Written by Kirsty Smyth, Zero Waste Program Manager
In partnership with GFL Environmental and the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), AWARE delivers From Waste to Action, a campaign helping local businesses reduce landfill waste and improve diversion rates, with a focus on food waste.
Summer is in full swing in Whistler, and you may have spotted AWARE’s Zero Waste Heroes team at local events, helping to run our Zero Waste Stations.
Events can generate significant amounts of waste and so AWARE works with event organizers from the earliest planning stages to incorporate waste reduction strategies. Our Zero Waste Heroes are on hand throughout each event to help attendees sort their waste correctly. Our team is rigorously trained and, in 2025, achieved an average event diversion rate of 83% meaning most event waste was diverted from landfill through recycling, composting and reuse. We also worked with several large events to achieve diversion rates exceeding 90%.
In addition to helping ensure waste ends up in the correct stream, our Zero Waste Heroes are always happy to answer questions about recycling and waste management. In 2025, we had over 3,000 conversations about waste management, and there really are no silly questions. We know that sorting waste can seem confusing, and we’re here to help.
One question we hear time and again is:
“Doesn’t it all end up in the same place?”
The short answer is no.
So where does your recycling really go?
1. Not all recycling is the same: understanding EPR
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach whereby the companies that supply packaging and paper are financially, and sometimes operationally, responsible for those materials throughout their whole life-cycle, including managing the material at the end of its life. This shifts recycling costs away from consumers and municipal governments and has been found to improve recycling rates.
In British Columbia, there are several EPR programs covering materials such as packaging and paper, beverage containers, electronics, batteries, paint and more. Each program has its own collection system and processing facilities designed to recover valuable materials and return them to the economy.
This means when you split your recycling into different streams, each stream follows a different pathway to become something new. Not all recycling ends up in the same location and so, it is important that you split recycling up properly.
British Columbia is a leader in EPR system design. Currently EPR mainly focuses on residential goods and services and extending the program to cover industrial and commercial goods could go a long way to improve recycling in the province.
2. What happens to paper and packaging?
The paper and packaging collected through Whistler’s residential recycling system are managed through Recycle BC. This includes:
- Containers
- Paper
- Cardboard
- Glass
- Foam packaging
- Flexible plastics
We often find that people get confused about the difference between flexible plastics and containers. Flexible plastic is essentially any kind of plastic packaging that you can easily scrunch up into a ball. It includes chip packets, granola bar wrappers, plastic bags and bubble wrap. Containers meanwhile, include clear plastic food trays, coffee cups, aluminum and steel food cans and aluminium foil. Make sure to rinse your containers before recycling. The Resort Municipality of Whistler and Recycle BC both have excellent resources on their website to support you in understanding what goes in each stream.
Paper and packaging is transported from the Nesters and Function Junction depots to the GFL Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Squamish, where they are consolidated into large bales by recycling stream. Across BC, 200,000 tonnes of paper and plastic are sorted at MRFs each year. From here, bales are transported to Richmond where optical technology is used to further separate by material type.
Once separated by material type, bales are sent to end-markets. For plastics, this is Merlin Plastics in Delta; Canada’s largest plastic recycler and the fifth largest in North America. This ensures that plastics do not end up in our natural environment. According to Recycle BC, in 2025, 99.5% of plastics recycled in BC ended up in BC end markets. Of course, the act of transporting, consolidating and re-manufacturing plastic is still energy intensive (although significantly less so than using virgin materials). It is therefore far better to swap single-use plastics for a reusable item. But where plastic items have been brought into use, it is far better to extend their lifecycle through recycling rather than allowing them to end up in landfills.
In 2025, 100% of glass and 80% of metal went to end markets in BC and all remaining metal went to end markets in Canada. Paper recycling does cause challenges in the area due to increased volumes. While 6% of BC’s recycled paper went to end-markets in BC, 47% went to each of the USA and other international markets. You can help by reducing your paper consumption and by buying recycled paper products where possible.
3. What happens to refundable beverage containers (a.k.a. bottles and cans)?
Refundable beverage containers follow a separate pathway through BC’s deposit return system, Return-It, run by Encorp Pacific.
When you return a refundable bottle or can at a bottle depot it is then sorted by material type. Glass, aluminum, PET plastic, and other materials are separated and sent to specialized processors.
