VANCOUVER — The Light House organization has launched a new initiative aimed at diverting and upcycling plastic waste from 10 Metro Vancouver construction sites.
The Construction Plastics Initiative is a pilot project that is running until February 2026 and is still looking for more projects.
The intention is to collect, separate, measure and process plastics from jobsites to determine the amount and types of plastic waste being generated in British Columbia’s construction sector.
What’s more, it’s meant to demonstrate circular economic solutions to divert and repurpose the plastic into new products, explains a release.
“Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive studies in North America quantifying the volume of construction plastic waste directed to landfills. Studies from Europe suggest approximately 80 per cent of plastic waste from onsite construction activities consists of clean packaging materials, which are readily divertible from landfills. This pilot project aims to provide valuable insights into the extent of construction plastic pollution in North America and to identify opportunities for circular innovation in managing construction plastics,” said Gil Yaron, managing director of circular innovation for Light House, in a statement. “In Canada right now, virtually all of the plastic generated on these construction sites is ending up in landfill or being buried onsite.”
Through the pilot a qualified site monitor will be provided to the participating construction project, who will work with the general contractor and site supervisor to identify the types of plastics to be collected, schedule collections based on the construction timeline, provide size-appropriate collection bins, train site crews on proper source separation practices, monitor bins for contamination and help with the delivery and removal of collection bins, as required, the release explains.
Collected plastics will be processed by Ocean Park Recycling before being recycled into a reusable plastic pellet, which will be integrated into the manufacturing of a range of new building products.
To learn more visit light-house.org/cpi.
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