British Columbia Institute of Technology
Smart Microgrid Applied Research Team
Joey Dabell is a Project Leader and Program Head with BCIT's multi-discipline Smart Microgrid Applied Research Team (SMART) Lab. She has over 35 years experience spanning project management, software development, post‐secondary teaching, and civil-structural technology. Joey serves as Project Manager for the SMART Lab's Energy OASIS Microgrid, and for the Lab’s Applied RD&D projects in the areas of energy management systems, energy conservation, and electric vehicle ecosystem development. She coordinates outreach, training and workshops around SMART’s research, and facilitates partnerships between researchers, students and faculty, community, and industry. Joey's personal research activities are at the intersection of environmental and climate issues with technology and society.

Presenter of 1 Presentation

THE UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES OF RECYCLING PROGRAMS: CROSS-CUTTING EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND GOVERNANCE FOR REDUCING PLASTIC WASTE

Session Type
Academic Sessions
Date
02/24/2022
Session Time
04:00 PM - 05:20 PM
Room

Hall B

Lecture Time
04:00 PM - 04:10 PM

Abstract

Abstract Body

Plastic waste is a systemic problem impacting everything on the planet. This is acknowledged the world over. The problem won’t be solved by better recycling programs alone. Globally less than 10% of plastic produced has been recycled, and production has increased nearly 200-fold since the 1950s. The issue is not as much about improving recycling as it is about reducing the use of virgin plastic.

Little attention has been paid to the continuing rise in new plastic production. Society has grown comfortable with plastic. We believe, most often mistakenly, that our waste plastic will be redirected away from landfills and recycled into new products. Plastic bags are not recycled into new plastic bags, plastic bottles don’t become new bottles, nor plastic containers new containers. Plastics are recycled into secondary products which at end-of-life go to waste. Plastic products are often processed for recycling only to be incinerated or shipped overseas to end up as waste. Effective recycling programs require circular systems.

The very recycling programs intended to deal with the plastic waste problem may in fact be exacerbating it. We investigate consumers’ attitudes to using plastic given the presence of recycling programs. We discuss whether access to such programs contributes to a sense of ease and acceptance of plastics. We analyse the attitudes and conditions that support the increasing production of plastic, and the potential for alternative materials to be used.

Looking at recycling programs in Vancouver, Canada, with the objective of reducing new plastic production, we assess coordinated cross-cutting solutions in terms of changes to regulatory frameworks, funding research for alternative materials, and disrupting the sense of consumer ease around the use of plastic.

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