ben Van Nostrand, the Environmental Health Services Team Leader with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, and Cameron Baughen, with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen discuss potential savings to municipalities, the inclusion of ICI, single-use items, and transition plans.

In this segment the RCA’s executive director, Christina Seidel, leads the second half of a discussion on the implementation of extended producer responsibility in Alberta including how policy can prioritize the waste hierarchy and innovation; how Alberta can transition to EPR and advance outcomes in the future; how municipalities can be involved going forward; and transboundary issues. The panel includes Heather von Hauff, the Executive Director of Water and Waste Policy with Alberta Environment and Parks, Jodi Tomchyshyn London, the president of the RCA, Alda Nicmans with the BC Product Stewardship Council) and Kelsey Morden with the Retail Council of Canada.

In this segment the RCA’s executive director, Christina Seidel, leads a discussion on the implementation of extended producer responsibility in Alberta including harmonization with other provinces; the role of producers; setting targets; performance-based versus outcomes-based regulations; and oversight. The panel includes Heather von Hauff, the Executive Director of Water and Waste Policy with Alberta Environment and Parks, Jodi Tomchyshyn London, the president of the RCA, Alda Nicmans with the BC Product Stewardship Council and Kelsey Morden with the Retail Council of Canada.

This segment features Alda Nicmans, the Executive Director of the BC Product Stewardship Council. Alda represents BC regional districts and will share the results of a report the Council led on the interactions between local governments and stewardship agencies on program operations. Alda’s presentation will give us an overview of what worked well in the transition to EPR for BC municipalities and improvements they would have liked to have seen.

In this segment, we hear from David Lefebvre, the Director of Public Affairs West for the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA), overseeing media, government and stakeholder relations for Recycle BC in British Columbia and Multi-Material Stewardship Western (MMSW) in Saskatchewan. David will discuss how EPR works from the non-profit organization responsible for the residential program in BC, servicing 1.8 million households and collecting approximately 186,000 tonnes of material from households and depots every year.

In this segment, we hear from Bob McDonald with BC’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Bob has been on the ground for BC’s EPR implementation since day one – first with local government, and then transitioning into the provincial role. Bob will touch on some of the toughest issues in the rollout of EPR and lessons from navigating EPR implementation.

This segment features Glenda Gies who led the EPR program implementation for Multi-Material BC (now Recycle BC) from 2011 to 2016 and from 2016 to 2020 she chaired the Board of Directors of the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) in Ontario. Glenda brings 40 years of experience across multiple sectors as an independent consultant and will talk about the history of EPR in Canada to demonstrate our journey and how far we’ve come. *Please note that our initial audio recording quality was poor which led to some disruptions in sound quality. We still wanted to share this valuable content, but be aware and be patient with the audio issues.

In this segment we hear from Jodi Tomchyshyn London with JTL Squared Consulting and the president of the RCA. Jodi has worked on Policy and Planning in Ontario, Alberta and New Zealand and will share the basics of EPR to set the stage on where we go from here.

In this segment, we hear from Martin Stephan, the deputy CEO of CARBIOS. Based in France, CARBIOS is the first and only company in the world to develop biological processes for the end-of-life of plastics with the potential to engage the entire industry in a truly circular economy. The company is now moving to industrialization with two disruptive innovations, one of which is a process to infinitely recycle PET without any quality loss, opening the possibility to create a virtuous circular economy scheme.  

In this segment we hear from Paula Luu with Closed Loop Partners. They authored the report Accelerating Circular Supply Chains for Plastics that explores the challenges of managing plastics and identifies $120 billion addressable market in the U.S. and Canada to recover waste plastics and the technologies to create safe and high-quality materials. Paula introduces some general definitions of advanced recycling and outlines next steps to make the technology integration successful.  

In this episode, we hear from Jocelyn Doucet, the CEO Pyrowave. With offices in Ontario and plants in Quebec, Pyrowave is a pioneer of the Plastic-to-Plastic microwave-based chemical recycling technology that allows post-consumer and post-industrial plastics to be regenerated and restored to their full value. Its patented high-power microwave catalytic depolymerization technology platform is the most advanced worldwide and is now at the forefront of the new generation of plastics. 

Mark Miller has been with the New Brunswick Department of the Environment for just over 30 years. He speaks to New Brunswick’s development of new diversion programs such as the recently announced PPP-EPR program. 

Marie Dussault is with the Quebec Environment and Fight against Climate Change Department. In this podcast she speaks to Quebec's latest advancements to its waste management regulations including plastic, composting and EPR.

In this episode, Ryan Parmenter provides the latest federal updates from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on the actions to advance a circular economy at the Federal level.