The materials are then used to manufacture new products. For example:
- Aluminum cans can be melted down and made into new cans,
- PET plastic bottles can become new bottles or polyester fibre, and
- Glass can be processed into new glass containers.
Returning your refundable beverage containers keeps valuable materials in circulation and ensures they enter a dedicated recycling system. You can also cash-in on your beverage containers reclaiming the 10 cents per container that you pay at checkout. At Nester’s and Function Junction, you can also donate refundable beverage containers to support the wonderful work that Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) do for the community through their foodbank and other outreach programs.
4. What about other ERP products?
Other ERP products can also be collected at recycling depots including electronics, batteries and paint. Electronics are collected and dismantled so that valuable materials, such as metals, plastics and glass can be recovered.
Batteries are collected separately because they require specialised handling. Lithium, nickel and other metals can be recovered and recycled.
Note that flammable items such as batteries, vapes and lighters cause significant fire hazards if placed in landfill waste as they can explode in compressors. It is of paramount importance that you separate these items out from household waste and place them in the correct recycling stream where available.
5. What about organics?
Organic waste, such as food scraps and yard waste, follows a completely different journey.
Here is another question we are frequently asked when out in the community:
“Doesn’t compost just rot in landfill anyway?”
The train of thought is logical, but no: your banana peels, egg shells and other organics do not simply break down in landfill. Instead, organic matter in landfill breaks down anaerobically (meaning without oxygen) and releases methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.
When you separate your organic waste in Whistler, it is taken to Sea-to-Sky Soils where it is used to create soil and fertilizer which, in turn, helps to grow food for our community.
One small thing that everyone in our community can do to help our planet is to separate out organic waste from landfill. If you work as part of a hotel, restaurant or other food-business, AWARE offers free training and resources, through our From Waste to Action campaign funded by GFL, to support your teams in reducing food waste and sorting recycling. More information is available on AWARE’s website.
6. Where does landfill go?
Unfortunately, not everything can be recycled or composted. However, ideally your landfill waste is as small as possible through reducing, reusing and recycling first (see our recent Pique article on What you can do to reduce your landfill waste and why it matters).
Residual waste from Whistler is transported to the Cache Creek landfill via Vancouver, a journey of approximately 450 km. Landfilling requires significant land and infrastructure, and materials buried there are permanently lost as resources while contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling and composting are processed much closer to Whistler, making them more resource-efficient and less energy intensive.
7. What can you do to help?
Within BC, we have industry leading recycling systems and programs. The issue is that we do not always understand them or know how to use them well. In 2025, 65% of Whistler’s landfill waste could have been recycled or composted; what a waste of landfill space, finite natural resources and energy. The recycling system relies on everyone playing their part and a few simple actions can make a big difference:
Use the right stream
Take a moment to check what belongs in each bin. If you are not sure, come and chat to one of AWARE’s Zero Waste team at local events or look at Recycle BC’s website.
Keep recycling clean
Rinse food containers before recycling and keep them loose rather than in bags.
Reduce waste before recycling
Choose reusable products, repair items whenever possible, and think about whether something can be reused before throwing it away. Visit Rebuild-It and Reuse-It to shop for pre-loved items or donate goods you no longer need. In October, AWARE will also host a series of community events, including repair cafés, a clothing swap, and a garage sale, offering even more opportunities to repair, reuse, and reduce waste.
Ask questions
All businesses and events in our community are required to separate waste through the Solid Waste Bylaw. Change often comes from passionate individuals within businesses; use your voice to advocate to your managers and leadership teams to better your waste sorting practices. Not only does this help to protect our environment, it can also help businesses avoid fines that they face where they do not recycle properly. Make use of the free pilot studies and waste management training provided by AWARE through our From Waste to Action campaign.
Overall, we have incredible systems for waste management in the Sea to Sky and the protection of our natural environment depends on us using them properly. Recycling is one of the simplest things that you can do in your home, your workplace and your businesses to protect the planet, there is no excuse not to.
AWARE’s From Waste To Action campaign, in partnership with GFL Environmental and the RMOW, helps businesses and residents improve their waste systems with practical, hands-on support. This year, we are focusing support on restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, schools, and multi-unit residential buildings. Do you work in one of these sectors, or live in a strata? Get in touch we will help you improve your waste diversion, free of charge.
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