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Recent Articles

AI-enhanced waste bins promote recycling at Vancouver airport

5 years ago

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They call him ‘Oscar’ and, with a little help from artificial intelligence, he’s prompting travellers to sort and recycle their trash at Vancouver International Airport. Early indications are that he is doing a good job.

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Loop and Loblaw announced Loblaw as the founding retailer to bring Loop’s innovative packaging solution to Canada. Beginning in early 2020 participants in a Toronto pilot project will introduce reusable containers.

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In celebration of Environment Week, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association and the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada are highlighting the important headway their members are making in tackling the global challenge of plastic waste in the environment.

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Ontario is moving to force large food retailers and product manufacturers to pay the full cost of recycling. The Province intends to fully transfer recycling costs from municipalities to companies that generate plastic waste in the environment.

Energy Profiles Limited

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Tens of thousands of old fridges are thrown away each year in Quebec, without anyone ensuring the recovery of the very harmful greenhouse gases they contain, as required by law. La Presse learned that the only factory specializing in the recycling of domestic refrigerating appliances is threatened with closure.

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Southeast Asian nations no longer want your trash. Last week, Malaysia announced it was returning 3,300 tons of scrap plastics including CDs, electric cables and milk jugs to countries ranging from Australia to Bangladesh, Canada, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

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Edmonton’s $97-million composting facility is being shut down after failing a safety inspection. The problem-plagued composter was only operating periodically, but expected to re-open for the summer. However, a spring inspection found the building has deteriorated and is unsafe.

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Green building projects and developers that demonstrated industry leadership were honoured at the Canada Green Building Council Leadership Awards Gala Dinner. The 2019 awards recognize individuals who’ve made significant contributions to advancing green buildings in Canada.

BOMA

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Fidelity Investments Canada ULC was welcomed by the NEO exchange with the launch of the Fidelity Sustainable World ETF (NEO:FCSW) which began trading this week. The fund will invest in global companies believed to have favourable ESG strategies.

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Avi Lewis put the final touches on his script draft, hit send, and waited to discover if he’d make history with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Lewis is the filmmaker and former CBC host who has collaborated on documentaries with spouse Naomi Klein.

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A group of PEI residents is part of a national campaign to put climate change on the agenda during the federal election. The Pact for a Green New Deal seeks ways to halve Canada’s GHG emissions in the next 11 years.

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Small businesses in the four provinces with a national carbon price will share $1.4 billion over the next four years to help reduce energy use but business owners say they’re getting the short end of the rebate stick.

Agents for real change

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The Forest Stewardship Council has launched a comprehensive new standard for responsible forest management in Canada. After five years of consultation, the new standard targets the most pressing issues threatening Canadian forests.

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Adam Vaughan, Member of Parliament for Spadina–Fort York, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’sMinister of Natural Resources, today announced a $4.1-million investment to build a 10-storey tall wood building in Toronto.

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Twenty-one of the 25 Edmonton sites have a solar component, while eight homes are Net Zero Energy — generating as much energy as they consume. There are five homes with major energy retrofits (homeowners have brought older homes up to new standards).

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The lights are on at Habitat for Humanity Manitoba’s first net-zero build. The families moving into the solar-powered homes — generating at least as much energy as they use — were on hand to flip the switch and start the power flowing.

Sustainable Biz Canada

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The mayor of Okotoks says a tiny-house village will go a long way toward providing affordable housing while reducing the environmental footprint. The first phase of the “eco-village” includes 42 affordable-rental units, market-rate rentals, short-term vacation rentals and homes for purchase.

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Above the waters of the north Pacific a ribbon of the moist air 800 kilometres wide and 5,000 kilometres long spins off swirling winds. To the naked eye this ribbon may be just a sea of wispy clouds, disguising an atmospheric river …

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The Carillon dam is the Ottawa River’s final drain. Water from every one of the river’s many tributaries and reservoirs — every drop from its vast watershed — eventually flows through the hydroelectric power station’s gates, about 130 kms east of the capital.

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Canada’s second-longest serving environment minister, Tom McMillan underscores his keen understanding of the power of networks lies at the heart of everything he accomplished. This includes assembling and chairing the 1987 world conference that produced the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depletion.

