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by Michael Kelly

The reams of waste paper gener-
ated by B.C. government oper-
ations are being diverted from
landfills to a more useful destina-
tion —- through a goverment
recycling initiative, most of it will
now go to Paperboard Industries in
Vancouver for conversion to the
type of paper product ‘used to
manufacture cereal boxes and other
types of containers that use the
same type of heavy paper product.

The B.C. Buildings Corporation
is the Jead agency in the program.
Jill Crawford, operations supervi-
sor of services for the Terrace
office, is in the process of educat-
ing government office workers in
the Northwest, showing them
which types of paper are suitable
for recycling and how the program
is going to work on a day-to-day
basis.

An analysis of the composition
of government office trash hasn't
been done, but Crawford thinks
paper may make up as much as 95
percent of it.

Paperboard Industries, she said,
has been recycling paper for more
than 100 years. The product the
company sells is a neutral-coloured
linerboard than can be made from
Tecycled stock without the use of
chemicals. The paper is cooked in
hot water in huge vats with mag-
netic sweep devices at the bottom
to remove staples and other metal

number of years because there has

objects. The cooked pulp is then | i

put through a normal papermaking
process. Paperboard Industries has
needed to import recycled
feedstock from the U.S. for a

been a limited amount of recycled
paper available in B.C.

The company has provided
B.C.B.C. with cardboard boxes —
made of recycled paper — in
several sizes for different applica-
tions. Crawford said each govern-
ment office desk will have a flat
box the size of a receiving tray for
individual office workers to usc.
The boxes have instructions
printed on the side detailing which
types of paper are suitable for
recycling. Offices will also have
trash-can-size «collection boxes,
which will be emptied when full
into larger boxes lined with clear
plastic bags. The bags will be
collected periodically and taken to
a central depot.

The depot in Terrace is a shed
standing on a B.C.B.C.-owned lot
at the comer of Keith Ave. and S.
Eby St, the former location of the
H&H Builders headquarters. Craw-
ford said at this point she has no
idea how often the depot will fill
up. The transportation and collec-
tion program is being designed by
two B.C.B.C. employees, one in
Prince George and one in Kam-
loops, who have been temporarily
assigned full-time to the recycling
program.

Environmentalists
of the 1990’s?

contributed by Alma Joachim

Alma is the local distributor of
Indisposables fitted cotton diapers
and accessories and an avid pro-
moter, of environmental friendli-
ness. Alma thanks her customers,
who are so committed to the best
for their babies and for the future
of our very precious northern
environment.

Who will be the environmental-
ists of the 1990's? They will be
YOU, the homemakers who sud-
denly realize you have choices
when it comes to diapers, cleaners,
household chemicals, groceries,
garden pesticides, lunch box wrap-
pers, etc. and that your buying
habits CAN change what is offered
to the consumer.

“You will be the parents who
speak out against air pollution,
water contamination and industrial
toxic wastes, as you witness respir-
atory illnesses and other health
problems in your children, and

worry about their futures. Environ-
mentalists will be pregnant women
whose happy anticipation of a
healthy child will be clouded by
worries of deformities caused by
toxic chemicals, and PCBs in
breast milk. They will be grade
school children, who, like my
neighbour, asked her mother if that
awful smell in the air is going to
kill them all one day. And they
will be industry leaders who take
on this enormous moral responsi-
bility by initiating changes to
better protect the environment.

In short, most of us, to some
degree,. will become environ-
mentalists. The question is, will
this degree of environmentalists be
enough to fulfill the turn-around
decade. Please contribute by
choosing to do what you can:
please use your choice of CLOTH
diaper! Re-use, Reduce, Repair and
Recycle!

Ways to save the environment

Buy organically grown produce
*Keep a compost pile

*Hold a garage sale to recycle old
possessions.

*Give old clothes to charity
eReturn coat hangers to the
cleaners.

eDon’t buy over-packaged foods
*Use cloth, not disposable, diapers
eUse companion planting in your
garden, rather than pesticides.
eUse your dishwasher only when it
is full and keep it on the cnergy-
saver cycle.

eLower the temperature of your

hotwater tank

‘Use natural fertilizer for
gardening

*Keep your automobile in good
repair, especially the exhaust
system.

*Use energy-efficient light bulbs -

*Make furniture polish by mixing

1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon oil with
one litre of mineral or vegetable
ail.

*Choose house plants, such as the
spider plant, which absoib airbome
toxins

- BCBC LEADS THE WAY - Recycling is now reality in the Northwest as the process of educating
government office workers begins. Jill Crawford, operations supervisor of services for the Terrace
office, is in charge of implementing the program on a day-to-day basis.

