Recycling Champion: Gayle Paquette
Health authority: Provincial Health Services Authority
Facility: BC Cancer Research Centre
Position: Lab Manager – ARC
Date interviewed: July 13, 2015
Gayle, Recycling Champion since 2014, is promoting a No Contamination Celebration. The idea behind the celebration: no contamination in the next visual audit of ARC recycling bins.
“Our first audit was really good. In our second one, there was a decline. There was not the same drive as there was right after training. I thought there needed to be a big incentive, so I decided that we would celebrate if in our next audit there was no contamination. People are really excited and have been asking about it.”
What do you enjoy the most about being a Recycling Champion?
“The satisfaction of knowing where the waste goes. Knowing that it is being dealt with instead of going to a landfill.”
What initiated your involvement as a Recycling Champion?
“Attending presentations from the Energy and Environmental Sustainability team caught my attention and from that I thought that I should lead by example and take the lead on recycling.”
What has been your biggest challenge yet?
“There are a lot of users and staff with frequent rotation. Trying to get the message of recycling across all users and staff, as well as training everyone, took a very long time.”
What are your future goals as a Recycling Champion?
“Currently we are doing well, so the goal is to maintain our current momentum and do well in the next audit. As well, ensure that the training and education does not decline and that everyone remembers to recycle and what to recycle.”
What do you consider successful?
“Efficiency within our recycling. That no recycling bin or individual effort is wasted because of contamination. Recycling becomes second nature, and people do not have to think about it anymore.”
