Almost 200 zero waste advocates from around the world descended on Nanaimo last week for an international conference that was all about reclaiming the zero waste brand in B.C., conference co-organizer Buddy Boyd of Gibsons Recycling said Monday.
“It’s the battle of the brand. Metro Vancouver is selling snake oil. We’re selling authentic zero waste,” Boyd said.
Like Port Mellon, Nanaimo is on Metro Vancouver’s short list for a garbage incinerator, and organizers said that’s why the city was chosen for the conference.
While Metro Vancouver promotes a “zero waste” agenda, and held a conference of its own billed as a zero waste event last month, Boyd said Metro’s incineration plans prove otherwise.
“They were called out by more than one speaker at the conference,” he said. “They’re exploiting the brand, and we’re taking the brand back.”
The three-day conference, which attracted top international speakers on zero waste, left Boyd “hopeful, not discouraged,” he said. “It went very, very well.”
Apart from Boyd and his partner Barb Hetherington, who served as Zero Waste Canada conference chairwoman, other Sunshine Coast attendees included Gibsons chief administrative officer Mani Machado, who stayed for two full days, Coun. Charlene SanJenko, MLA Nicholas Simons, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) chair Garry Nohr and SCRD staffers Jeremy Valeriote and Robyn Cooper.
Boyd said he was disappointed that some local politicians “who wear the green label” did not make it to the event, even though Gibsons could be “ground zero” in the fight against incineration. The City of Powell River, he noted, sent a full delegation.
“There’s no environmental issue on the Coast bigger than the incinerator,” Boyd said.
One of the highlights of the conference for Boyd and Hetherington was a visit to Gibsons by two Zero Waste Europe heavyweights: Rossano Ercolini, the group’s president, and Enzo Favoino, who chairs its scientific committee.
The pair, who insisted on making the trip last Saturday morning, toured the Gibsons Recycling operation and spent some time relaxing in the Landing.
“Our facility is recognized around the world as forward-thinking, innovative and cutting edge. We’re recognized on a much bigger level internationally than we are locally,” Boyd said. “These classy Italians, they just wanted to come so bad. And they were just beside themselves because they’ve never been to Canada before.”
The Nanaimo conference was the first to be held in Canada by Zero Waste International Alliance.
