The Victoria-based Soap for Hope Canada wants to ensure around 10,000 plastic bottles stay out of the landfill and bolster local infrastructure, but it needs some help from the community to do so.
In a workspace near its Vic West headquarters, the charity's 'It's a Concrete Idea' program has been collecting, storing and shredding shampoo bottles sourced from Fairmont hotels across B.C. The shredded plastic bits are turned into a thread-like fibre that's being embedded into a local company's concrete to make it stronger and more resistant to cracking.
Soap for Hope has been running the program out of a workspace donated by its landlord, but that "beautiful gift" of a spot had to be sold and the charity now needs to find a new home for the recycling initiative by Sept. 13.
It's hoping the community can help it find a warehouse-like space that could house the bottles and the shredding machine, which would allow the program to continue and prevent the material from going to waste. That space would need to have power, be around 12 by 24 feet in size and would ideally be located near the charity's William Street warehouse.
“We just want to do this on a continual basis so that none of this goes in the garbage,” Anne McIntyre, Soap for Hope's founder and executive director, said Friday as she was backdropped by containers holding thousands of hair-care bottles. “I just think this is such a great project.”
The organization takes in excess and gently-used products from the hotel industry and some other groups. It's prevented at least 850,000 pounds of waste from ending up in the landfill and has provided over 9 million hygiene and linen products to organizations that distribute those items to people in need.
As the charity tries to ensure everything going into its operations gets recycled, McIntyre hopes the non-profit's bottle program can serve as a positive example for organizations trying to cut down on their waste.
“If we can show people how you actually can re-purpose in a meaningful way, I hope it would be an inspiration to other people," she said.
The bottle initiative started about a year and a half ago when David Chalupiak, who works with the charity, brought the idea forward. Soap for Hope then teamed up with the Saanich-based Setu Technology, which takes the shredded plastic bits and makes it into the concrete-reinforcing fibres. McIntyre said Setu was previously getting its plastic stocks shipped in from the Mainland, so their partnership also cuts down on the environmental impact of transporting that material.
"If we can do it all right here, why wouldn't we?" she said rhetorically.
The program's local focus goes even further as once Setu makes the fibre, it's bought by a Victoria company Butler Concrete and then gets used in the Capital Region. McIntyre gave the example of the fibres being used in City of Victoria concrete project near the Crystal Pool centre.
While she touted how the recycling initiative reduces both plastic waste and the need for manufacturing new strengthening materials, McIntyre has also been told the fibre product cuts the amount of cement a project needs to use by a third.
The charity leader called the bottle program a triple win because it helps the environment, strengthens local infrastructure and supports people living with disabilities who are involved in the initiative.
“If someone has a space they could lend us just for a few months, we’d be very appreciative.“
