Chopstick Collection Pilot in North Vancouver
Visiting Return-It Express Plus Lo-Lo? Now you can recycle used and unused chopsticks, which will be turned into home décor.
Starting November 29, Return-It is launching a pilot program in partnership with ChopValue to collect chopsticks at its new Lower Lonsdale Return-It Express Plus site in North Vancouver.
About the pilot
Vancouver-based ChopValue estimates 91,000 chopsticks are thrown out in Vancouver every day. The company has been collecting used chopsticks from restaurants, businesses and malls in North America since 2016, and has recycled over 38 million chopsticks that otherwise would have ended up in landfills.
ChopValue uses its innovative manufacturing process to engineer discarded chopsticks for a second life as sustainable essentials, including furniture, cutting boards, and decor. Each product has a tangible impact through the number of chopsticks recycled and carbon stored that otherwise would have been released into the atmosphere.
With this new pilot program, Return-It is leveraging its existing network to divert material that would otherwise end up in the landfill or the natural environment, while at the same time making recycling more convenient. Based on the results and success of the pilot, Return-It will evaluate implementing this initiative at other Return-It collection facilities throughout the province.
The pilot also reflects Return-It’s social purpose of fostering a world where nothing is waste – creating a better future for people, communities and the planet through recycling, education and strategic partnerships.
More about chopsticks
- Most chopsticks come from bamboo harvested in China. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing wood grasses, making the resource a very sustainable wood material.
- To make disposable chopsticks, the bamboo is harvested, treated, dried and shaped into chopsticks. These chopsticks then get shipped around 9,000 kilometers to North America, to be used in just one meal. Once used, chopsticks are normally thrown away without a second thought.
- Bamboo chopsticks share many of the high-performing traits of virgin bamboo, which helps ensure ChopValue’s final products are durable and long-lasting.
About ChopValue
ChopValue is the world’s first circular economy franchise that designs and manufactures products using an innovative, high-performance material made entirely from recycled chopsticks. Since its founding in 2016, ChopValue’s “urban harvesting” approach has saved over 38 million chopsticks from the landfill, turning them into beautiful and sustainable products for the home and office. Based in Vancouver, the company operates a global network of corporate and franchise Microfactories that source, manufacture, distribute, and employ within local communities. ChopValue is a certified B Corporation with a simple vision of redefining the term "waste" to "resource", one chopstick at a time. ChopValue.com