SUMMER 2019

Divert NS News & Events: Working to improve Nova Scotia’s environment, economy, and quality of life by championing recycling and waste diversion in Nova Scotia.

They Tested their Enviro-Depot™ Knowledge and Won ............................................2

Working Towards a Litter-Free Nova Scotia ...............................................................3

Divert NS Litter-Stompers! Cleaning Up Our Neighborhood ................................................3

Funding Innovation: Recently Approved Projects .......................................................................4

Meet our New Board Members ......................4

Recognizing Champions of the Environment ............................................................5

Mark your Calendar: Mobius Awards on October 30th............................................................6

Choose to Refuse: What can YOU do? .......6

Recycle Old Bicycle Tires Here! ......................7

Thermal Treatment Summit: A Focus on Education ...................................................................7

In Memory of Danny Delaney ..........................8

Recycling by the Numbers: Beverage Container & Tire Programs ..............................8

New Oil and Glycol Management Program for NS .......................................................8

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IN THIS ISSUE: Reflecting on a Pivot Year: AGM 2019 In many ways, 2018-2019 was a pivot year for Divert NS. We took stock of what our organization has achieved, and planned what we need to do to help Nova Scotia shift our culture of recycling toward a culture of reducing and refusing to waste.

On June 27, Divert NS hosted representatives from municipal government, Nova Scotia Environment, Enviro-Depots, industry, like-minded organizations and academics for the 2018-2019 Annual General Meeting.

Together, we shared the impact that Divert NS had last year through our efforts to improve Nova Scotia’s environment, economy, and quality of life by refusing, reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Fiscal 2018–19 was a good year for Divert NS. Financially, it was one of the best in the history of the organization. This allowed Divert NS to provide:

• $8.6 million to municipalities to help fund local curbside programs and diversion activities.

• $1.3 million to educate Nova Scotians about reducing, reusing and recycling. • $156,500 for innovative projects to divert resources from landfill.

During the Annual General Meeting, two new board members were appointed: Calla Farn, Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance and Cari Gray, Production Shop Manager at Michelin North America (Canada). We also said good-bye to two board members who completed their

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VIEW PHOTOS HERE

terms: Marcus Goodick, President at EnviroCulture Consulting, and Scott MacLean, Quality Assurance Manager at Michelin North America (Canada).

As part of our annual general meeting, we invite funding recipients to share their experiences and present on their work. This year, at the AGM we featured the following.

• Divert NS provides support funding for a variety of projects to research, develop and implement waste diversion and reduction efforts across the province. Dr. Beth Mason, CEO of the Verschuren Centre in Cape Breton, presented on her project, funded in part by Divert NS, to develop anti-microbial packaging for food (see page 4 for more detail).

• In our current fiscal year, Divert NS introduced a new partnership with Clean Foundation to support their Clean Leadership Program. This program helps businesses, organizations and government agencies to champion green growth and it provides meaningful

Reflecting on a Pivot Year... continuedemployment opportunities for youth. Kate Pepler, recipient of the 2018 Mobius Award for Emerging Environmental Leader and zero-waste visionary/owner of The Tare Shop presented along with student, Tanisha Garing. Through the Clean Leadership Program, Tanisha works at The Tare Shop performing retail duties, providing educational events, and is identifying best practices.

• Divert NS provides funding to municipalities for a variety of initiatives, like support for their curbside programs, enforcement activities, and perhaps most important, education for residents, businesses, community groups and schools. Last fiscal municipal waste educators reached almost 91,000 Nova Scotians, spreading the word on recycling and refusing to waste. Kirk Symonds, Educator for Region 6 Solid Waste Management, has been “talking trash for 15 years” and presented on his experiences in educating the public on waste management.

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VIEW ANNUAL REPORT HERE

Dr. Beth Mason, Verschuren Centre, presents at the Divert NS 2018-19 AGM.

Kate Pepler and Tanisha Garing, The Tare Shop, present at the Divert NS 2018-19 AGM.

Kirk Symonds, Region 6 Solid Waste Management, presents at the Divert NS 2018-19 AGM.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Enviro-Depot™ Contest:

$500 Grand Prize Winner – Debi Ryan, Glace Bay$250 Winner – Kirsti Burnett, Halifax$250 Winner – Chris Paige, New Glasgow

Each year, Divert NS holds an Enviro-Depot™ Contest to raise awareness about the beverage container deposit-refund program, and to encourage Nova Scotians to visit their local Enviro-Depot™. This year we received 2,906 entries in total, more than double the entries of last year’s contest!

They Tested their Enviro-Depot™ Knowledge and Won!