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The production of steel, cement and aluminum accounts for about 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and demand is rising. A handful of pilots are underway to develop zero- or nearly-zero-carbon versions of these carbon-heavy materials.

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Once a year, Canada’s top corporate citizens gather for the Corporate Knights gala in Toronto. Last week, the CEO of The Co-operators rose to receive 2019’s Best Corporate Citizen award and challenged the attendees to tackle the climate crisis.

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Michael R. Bloomberg has launched Beyond Carbon, the largest coordinated campaign to tackle climate change ever undertaken in the United States. With a $500-million investment, Beyond Carbon will push the U.S. toward a 100-per-cent clean energy economy.

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Unless we double the carbon tax by 2030, Canada will miss its GHG reduction targets under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates the federal carbon tax of $50 per tonne in 2022 should be raised to $102/tonne by 2030.

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Target Corporation committed to sourcing 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, the retailer said. The company expects this domestic operations goal to help it more sustainably power stores, distribution centres and offices.

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Humber College’s retrofitted NX building has been awarded the Zero Carbon Building – Design Certification by the CaGBC, the first retrofit in Canada to achieve design certification. A zero-carbon building offsets its carbon emissions using clean renewable energy and high-efficiency systems.

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On the final, brisk morning of the Michelin-hosted summit on transportation in Montreal, attendees — including some of the first-session mainstage speakers — queued up curbside for shuttles, heeding organizers’ calls to travel together for the cause of sustainable urban mobility.

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“Everything is going against us,” says Adam Fenech, the climate scientist of Prince Edward Island.  Bit by bit, Prince Edward Island, made of sandstone and sand, is slowly washing into the sea and “everybody knows it,” Fenech says.

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To celebrate Pollinator Month, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a pioneer of responsible tourism and sound environmental practices, has announced the next evolution of its Bee Sustainable programming with the launch of a new interactive digital hub, fairmontbeesustainable.com.

BIZ   • 

Loblaw Companies is expanding its relationship with food sales app Flashfood to further reduce store-generated food waste, while saving customers money. The Flashfood app allows customers to find and purchase food items which are nearing their expiration dates.

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WeWork’s global footprint has grown to nearly 690 locations across 120 cities globally, and now includes WeLive and WeGrow, aka the We Company. Thus, as the category leader in shared working spaces, the company’s stance on sustainability is interesting to examine.

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The International Code Council released a Natural Disaster Preparedness Guide to help communities plan for hurricane season.  “Advance preparation, including adopting and enforcing up-to-date building codes, is one of the best ways to protect our (buildings),” said CEO Dominic Sims.

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The BREEAM USA In-Use standard for multifamily and residential buildings, including individual homes, will be released in the U.S. this fall. This update will be released in conjunction with the update of BREEAM In-Use around the world.

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A Vancouver developer continues to show it’s serious about building a solar-powered community in Saskatoon. Jeff Drexel, president of Arbutus Properties, pledged to a city committee his company will cover the cost of changes to accommodate the unique Solair neighbourhood.

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The world’s oceans will likely lose about one-sixth of their marine life by 2100 if climate change continues its current path.  For every degree the oceans warm, the total mass of sea animals is projected to drop five per cent.

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One might mistake Royal West Norfolk Golf Club for just another seaside golf links, until the tide comes in. Then, the surrounding salt marsh fills and effectively turns the course and its protective dunes into an island.

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The frozen coastline of a Canadian Arctic island is eroding at up to a metre a day due to a warming climate. Researchers say the rate of collapse is six times faster than the average for the previous 65 years.

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The City of Toronto and federal government will spend $207M for the largest basement flooding project the city has undertaken. It will protect 4,300 homes and include 13.6 kilometres of sewers to slow the rate water enters the storm sewage system.

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In May, 2016, a wildfire near Fort McMurray forced more than 80,000 people to flee the northern Alberta city, destroyed 2,400 buildings and burned nearly 6,000 square kilometres of forest.

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Canada is taking steps to ban a range of everyday plastics as part of a sweeping strategy to push provinces and manufacturers to overhaul recycling and waste-reduction efforts.

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