On June 29, British Columbia (B.C.) became the first province to announce extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements for single-use items and packaging-like products. B.C.’s incoming regulation will take effect in 2023. We hear from Bob McDonald with the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy on next steps.

Ontario is transitioning to full producer-led EPR in the coming months. We will hear the latest updates on this transition from Peter Hargreave with Policy Integrity Inc.

The following is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2020 Webinar Series – Building Resiliency of Material Systems. In this segment, Natalia Papú Carrone, a lead researcher for Circle Economy, based in the Netherlands, shares the latest Impact report on resiliency and circularity.

The following is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2020 Webinar Series – Building Resiliency of Material Systems. In this segment, Shannon Miedema, the energy and environment program manager with the City of Halifax talks about advancing environmental policy in a pandemic. HalifACT 2050: Acting on Climate Together is a commitment to reducing emissions, switching to clean and reliable energy sources and demonstrating local government leadership.

The following is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2020 Webinar Series – Building Resiliency of Material Systems. In this segment we hear from Vanessa Corkal, a policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development based in Ottawa. Vanessa is the author of Green Strings: Principles and conditions for a green recovery from COVID-19 in Canada and she shares recommendations for a green recovery. 

Plastic-Free YYC, Waste Free Edmonton, and Environment Lethbridge join the Recycling Council of Alberta to pitch ideas for Albertans to continue to advance positive environmental actions during COVID-19 and discuss the challenges and opportunities after the pandemic. Visit the groups on social media and their websites: https://plasticfreeyyc.com/, https://wastefree.ca/, http://wasteless.ca/, http://recycle.ab.ca 

In this segment, Peter Hargreave from Policy Integrity Consulting takes listeners through the changes in Ontario’s Extended producer responsibility program, compares the Ontario and BC models of EPR and suggests how Alberta might benefit from EPR policies. The segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta. 

The Circular Economy keeps products and materials circulating within the economy at their highest utility and value, through waste prevention, improved design, re-use, recycling, remanufacturing and innovative business models. The RCA is working with six communities across Alberta to create a Circular Cities roadmap to design out waste and conserve resources. In this session, the communities talk about the work they are already doing to create sharing economies and circular cities. We hear from the City of Calgary, the City of Lethbridge, Strathcona County, the University of Alberta and the Town of Banff. The segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta. 

In this session we hear from Lindsay Christianson the Director of Business and Partner development at the Plastic Bank, an organization that aims to shut off the taps of plastic pollution while empowering people to earn a living by cleaning up and recycling plastic. Lindsay explains how this one of a kind social enterprise functions with the goals to build infrastructure in the world’s poorest regions while enabling residents to earn a stable income and gain social services such as healthcare, tuition and more. Collected plastic is then recycled into socialplastic and used by companies to make new products. The segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta. 

John Coyne, VP of External Affairs and Sustainability at Unilever Canada offers a steward’s perspective about the work being done by his company and other partners to implement extended producer responsibility programs for packaging across the country and why this work is critical to collect and recycle materials. This segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta.  

This presentation is from Dr. Dianne Saxe, one of Canada’s most respected environmental lawyers with over 40-years’ experience. Dianne is the former environmental commissioner of Ontario and now heads up Saxe Facts; a firm that provides strategic advice and presentations on climate, energy, and the environment. Dianne provides insight into the circular economy and the Waste-Free Ontario Act. This segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta. 

This segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd-to-4th in Jasper, Alberta. We hear from Usman Valiante, principal at Cardwell Grove Inc. with 27-years of experience in a variety of fields including; environmental science and economics, corporate and commercial strategy, public policy, and communications. Usman proposes systematic changes to create a circular economy for plastics.

Ruben Anderson, a consultant on behavioural change and sustainability, will make you rethink the current recycling system in this mind-blowing session on Compassionate Systems. This segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta. 

In this segment, Keynote speaker and VP of Global Business Development for Loop - a Terra-Cycle company - Anthony Rossi, speaks about the global platform that enables consumer product companies and retailers to shift away from a disposable supply chain. The segment is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta.              

This segment focuses on the Alberta baseline Extended Producer Responsibility project. It features Peter Demong, Ward-14 Councilor, and Jason London, from the City of Calgary waste and recycling services. Peter has 18-years’ experience as a business owner and 25-years of logistics management. His experience helps him better understand the recycling needs of Alberta businesses. Jason works in strategic policy-and-planning and advocates for extended-producer-responsibility and regional partnerships. This is a presentation from the Recycling Council of Alberta’s 2019 Sea Change Conference held October 2nd to 4th in Jasper, Alberta.