For more than 25 years, the Nova Scotia Adopt-A-Highway Program has been facilitating volunteer-driven litter clean ups across the province. With our 2019 clean up season in full swing, we are very excited over the success of our newest initiative, taking over the Great Nova Scotia Pick Me Up Program (PMU), from the Clean Foundation. Halfway through our clean-up season we are very pleased with the strides the program has taken, removing over 57 tonnes of litter from our province to date.

During our first year of running the PMU program, we are happy to be working with the Clean Foundation to ensure that volunteers continue to receive the same level of support and to ensure a smooth transition. We are working diligently to organize our goal of over 500 clean ups across the province. We have contributed to this goal by hosting events such as our Ocean’s Week clean-up at Alderney Landing on June 8th. Working with municipalities across the province, we are looking forward to seeing more of the great work that our volunteers do to help keep Nova Scotia beautiful.

Working Towards a Litter-Free Nova Scotia Contributed article from Adopt-A-Highway

We are proud to announce that we are the largest litter abatement association in Nova Scotia, now covering litter removal from both roadways and public areas throughout the province. Expanding our program has given participants even more volunteering options. We hope that by growing into the one-stop-shop for litter removal, we can attract and retain even more volunteers than ever before. We are looking forward to a bright and litter-free future for Nova Scotia.

Submitted by Carolyn Wilson, Program Coordinator for Adopt-A-Highway. Nova Scotia Adopt-A-Highway is funded by Divert NS.

Divert NS staff from our Truro office and Kemptown processing facility participated in the Great Nova Scotia Pick Me Up on May 31. We collected 52 bags of litter, five bags of recyclables, tractor trailer tires, a lot of metal from vehicles, and more... 330 kg in all!

Divert NS Litter-Stompers! Cleaning Up Our Neighborhood

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Nova Scotia Adopt-A-Highway’s Ocean’s Week Clean-Up at Alderney Landing on June 8, 2019.

Diverting problematic materials from landfills requires new solutions and

Divert NS offers funding to assist. From straws to bags to packaging, single-use plastic waste poses an increasing threat to our global commons and local ecosystems. Divert NS has recently funded studies that could reduce food waste, and help turn the rising tide of plastics.

OPTIMIZATION AND PROTOTYPE PILOTING OF THE ZERO WASTE PODDartmouth-based Beyond Food Inc., aims to reduce food waste at the retail level through an innovative process that takes aging fruits and vegetables and transforms them into fine powder that can be used as an all-natural, nutritious ingredient in food manufacturing. Divert NS recently approved a $54,750 contribution to Beyond Food Inc. for a one-year project to optimize their process and pilot their Zero Waste Pod at a retail store, ahead of its commercial launch.

Funding Innovation: Recently Approved Projects

Meet our New Board Members

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At the 2019 AGM, the Divert NS Board of Directors appointed two new directors.

CARI GRAY has been working for Michelin North America (Canada) Inc. at the Bridgewater facility for the last 14 years. She currently holds the position of Production Shop Manager, and has extensive experience in Industrial Engineering, and continuous improvement and production management. Cari is a Professional Engineer, completing studies at Acadia University and Dalhousie University.

CALLA FARN is a senior business leader with extensive experience managing environmental and sustainability issues. Prior to joining the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance, Calla worked at McCain Foods (Canada), where she served on both the Canadian Leadership Team and the North American Crisis Management Team. She also worked as Vice President of the Atlantic Region for the soft drink industry, and was a journalist and a Senior Producer at CBC Newsworld in Toronto and Halifax. She was a writer and producer at Global News in Toronto, and a writer/editor at The Canadian Press. Calla has an MBA from Saint Mary’s University and is a graduate of the Chartered Director program at McMaster University’s Directors College. She has served on several boards, including Stewardship Ontario.

Divert NS offers funding to businesses, municipalities, and undergraduate and graduate students for a variety of projects to support waste diversion and waste reduction efforts across the province. For more information, visit divertns.ca/funding.

Jonah Crab

RETHINKING PLASTIC AND FOOD WASTEDivert NS provided $47,000 to the Verschuren Centre to develop antimicrobial packaging by incorporating natural chitin into plastic films. Chitin is found in abundance in crustacean shell waste in Nova Scotia, much of which is currently sent to landfill or composting. The antimicrobial properties of chitin-derived films will be tested initially in the packaging of mushrooms and dairy products, and it is expected to significantly increase the shelf life of these foods. Extended shelf life increases food safety, reduces waste and risk to consumers — and cuts down on disposal of packaging materials.

