In celebration of Earth Day, I was hoping to share with you some examples of cutting-edge waste reduction work that’s happening in British Columbia. (BC’s new takeback program for CFLs and fluorescent lights starts this July! The small appliance takeback program starts next April! All remaining electronics will be covered by July 2012! Antifreeze and lead-acid battery takebacks launch July 2011! Industrial designers are helping Ethical Bean design out their coffee bags! Food scrap composting in Nanaimo, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody!)

Instead what I’m doing is writing a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun, rebutting an Earth Day Challenge letter published today by the company that operates the Burnaby incinerator. (Burnaby is one of the 21 municipalities that make up Metro Vancouver).

This is how it goes these days for some of us waste reducers and recyclers in BC. We would much rather work on positive, progressive, waste-reducing projects, from rolling out green bins (yes, BC is still catching up), to establishing resource recovery parks, to laying the groundwork for new takeback programs. Not to mention creating financial incentives to develop recycling technologies, make it easy for consumers to make less wasteful choices, and help companies phase out toxins and design out waste. The problem is, we’re splitting our time by fending off an influx of waste-to-energy interests. (Incineration companies are flocking to BC on the whiff of Metro Vancouver’s billion-dollar bait for more incinerators – which is backed by a provincial Energy Plan that rebrands garbage as a clean, renewable source of energy.)

It’s not all bad. I enjoy a healthy debate. But I am hoping we can turn things around soon and pour our attention into reducing, reusing and recycling.

Tomorrow, I will post the letter that I just sent the editor tonight. We’ll see if it gets published. Meanwhile, I’m hoping that if you have exciting zero waste examples from your home, business or community, you’ll share it with us in the comments.

Happy Earth Day!