To help realize a world where there is no such thing as waste.
To train citizens to understand our waste system and catalyze them sharing that knowledge to help encourage waste reduction and prevention in local communities.
It's easy to join the waitlist for the course, or to join behind-the-scenes conversation through the SPEC Zero-Waste Team.
Join fellow waste reduction and prevention enthusiasts and become an advocate for the three Rs in your community as a Master Recycler (and Composter!) in the Vancouver Lower Mainland. Master Recyclers are trained on waste reduction and prevention, recycling and composting through a combination of community outreach and eight classes, featuring experts from industry and field trips to local waste processing and recycling facilities.
Participants are mentored to through 30 volunteer hours in the community. Outreach includes activities like staffing booths and recycling stations at events, creating a radio show, neighbourhood cleanup recycling projects, and educating schools, communities or stratas, and increasingly starting companies. When participants complete their 30 outreach hours, they become Certified Master Recyclers and are encouraged to continue their community outreach.
2015 was the pilot year for the Master Recycler program in Vancouver. We have run since, with over 175 graduates changing communities for the better. The program has been empowered by the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation's (SPEC) Waste Committee, and has been made possible with funding from RecycleBC, The McLean Foundation, Vancity, SPEC individual donors and the Gow-Jarrett and Millard Family. We are currently run as a non-profit, with a largely volunteer program. We also offer case-by-case education for business clients, get in touch for more information.
Master Recycler programs exist across North America, and have often been initiated by small groups of committed citizens. Over time, the programs were integrated into municipalities, and we feel this is the best place for the program as well.
Are you part of a municipal organization and would like to host your own Master Recycler program?
Would you like to learn more about the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation?
Visit our site at www.spec.bc.ca