Metro Vancouver's Five R's - Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover

The Metro Vancouver region has some of the highest recycling rates in the country, and we are doing a good job of diverting materials from disposal via landfill or incineration. The overall materials we recycle, compost, or dispose of have remained relatively flat per capita.

Growing up, I heard the phrase reduce, reuse, recycle. I think we've nailed the recycling part, but there is work to do with reducing and reusing. Metro Vancouver has come up with some other words, rethink and recover.

Recycling and composting still require energy, space, and infrastructure, so the fewer overall products that require recycling or composting, the more money and resources we can save as a region.

Using drinking water and a refillable container is a simple way to reduce waste.

With this in mind, the Metro Vancouver District is looking to update its solid waste management plan with the following hierarchical goals based on feedback it has received. Number one is the top focus, and six is the last resort.

1. Enable circular systems that preserve resources (Rethink) - Designing products and processes that prevent waste creation in the first place.
2. Minimize waste generation (Reduce) - Designing products and processes that reduce waste as an output, such as reducing packaging.
3. Keep materials in use as long as possible (Reuse) - Designing products and processes that make it easy to repair and have longer lives (implementing right-to-repair laws).
4. Make it easier to recycle effectively (Recycle) - Ensure that end-of-life items are designed for easy recycling into new products or composted.
5. Recover resources from non-recyclable materials (Recover) - Maximize energy recovery and resource extraction such as metals from non-recyclable items.
6. Dispose only as a last resort - Materials burned or landfilled.

With these goals, the Regional District hopes to move forward with an updated solid waste management plan.