Waste from more than a million toilets flows out of giant sewage pipes, creating a swirling stinky river that has to be processed at the Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant which serves a large section of Metro Vancouver.
It’s just one of many facilities across Canada and around the world seeing an uptick in discarded masks, gloves and wet wipes being flushed down the toilet and causing treatment problems since the advent of COVID-19.
“It looks like we saw a few masks going up,” said plant supervisor Dave Hoffman, as he pointed to a giant metal mechanical screen that separates items that don’t biodegrade from the usual sludgy mass of poop and toilet paper.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) and other items that don’t biodegrade are dried before ending up in a large waste pile nearby. At this point, they’re matted into a putrid, grey mass, but a few medical gloves and items such as condoms stand out.
It’s a problem that’s drawn the attention of researchers at the University of British Columbia who are at work on creating a protective mask that biodegrades or can be recycled.
“Whether they’re wipes, whether they’re masks, whether they’re rubber gloves, all of those things can’t be treated in the sewage system and, in fact, damage our equipment,” said Jerry Dobrovolny, chief administrative officer for Metro Vancouver.
He says there’s been an uptick in this type of waste since the outbreak of the pandemic, but it hasn’t been quantified.
Some of the non-biodegradable garbage filtered out of sewage waste is set aside to be dried and trucked to landfills. (Dillon Hodgin/CBC)
This adds to the problem highlighted by the infamous fatbergs — wet wipes and kitchen fats clogging up sewage systems around the world after so-called “flushable wipes” surged in popularity.
COVID-19-related personal protective equipment (PPE) is adding to the problem, because even a small percentage of improperly disposed of items can clog pumps, pipes and other infrastructure.
Dobrovolny said colleagues across Canada who run sewer and solid waste systems are seeing a similar rise in improperly disposed of PPE, and taxpayers end up footing the bill.
“What we’re finding now with COVID is that those numbers are increasing. Across the country, it can total over $250 million a year in increased maintenance costs,” said Dobrovolny.
Masks made from plastic fibre
Metro Vancouver is putting new emphasis on an existing campaign to encourage people to be careful what they send into the sewer system. He reminds homeowners that they, too, can face personal costs if their home sewer system gets clogged.
Disposable masks, for instance, may feel like soft cotton, but they’re almost all made from non-biodegradable material such as polypropylene.
In addition to people flushing them down the toilet, cities are seeing personal protective equipment discarded on the street. A spokesperson for the city of Vancouver says that’s raising concerns for crews who have to deal with the waste.
Also, something dropped on the street can then get flushed into storm drains, many of which empty straight into streams or the ocean.
CBC reporter Greg Rasmussen looks at a pile of dried non-biodegradable waste filtered out of sewage at the Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greater Vancouver. (CBC Dillon Hodgin)
Richard Thompson, a professor of marine biology at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom, says society needs to understand and deal with what happens to all disposable items after they’re used.
“The persistence of litter is incredibly long-lasting — hundreds if not thousands of years — and that’s why it’s really important that that end-of-life phase is fully thought out,” he said.
And he notes that this new waste stream is adding to the already serious problem of microplastics, the tiny pieces of debris now found in every ocean.
A fatberg covers an 1852-built sewer at Westminster in London in 2017. (Frank Augstein/The Associated Press)
“The sea is sort of downhill from everywhere, and so there’s a tendency for materials to accumulate there carried by rivers or carried by wind.”
Racing to make eco-friendly masks
At a research lab at the University of British Columbia, a group of scientists saw the problem and decided they could put a dent in the growing waste pile.
They recently formed an ad hoc team to come up with less-damaging mask.
“This is all paper — all wood fibre,” said Orlando Rojas, a professor at UBC’s Bioproducts Institute, pointing to an array of materials and mask prototypes on a workbench.
Professor Orlando Rojas of UBC’s Bioproducts Institute shows off a paper-based biodegradable mask prototype. (Dillon Hodgin/CBC)
Canada has a long history of making paper products, and he’s confident once the right formula is found, millions of eco-friendly masks and other protective gear can be produced at low cost.
“People are very conscious about sustainability, so this flies really high in people’s minds. If we match that interest with the performance of wood fibre, we likely have a winner here,” Rojas said.
It would also help reduce dependency on foreign suppliers, a huge ongoing problem, as demand for PPE far exceeds supply.
The key is creating a soft, durable paper product that can still filter out viruses.
WATCH | PPEs create a waste problem, but Canadian scientists are working on a solution:
All those disposable gloves, masks and wipes that people are using to protect themselves against COVID-19 are creating a waste problem, but scientists are working on a made-in-Canada solution. 2:04
Rojas said many of the initial technical hurdles have already been solved, and talks are underway with manufacturers.
It could be a long-term proposition, with people all around the world now wearing face masks and concern growing over their impact on the environment.
A made-in Canada-solution, with the potential for local manufacturing would also help ensure the country isn’t caught short again when it comes to supplies of crucial equipment needed to fight the pandemic, said Rojas.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
