Found this article on CBC’s website about binners and dumpster divers. I like the name of the organization involved in this project: United We Can. I know very little about the dynamics and challenges faced on Vancouver’s Eastside, but this sounds pretty smart.
Binners — who make their living salvaging bottles and cans from the garbage — are road-testing new units that could replace their noisy shopping carts in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It’s part of a project run by the non-profit bottle depot United We Can and funded by businesses and foundations.
Ken Lyotier, the manager of United We Can, said the new carts hold more than a shopping cart, won’t tip over as easily and can be towed by a cyclist. “It’s collapsible, so binners can take it to their rooms after they’ve done their piece of work,” Lyotier said.
To read the rest of the article click here.
4 comments
right on. I’ll all for helping the little guy. though I can’t imagine the city appreciates it very much since they would rely on selling recyclables to off set some of their collection costs. if the binners are taking the good stuff (like metal) then it cost’s tax payers more to have their waste recycled… in a round about kind of way. …not that I would stop binners from doing their thing. in some countries that’s the only way things get recycled. one persons waste is another persons livlihood or something. I would rather see corporations absorb the costs of the waste they produce. cradle to grave baby. remember bottle return? that was what we used to have before the corporations externalized their costs by duping municipalities into funding recycling programs. we should just get the corporations to pay the binners. it’s like piece work.
If you check the last/current issue of THIS magazine, there is a story in the front section about these binners.
I think overall it’s a great-sounding program, but the part about the binners possibly paying for the carts themselves by selling advertising on them struck me as a bit crass.
These carts are fantastic unless you own a bicycle – because it is going to be stolen by a binner to pull the cart (just check the volume of stolen bike posts on the Vancouver CL).
So while this is a great idea in theory, in practice it promotes theft, makes it difficult to stay positive about riding a bike as primary mode of transport, and doesn’t help the environment much because most of the bottles are taken from residential recycling bins where the goods would have been recycled anyway…