It’s time to get smart
Power Smart

By Harriett Fiaagesund

Shell Busey, Power Smart
consultant for BC Hydro (and
host of the Home Improvement
Show heard every Sunday morn-
ing on our local AM radio sta-
tion, CJFW), says it’s time to
get, smart — power smart, that
is.
Busey was in Terrace recently
with the province-wide BC
Hydro Power Smart road show,
first implemented in 1989.
“One-third of the cost of runn-
ing a home is the hydro bill;
lighting is one of the major costs
to the homeowners today,’’ she
says.

Busey says there are a lot of
simple ways to reduce energy
consumption. ‘“Compact fluo-
rescent bulbs are the wave of the
future. Initially they may cost
you more than incandescent
bulbs, but they give up to 10
times the light at one-fifth the
cost. The residentia! savings are
tremendous.’’

Compact fluorescent bulbs
can use 70 to 80 percent less
energy than a standard incande-
sent. A 13-W compact fluores-
cent can be used in place of a
60-W incandescent, and lasts
about 10 times longer.

Busey also points out other
advantages to fluorescent light-
ing. ‘Fluorescent light is a much
more natural light. Incandescent
bulbs burn hot; they are 95 per-
cent fire, whereas fluorescent
lights burn cool. They won’t
burn you if you touch them.
You don’t have to change them
as often, a plus for hard-to-
reach areas, and a cooler burn-
ing bulb can be an advantage in
some recessed light fixtures.”’

The only thing you can’t do
with fluorescent is put them on a
dimmer switch or a mechanical
timer.’””

Busey touched on two other
areas of the home that can be
improved, energy-wise — hot
water tanks and refrigerators.
“It costs as much to heat your,
hot water, for a family of four,
as it does to heat your home.
Convert to natural gas, it’s more
economical and efficient. BC
Hydro will offer a rebate. But if
converting is not possible, then
purchase a Power Smart tank
(they have more insulation to
keep the heat in, and can save up
to 25 percent over older models),
and wrap the tank in a hot water
blanket.

BC Hydro has a buy-back
program; they will take your old
refrigerator (they will pick it up)
and pay you $50. Then they will
give you a $65 rebate if you pur-
chase a Power Smart refrigera-
tor.”? (You should phone BC
Hydro to find out how long this
and other buy-back and rebate
programs will be in effect.)

Busey says they have almost
9,000 used refrigerators in
storage now. The freon charge is
removed, then the metal is ship-
ped to a metal recycling plant to
be made into cars. He adds that
purchasing a refrigerator that is
the right size for your family is
much more energy-efficient than
running two or three fridges.

Another Power Smart idea is
power saver cords for block
heaters in vehicles. Ordinarily
when a block heater is plugged
in it remains on until it is
unplugged, but with the new
power saver cords, the heater

-will not come on until the’

temperature in the engine block
falls below 37 degrees (faren-
heit). A power saver cord can
save up to 70 percent.

Other ways we can save
energy around the home are as
simple as not turning on the hot

In Greater Vancowver eal!

732-9253

(R-E-C-¥-C-L-E)

Do A Number On Your Garbage.

For information on how, what and where to recycle

Or cali toll free

water tap. ‘‘After washing the
dishes use cold water to rinse the
scum out of the sink, it works
just as well as hot water. When
you wash your hands use cold
water. If you use a conventional
razor for shaving, fill the bot-
tom of the basin with warm
water instead of* letting the hot
water tap run.

‘‘Washing, saving, keeping
the kitchen sink clean with hot
water, all that can cost you up to
$100 per year. Fix those leaky
faucets; at 1 drip per second 160
gallons of water goes down the
drain in one year.”

When asked if he felt the
Power Smart program is making
a difference, Busey replied,
Absolutely! Some suppliers of
fluorescent light fixtures cannot
keep up with the demand, and
one out of two fridges now sold

are Power Smart.’”’ He added:

that Nov. 14 of last year, Power
Smart Night, BC Hydro asked
their customers to turn off ail
unnecessary lighting. ‘'You peo-
ple responded, and saved
enough energy to power 12,000
homes in that one night!”’

He says that instead of build-
ing more dams BC Hydro is try-
ing to make better use of the
power we now have. Not only
does this mean a savings to the
consumer, it makes environmen-
tal sense. ‘‘The expense is
related to the environment,’’ he
says.

#1 FACT: When a forest gets

FAST |
FOREST
FACTS
sponsored by
Canadian} Women
in limber

Terrace Branch

old, the trees barely grow.
They start to use oxygen
rather than produce it. An old
forest can have more wood
decaying than growing. When
that happens, processes
reverse.

For every pound of wood
decaying, a pound of oxygen
is used and nearly one and a
half pounds of carbon dioxide

1-800-667-4321

is released into the air.

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