RCBC’s Awards are presented annually for:

Innovation – An organization that achieves an outstanding technical accomplishment in design or development of a product or process that improves its sustainability or advances zero waste practices.

Non-Profit Sector – An organization or individual that demonstrates excellence and leadership in environmental protection and stewardship.

Private Sector – A business with outstanding initiatives to preserve and protect our environment.

Public Sector – A government official or publicly funded organization that demonstrates excellence and leadership in environmental protection and stewardship.

Youth – A young person who demonstrates outstanding commitment and leadership in environmental stewardship.

The Brock Macdonald Award for Excellence is awarded periodically to recognize outstanding contributions in the areas of environmental education, communication, and outreach.

2023 Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 RCBC Environmental Awards! We are proud to recognize their contributions towards the protection and preservation of BC’s environment.

Keep It Green Recycling

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Private Sector

2023

Keep it Green recycling has been serving Greater Vancouver’s film industry for over 10 years. The program started by seeking to recycle as much as possible from the film industry, but over the last decade they have grown to provide recycling services to businesses, homes, and special events that include customized zero waste programs and personalized diversion reporting. Beyond recycling, Keep It Green operates a 2600 square foot Material Reuse Warehouse where costumes, set materials, props, equipment, everything and anything you see on film can be dropped off and made available for reuse. Items dropped off at the Material Reuse Warehouse are provided to film productions, schools, community theatre groups, artists, and charities for free. Since opening, the team at Keep It Green have been able to divert and redistribute over 1,165 tonnes of reusable materials.

Let’s Talk Trash

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Public Sector

2023

Since 2011, the Let’s Talk Trash team have been contracted by the qathet Regional District on the Sunshine Coast to deliver its Waste Reduction Education Program. Their innovative program has included the creation of numerous educational resources, including a Zero Waste Guides for event planners and food vendors, making Zero Waste Stations available for public use, a community dish supply and portable dishwasher for local events, and training opportunities. The team at Let’s Talk Trash are involved in organizing and promoting a wide range of community programs and events, from wood-smoke reduction awareness to ocean debris clean-ups, and they offer free workshops to the public on local recycling programs and composting, conduct tours of waste management facilities, and work with local school sustainability committees and green teams. They have hosted over 100 one-hour informative and award winning radio shows on CJMP 90.1 FM on all matters related to waste reduction. They also publish weekly columns in the Peak newspaper and contribute regularly to a number of other publications.

Vitacore Industries

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Innovation

2023

Vitacore Industries’ personal protection equipment recycling program began in February 2021 as a response to the mounting usage of single-use PPE at the height of the pandemic. Since its inception, the program has diverted over 6.8 million masks from British Columbia’s parks, hospitals, and landfills. The program collects used, expired, and defective PPE and, after an extensive sanitation and sorting process, is able to recycle the material into polypropylene pellets to be used to manufacture new goods. Beyond its recycling program, Vitacore has taken steps to minimize waste in its own manufacturing processes for masks and respirators. The company has also collected off-cuts from partner organizations to give disposed and defective masks a second life. Vitacore’s PPE recycling initiative has garnered national attention and recognition, with the organization receiving funding from Canada’s Jobs and Growth Fund and BC Plastic Action Fund to expand their capabilities.

Kamloops Food Bank

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Non-Profit Sector

2023

Since 2007, the Kamloops Food Bank has operated the foodSHARE food recovery program, with a goal to recover foods of higher nutritional value such as protein, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. The Kamloops Food Bank is the largest food recovery program operated by a food bank in Western Canada. They have invested in systems, infrastructure and technology to ensure food is kept fresh and safe, and to track and measure their impact. In 2021 and 22 they recovered over 1.6 million pounds of perishable food and 918,000 pounds of non-perishable food from 22 retailers in Kamloops which was distributed to clients, 45 agencies and 20 schools, 9 regional foodbanks, and 6 local farmers for animal feed. Through digital tracking systems in their trucks, warehouses and client service areas, they are able to measure and track the types and quantities of food that are collected and distributed. This initiative helps local retailers better understand their own waste generation through regular reporting.

Past Winners

Click through to learn about the winners of RCBC Environmental Awards from past years.

Past Winners

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