Calla Farn

Cari Gray

Each year, Divert NS offers $20,000 in scholarships to Grade 12 students across the province who exemplify leadership and demonstrate a commitment to protecting our environment. As part of the competition, students submit an essay on a trending topic in waste management and an overview of their involvement in environmental activities within their school and/or community.

Recognizing Champions of the Environment

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$5,000 Provincial Scholarship Winner: MARIA DUYNISVELD from Pugwash District High (Region: Colchester, Cumberland & East Hants)

$2,500 Regional Scholarship Winner for Cape Breton: FINLAY KOROL-O’DWYER from Riverview Rural High in Sydney

$2,500 Regional Scholarship Winner for Antigonish, Guysborough and Pictou:SARAH CAMPBELL from Northumberland Regional High in Westville

$2,500 Regional Scholarship Winner for Halifax:LOGAN ODERKIRK from Sackville High

$2,500 Regional Scholarship Winner for South Shore and West Hants:IRAWATI KHEDKAR from Parkview Education Centre in Bridgewater

$2,500 Regional Scholarship Winner for Digby and Yarmouth:LAYLA ABBOUD from École secondaire de Clare in La Butte

This year’s essay focused on stopping waste before it starts. Students were asked to choose a local business and investigate the waste they generate. The students researched initiatives and best practices that the local business could undertake, identified potential barriers to implementing, and discussed how these best practices could ultimately benefit the business and the environment.

LEARN ABOUT THE WINNERS - READ THEIR ESSAYS HERE

Are you a leader in reducing waste, or do you know an innovator making a difference for the environment? Nominate yourself or others for a Mobius Award of Environmental Excellence!

Deadline to nominate: Sept. 9, 2019.

CATEGORIESSmall Business of the Year

Large Business of the Year

Community Project of the Year

Institution of the Year

Innovator of the Year

Emerging Environmental Leader

Hall of Fame

Know an Environmental Champion? Nominate them for a Mobius Award!

VIEW NOMINATION FORMS HERE

If you’re feeling inspired by the zero-waste movement, this year’s keynote speaker is not to be missed. Andrew Isaac Thornton is an entrepreneur, the owner of Thornton’s Budgens (a supermarket in North London, UK) and the founder of Heart in Business Limited.

Thornton’s life purpose is to put the heart back into business and encourage the shift from an obsession with profit, towards a business world where people and the planet are put first. He has applied these principles to Thornton’s Budgens, which has become one of the first supermarkets in the world to

Mark your Calendar: Mobius Awards on October 30th

introduce completely plastic-free zones throughout the store.

In just 10 weeks, the supermarket eliminated the use of plastic packaging for nearly 2,000 products and the goal is to be virtually plastic free in three years. The store has already achieved its target of sending zero food waste to landfill.

The 2019 Mobius Awards will take place:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2019 HALIFAX MARRIOTT

HARBOURFRONT HOTEL

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Andrew Isaac Thornton is the keynote speaker for the 2019 Mobius Awards.

Break the habit of single-use products; consider if you actually need items before purchasing; and look at refusing, reducing and reusing before we get to recycling or landfilling. Start out small, or really challenge yourself!

Choose to Refuse: What can YOU do?Check out these tips to help you get started:

Use reusable bags beyond the grocery store -- at the drug store, clothing store and hardware store, too.

Rent or borrow one-time use items, like tools. There are rental shops and lending libraries in Nova Scotia.

Check secondhand markets and websites before buying new.

Try to fix items before throwing them away.

Give the gift of time - share activities rather than gifts.

View more tips to reduce your waste at divertns.ca/reduce. Send us your own stories and ideas via info@divertns.ca, or share them on social media, and be sure to tag Divert NS. #NothingWasted #RefuseToWaste

VIEW MOBIUS INFO HERE

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Through our ongoing Summit Series, we connect people to new opportunities and ideas. On May 14, Divert NS, in partnership with Nova Scotia Environment, hosted the Thermal Treatment Summit: Technology for Resource Recovery in Dartmouth. The event educated attendees on advanced thermal treatment technologies and processes, highlighted jurisdictions that have adopted these technologies, and provided evidence on their success and lessons learned.

Almost 60 key stakeholders attended the event, including municipal staff, elected officials, provincial and regional staff from Nova Scotia Environment, and environmental organizations.

Presentations and photos from the day are available on our website.

