By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer
Last February, Felix B枚ck picked up a shipping container sent express from Disneyland and stuffed with a precious load: Single-use chopsticks the company couldn香蕉视频直播檛 use because of a package design error.
The load was the first hint of a wooden tsunami for B枚ck, CEO of ChopValue, a Vancouver-based company that recuperates single-use chopsticks to turn them into everything from desks to dominoes. Since its founding in 2016, the company has kept millions of chopsticks out of landfills an effort, B枚ck said, to reduce waste produced by restaurants.
香蕉视频直播淲e are a circular economy franchise. We identified the humble chopstick as one of the imported, disposable consumer items香蕉视频直播� ubiquitous in modern life, he said. 香蕉视频直播淲e thought it might be a really powerful tool to talk about underutilized resources and how much waste we have in our cities.香蕉视频直播�
Pre-pandemic, well over 100,000 wooden utensils like chopsticks were discarded daily in Vancouver, according to a 2018 study by Metro Vancouver. Most had been used an average of 20 minutes 香蕉视频直播� after a roughly 9,000-kilometre journey from bamboo forests in China to restaurants in B.C.
Bamboo is among the world香蕉视频直播檚 most sustainable tree species, with coppices harvested in four-year rotations without destroying the trees香蕉视频直播� root systems. But even that breakneck rate of regrowth can香蕉视频直播檛 make single-use chopsticks sustainable, B枚ck said.
Keeping them out of the landfills 香蕉视频直播� where they decompose and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas 香蕉视频直播� and extending their useful life was his focus. Working with restaurants, he set up recycling bins and a collection system to gather the chopsticks their customers used. The collected wood was then brought to local manufacturing facilities to be transformed into more valuable goods, or 香蕉视频直播渦pcycled.香蕉视频直播�
Keeping those manufacturing facilities small and local is key, B枚ck said, as it allows more flexibility and provides local employment. It香蕉视频直播檚 a model he hopes will be imitated by others aiming to set up manufacturing businesses.
The idea took off, drawing considerable media attention and expanding to Victoria, Montreal, and Los Angeles. In each city, they set up a full collection and manufacturing hub to reduce the transportation costs and emissions, according to a 2019 report by the company.
As of Jan. 4, the company reported recycling well over 32 million chopsticks, and more than half of that since mid-2019. While the pandemic has decimated restaurants, it has been a boon for ChopValue 香蕉视频直播� and laid bare major flaws in the global chopstick supply chain, B枚ck said.
香蕉视频直播淲e got in touch with all these big suppliers of chopsticks for the restaurant industry香蕉视频直播� when the pandemic hit last spring with hopes to glean chopsticks left unused by hard-hit restaurants, B枚ck said. 香蕉视频直播淚magine these thousands of chopsticks that are all individually branded. You obviously don香蕉视频直播檛 deliver these overload chopsticks 香蕉视频直播� which are perfectly fine chopsticks 香蕉视频直播� to another restaurant that is differently branded.香蕉视频直播�
Without restaurant-goers to use them, those boxes of freshly manufactured chopsticks were destined for landfills.
New chopsticks are packaged in cardboard boxes lined with plastic, then each pair is protected by a small paper or plastic package, he said. Opening thousands of boxes of chopsticks to sort those materials and put them in the right waste stream 香蕉视频直播� recycling for plastic and cardboard, compost for wood 香蕉视频直播� is too much work. Had ChopValue not recuperated them, they would have probably ended up in a landfill.
Yet despite the surging business, B枚ck said the pandemic oversupply laid bare the vulnerabilities of the complex supply chains that move everything from chopsticks to carrots around the globe.
香蕉视频直播淲hat we learned through this pandemic is logistics have challenges, especially when we have to re-evaluate costs or priority goods,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淚t really, really interrupted so much of our supply chain. I hope there is a big transition 香蕉视频直播� (to) local manufacturing.香蕉视频直播�
That could make it easier not only to recuperate and upcycle unused goods, as ChopValue has done but also allow for more control over what香蕉视频直播檚 produced in the first place. Our supply chains haven香蕉视频直播檛 always been so global: Canada香蕉视频直播檚 chopsticks were produced here 香蕉视频直播� at a factory in Fort Nelson, B.C. 香蕉视频直播� until the late 1990s.
It香蕉视频直播檚 that vision 香蕉视频直播� more small, local manufacturers and less reliance on vulnerable global supply chains 香蕉视频直播� B枚ck hopes his chopsticks will inspire.
香蕉视频直播淢y vision is to have mass manufacturing made local,香蕉视频直播� he said.
