Gibsons resident Buddy Boyd will report on the state of zero waste in Canada at an international zero waste conference in Los Angeles on Aug. 4.
The Canadian zero waste representative was invited to speak by conference organizers who also invited representatives from the U.S., Europe, Sweden and Brazil to report on efforts in their areas.
The 39th annual conference, titled Lights, Camera – Zero Waste in Action, is being put on by the California Resource Recovery Association. Boyd said his invitation was a “real honour.”
“This is the biggest stage for authentic zero waste that I have ever been invited to speak at and there are very few spots available,” he said.
Boyd said that while there is much talk of zero waste in Canada, there is very little “authentic zero waste” happening, which will be a highlight of his speech.
“Some places like Metro Vancouver have poached the brand,” Boyd said, noting garbage incinerators and curbside recycling are not zero waste efforts.
“There has been some green-washing of the brand and some walking the talk. We chose the walking the talk version and we created the resource recovery centre, which is a cornerstone position if your community’s to have zero waste.”
Boyd said there have been some baby steps taken in Canada towards “authentic zero waste” which aims to compost, reuse or recycle everything that is deemed garbage by society, but he said attitudes and actions will have to change dramatically to get there.
“As long as we take taxpayers’ resources and invest them into managing waste, we’ll never do the very things that are required to become a zero waste community,” Boyd said.
