Archive
Binners Unconference on Oct 20, 2014 in Vancouver
A conference on binning is one way UBC’s Learning Exchange, now in its 15th year, is connecting with Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Ken Lyotier says dumpster diving is a lot like treasure hunting except the loot involved is bottles and cans that can be returned for a refund. “They’re the gold and silver of street recycling,” he says.
And while bottles and cans may be disposable, he knows people aren’t.
As the co-leader of the Binners’ Project, a working group for waste pickers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Lyotier is on a mission to improve working conditions for binning, an often-invisible job performed by many of the city’s homeless.
For the past several months, the group has met inside the carport at the UBC Learning Exchange, a community engagement initiative in the DTES, to talk shop.
“Binners spend most of their waking hours picking through garbage,” says Lyotier, a former binner and longtime partner of the Learning Exchange. “They help keep the city clean and should have a voice in waste management policy.”
A nickel for your thoughts
With this in mind, Lyotier’s group is inviting UBC students and the wider community to the UBC Learning Exchange for a binner’s conference – or unconference, as they prefer to call it – on October 20, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The unconference – a more participatory approach to group meetings – will address the issues binners face, like locked dumpsters, and explore the idea of building a national network of street recyclers across Canada.
196th DTES Street Market at Pigeon Park in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) on Sun Mar 9, 2014
196th DTES Street Market and 10th Street Market of 2014
Roland Clarke, Coordinator of the DTES Street Market says:
It was a good day. Not much sun, but no rain. This is the break, we were all saying, the break in the bleak rainy season of our home here in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
A few incidents of note need mentioning.
A random person was pepper sprayed, and the ambulance came to treat him.
A small fight broke out among the drinkers area, and the police came to break that up.
People flocked from miles around to see the people’s market, the DTES Street Market, on a nice Sunday afternoon.
We are slowly adjusting our operations, and now have access to the power at Pigeon Park. Almost 20 people came up to our table to test various devices – laptops, mixers, lights, and chargers. The power is very appreciated.
We had a little trouble clearing the park at the end of the day, and a few belligerent stragglers were there at 6pm when the garbage truck came.
The addition of power will mean that we can pull out the pressure washers at 5:30 and make sure the park is squeaky clean at the end of the day.
The 196th Street Market at Pigeon Park on Sunday.
Roland Clarke and DJ Joe of DNC and DTES Street Market with Andrew of SBC Restaurant
Roland Clarke and DJ Joe of DNC – Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council and DTES Street Market speak with Andrew of SBC Restaurant in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
DTES Christmas and Holiday Meals 2013 – 2014 in Vancouver
Christmas and Holiday Meals for 2013 – 2014 in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
Summerfest In Grimston Park on July 13, 2013
|
|
|---|---|
|
Follow Us!
AHA Media 