The 2nd Annual 14 Day Upcycle Challenge was a HUGE SUCCESS! Thank you!

By Shylo

Our 2nd Annual 14 Day Upcycle Challenge was a HUGE SUCCESS! A big thank you to all involved!

https://www.facebook.com/events/291655194646323

Event Details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/291655194646323

The second annual 14-day Upcycle Challenge from October 7-22!

**Please come to the warehouse back gate to access the event**
**Event extended over the weekend of October 21-22**

We wanted to start by thanking all of the countless volunteers, the Vancouver Island Marine Debris Working Group and the many sponsors who have made this good work possible! You are all the true heart of restoring crucial coastal ecosystems. We would also like to acknowledge that land access was granted by many First Nations communities to the Working Group in order to clean and remove debris down the West and East Coast of Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands and residing waterways. We will be sorting material on the unceeded lands of the Coast Salish Territory.

What to bring:
– **Must wear close toed shoes**
– Sunhat
– Work gloves
– Snacks and Lunch
– Waterbottle
– Any music you would like to listen to (Must be family appropriate)

Hours of Operation are subject to change.
***Please continually refer to this schedule for updates***

October 7: 10am-6pm:
Plastic sorting instructions and opening words from 10am-11am
October 8: 10am- 6pm
October 9: 10am- 4pm **Close early for holiday
October 10: 10am- 6pm
October 11: 10am- 6pm
October 12: 10am- 6pm
October 13: 10am- 6pm
October 14: 10am- 6pm
October 15: 10am- 6pm
October 16: 10am- 5pm
October 17: 10am-6pm
October 18: 10am- 6pm
October 19: 10am- 6pm
October 20: 10am- 6pm
October 21: 10am- 6pm
October 22: 10am- 6pm

LOCATION: 8601 Main Street, Vancouver, BC

PARKING: There is available free parking on the side of the road and few spaces inside the wearhouse (Please come to the back gate of the warehouse to access the event)

AMENITIES: There will be port-o-potties, limited water and power on site.

FOOD: To be clear- there is no available kitchen this year on site. Please bring your lunch and snacks for the day.

FIRST AID: There will be first aid provided on site

CURRENT END OF LIFE SOLUTIONS::
– Foam and Hard Plastic Buoys: Route Blue, Vernon BC
– Buoys: Harbour Chandler, Nanaimo, BC
– Plastic PET Waterbottles: Lush Cosmetics
– Hard mixed plastics: Lush Cosmetics
– Polystyrene (White Foam): Foam Only
– Tires: Action Tire
– Research continuation for Hard Mixed Platics: Resynergi Inc Plastic to fuel conversion
– Eurathyne Foam: Poly Research Institute

BACKGROUND
Over the spring and summer of 2017 marine debris and driftage items were recovered from the remote wilderness of Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and residing waterways. During this time hundreds of volunteers and sponsors contributed to large scale cleanup operations to remove marine debris and drfitage along the West and East coasts of Vancouver Island. Loads of debris have been transported to our new debris in-take centre located in South Vancouver. To date we have had over 8 B-Trains of material enter our grounds and have been sorting debris throughout the summer. We are estimating that by the end of the collection season we will have collected over 500 supersacks (1 cubic yard each) of materials with additional loose itmes which consist of tires, barels, pallets, hundreds of buoys, over 150 cubic yards of mixed foam, and unidentified objects.

It is estimated that about 1/3 of the material collected from the West coast of Vancouver Island is from the devastating tragedy of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. This earthquake was registered at a magnitude of 9.0 (Mw) and reported 15,894 deaths. It is with care and respect that we help to recollect this drfitage and return some of these items back to the Japanese people. We thank the Japanese people for their previous financial gift which allowed this work to gain great momentum in British Columbia over the previous years.

It has been our upmost priority to arrange after life solutions for this debris to the best of our ability. In 2015, we were able to purchase our first plastic to fuel machine to begin converting various plastic resin codes back into a usable fuel.

The generous financial gift given by the Japanese Ministry of Environment and the BC Ministry of Environment helped launch this project in 2016.

The reclamation of driftage and marine debris fosters cross-sectoral collaboration!!

Huge thank you to the thousands of people this year that made a difference.

Participating Cleanup Groups (as of Oct 2017)

Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards
BC Shellfish Association
Black Point Cleanup
Clayquot Cleanup
Environmental & Emergency Services of Ucluelet
Healing Nature
Kyuquot Community & Checleset First Nations
Lasqueti Island Cleanup
Let’s Talk Trash Team
Parks Canada
Pitch-in Canada
Powell River Regional District
Saltery Bay Cleanup
Savary Island Cleanup
Surfrider Foundation Pacific Rim
Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island
Texada Island Cleanup
Thunder Bay Cleanup
Vancouver Aquarium- Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
Vancouver Island Marine Debris Working Group