Presentations:• Defining Thermal Treatment Technologies, Konrad Fichtner,

Morrison Hershfield• Provincial Overview: Thinking Outside the Landfill, Don

MacQueen, Nova Scotia Environment• Key Factors in Adopting Thermal Treatment Technologies,

Franco Berruti, Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources

• A Federal Perspective on Thermal Treatment Technologies, Matthew Hamilton, Environment Canada

• Municipal Considerations When Evaluating Thermal Treatment Technologies, Andrea Trask, Municipality of East Hants and Andrew Garrett, Valley Waste-Resource Management

Thermal Treatment Summit: A Focus on Education

As you get your bike ready for summer riding - don’t forget about the FREE used bicycle tire recycling program operated by Divert NS. Through the program, Nova Scotians can bring used bicycle tires and tubes to any of the participating Bicycle Tire Recycling Drop-Off Locations.

In its second year, the program is seeing great success with 27 participating retailers across the province and 1,200 tires and tubes returned for recycling last year. The program applies to all bicycle tires and tubes except tubular tires, which are glued to special rims.

“Our organization is committed to creating a culture of recycling and waste reduction in Nova Scotia. The Bicycle Tire Recycling Program is just one example of how we are successfully working towards that goal,” says Jeff MacCallum, CEO of Divert NS.

Recycle Old Bicycle Tires Here!Once Divert NS has enough tires and tubes accumulated, they will be sent to Tire Recycling Atlantic Canada Corporation in Minto, New Brunswick for recycling. The valve stems will be sold as brass scrap and the bicycle tires and tubes will be recycled into new moulded rubber products, like cow mats.

We are also providing them to a local craftsman, Daryl Ingram of Freelander Bicycles, who is using them to make unique belts, made from tires that Nova Scotians returned through our program.

May 12-June 8, Divert NS ran a promotional campaign to encourage Nova Scotians to recycle bicycle tires at participating shops. Above is the cover image used for social media.

VIEW DROP-OFF LOCATIONS HERE

VIEW PRESENTATIONS & PHOTOS HERE

Divert NS is a not-for-profit corporation that helps drive the culture of recycling in Nova Scotia. We operate two recycling programs: the Beverage Container Deposit-Refund Program and the Used Tire Management Program. We also work in partnership with business, like-minded environmental organizations, government and academia to foster stewardship, fund innovation, educate Nova Scotians, and support municipal waste programs province-wide. Divert NS is always looking for opportunities to improve our province’s environment and economy. We believe Nova Scotians are ready to take on the challenge of evolving our culture of recycling into a culture of refusing to waste. Divert NS is a registered business name of the Resource Recovery Fund Board, Inc.

Divert NS 35 Commercial Street, Suite 400, Truro, Nova Scotia B3N 3H9 1-877-313-7732 info@divertns.ca

Recycling by the Numbers: Beverage Container & Tire ProgramsDivert NS operates two core recycling programs: the Beverage Container Deposit-Refund Program and the Used Tire Management Program. These programs are among the most successful in Canada. Below are the program results for fiscal 2018-2019.

BEVERAGE CONTAINER DEPOSIT-REFUND PROGRAM

384 MILLION containers returned for recycling (368 million in fiscal 2018)

463 MILLION containers on which deposits were paid (452 million in fiscal 2018)

82.9% RECOVERY RATE (81.4% in fiscal 2018)

USED TIRE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

953registered tire retailers in Nova Scotia

1.3 MILLION passenger tire equivalents collected (1.18 million in fiscal 2018)

82.6% RECOVERY RATE (76.3% in fiscal 2018)

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Our friend and co-worker, Danny Delaney passed away on April 12, 2019, at his home. For over 12 years, Danny was a warehouse worker at the Divert NS

In Memory of Danny Delaney

processing facility in Kemptown, sorting product #26 for the beverage container deposit-refund program. Danny was a big part of our Divert NS family and we miss him greatly.

As of January 1, 2020, a new oil and glycol management program for Nova Scotia will begin. It will then be easy to recycle used oil, oil filters, oil containers, glycol, glycol containers and aerosol lubricants and part cleaners.

The Atlantic Used Oil Management Association (UOMA-Atlantic) will manage the stewardship plan in Nova Scotia, on behalf of industry. Funding for this program will come from an Environmental Handling Charge imposed on the brand owners and first importers.

This program will eliminate tipping fees and will generate some revenues for the maintenance garages and auto service centers that become collection facilities. The collection for these items will all be done free of charge. In mid-September a representative of UOMA-Atlantic will be visiting garages and service centres across the province to provide information about the program. In the meantime, for more information, please contact Albert Girard at albert.girard@uoma-atlantic.com or call 506-381-1282.

New Oil and Glycol Management Program for NS Contributed article from the Atlantic Used Oil Management Association