Search

Nobody likes schlepping all those blue bins full of used margarine tubs and juice jugs to the curb every week. But at least the hassle is made bearable by the feeling that we're doing our bit to help Mother Earth. The only trouble is that years after recycling programs were rolled out in Canada, their benefits remain debatable. In March, a group of leading environmentalists from Sweden turned decades-old orthodoxy on its head, announcing that all the painstaking rinsing and sorting of recyclables we responsible citizens have done for so long has turned out to be, well, a waste--and that we'd be better off both environmentally and economically if we incinerated it all. Even when it is profitable, the applications for reconstituted products are still pretty narrow. "How many park benches and fence posts do we need?" asks Joseph Gho, chief executive officer of EPI Environmental Products Inc. Gho's company is making an effort to create an additive that makes plastic entirely biodegradable. One of Gho's British licensees, Symphony Plastic Technologies, has convinced giant British retailers like Tesco and Safeway to carry EPI-treated garbage bags, while more major European supermarkets have started using the additive in their grocery sacks. EPI has won support from composting groups worldwide. Next, Gho is hoping he can win the approval of Canadian and U.S. investors, with a share offering in the near future.