Canada’s Clean50 award honours B.C.’s flexible plastics collection program

Recycle BC and SK Recycles have received a 2027 Canada's Clean50 Top Project Award for Recycle BC's work expanding residential flexible plastics collection across British Columbia. The recognition celebrates a multi-year initiative that has expanded convenient recycling access to more than 300,000 B.C. households through innovative collection and recycling solutions.

Canada's Clean50 awards honour organizations advancing sustainable programs

Canada's Clean50 Top Project Awards, announced annually by Delta Management Group, recognize sustainability projects completed in Canada over the previous two years that demonstrate measurable impact, innovation, and the potential to inspire similar initiatives.

"We're honoured to receive this recognition, which reflects years of research, innovation, and collaboration to address one of the most persistent challenges in residential recycling," said Sam Baker, executive director of Recycle BC and SK Recycles. "By working with partners to develop new recycling solutions and continuing to make collection more convenient, we're creating opportunities to collect and recycle more flexible plastics in British Columbia, so that they are turned into new products."

Soft and flexible plastics recycling for residents across B.C.

Flexible plastics, including plastic bags, chip bags, bread bags, and plastic overwrap, have historically been among the most challenging packaging materials to recycle due to difficulties with collection, sorting, and processing. To overcome these barriers, Recycle BC undertook years of research and development, working with a local recycling partner to establish a verified recycling solution in 2022 that transforms flexible plastics into recycled plastic pellets used to manufacture new products.

Building on this breakthrough, Recycle BC developed and piloted innovative collection systems before expanding convenient residential collection of flexible plastics to more than 300,000 households across British Columbia between 2024 and 2026. The expansion introduced dedicated pink collection bins and new four-stream collection vehicles, making it convenient for residents to recycle flexible plastics while maintaining the material quality needed for effective recycling. Together, these efforts have established an innovative, scalable model for increasing flexible plastics collection and advancing a circular economy.

The award recognizes the project's potential to serve as a model for tackling difficult-to-recycle materials, both in British Columbia and beyond.

"Delta's criteria in determining Project awards is to carefully consider a combination of actual measurable impact, demonstrated innovation, and the project's ability to inspire others to imitate it — and Flexible Plastics Collection Expansion completed by Recycle BC and SK Recycles is a terrific example," said Gavin Pitchford, CEO of Delta Management Group.

Building on this progress, Recycle BC will continue working with communities and collection partners to expand convenient collection opportunities for flexible plastics and advance its goal of recovering more of the flexible plastics supplied into B.C.'s residential market.