As thousands of people prepare to attend the Coquitlam 125 anniversary celebrations this year, the City’s special events staff are devising a plan to keep more than a tonne of discarded food, packaging and other recyclables out of the landfill.
A single large event such as Coquitlam’s Canada Day celebration can produce almost 900 kilograms of food, recycling and refundable items, plus another 130 kilograms of garbage.
Diverting as much as possible from the landfill is a key goal for Coquitlam 125 events of all size. Big events such as the Kaleidoscope arts and culture festival July 23-24, the Heritage Picnic Sept. 27 and Lights at Lafarge Nov. 26 will attract thousands of people and together will generate more than a tonne of waste.
The City will be working closely with Westcoast Plastic Recycling at these three signature Coquitlam 125 events to make sure waste is sorted correctly on site and disposed of properly afterwards. As part of its role as the official Coquitlam 125 Recycling Partner, Westcoast will be helping manage all forms of waste during the three events.
For example, Westcoast staff will be on hand to help event-goers sort their waste into bins for organics, mixed recycling, refundable recycling and garbage at stations located throughout the grounds.
At the end of the day, organics and garbage will be removed by the City while Westcoast will haul away all recyclables. Back at their facility in Richmond, the company will further sort the recyclables and prepare them for remanufacturing.
The partnership with Westcoast is saving the City approximately $9,000 in disposal costs while providing high-quality recycling services at the events, helping the environment and conserving valuable non-renewal resources.
According to Westcoast, plastics generally take 1,000 years to decompose and are one of the biggest forms of pollution at landfills because they take so long to break down.
For more information about upcoming Coquitlam 125 events, visit www.coquitlam125.ca.