Circularity and building capacities with clients

Testing new sustainability-oriented products or services in partnership with clients can accelerate value creation by crafting operations in alignment with local needs, costs and timelines. The early pilots test can provide insights crucial to developing a robust sustainability-oriented business model and create reputational value by building local capacities of client firms in the delivery of sustainability efforts and help introduce companies to experiment with new ideas, products or services that deliver on the sustainable development goals. 

Sea to Sky Removal is a construction waste hauler in the Greater Vancouver Area founded in 2016. They specialize in sustainable construction waste removal by hand sorting and live loading construction waste, with the primary goal of landfill diversion. Sea to Sky Removal also offers on-site educational services for their recycling stations and diversion reports to build client ownership and understanding of environmental impacts. As a leading sustainable waste hauler in the construction industry, they play an important role in advocating for better practices through various associations and memberships.

In January 2016, co-founders, Chris Arkell and Cinci Csere were frustrated with the growing waste crisis and lack of true solutions. They founded Sea to Sky Removal and were willing to take any waste sorting job that was available to them. Within a few months they realized their niche was in construction waste. Chris, a former contractor, was familiar and well connected in the industry. This proved beneficial for the success of their business. 

Contractors on building sites hire Sea to Sky Removal to sort, load, and haul the site waste to transfer and recycling centers, donation centers and landfills. In October 2016 they realized that they could serve their clients better if they had recycling stations on site to reduce the amount of labour and time spent sorting. They designed and piloted recycling stations on site. With a successful pilot, they launched their recycling stations and a regular service offering. They provide on-site education to ensure they are used effectively. They have been awarded a BC Small Business award for best concept for their recycling stations. 

Through their experience, Chris and Cinci have found that there are many common materials that cannot be recycled or reused in any efficient way. A key role they play as a sustainability leader and knowledge holder in the industry is in creating awareness and advocating for consistent regulations amongst municipalities and the ban or redesign of these commonly used materials. They are active members of the Coast Waste Management Association, National Zero Waste Council, the Recycling Council of BC and Built Green Canada. Through these organizations they are disseminating important knowledge regarding harmful materials and advocating for better regulations to address construction waste.

Sea to Sky Removal was approached by the Vancouver Economic Commission in early 2019 to be one of four businesses to take part in a 6-week pilot program to become a B Corp. Through this program they learned about what it was to be a B Corp certified business. Chris and Cinci worked to develop and implement the necessary policies and officially became certified in May 2019. 

Over the last 5 years, Sea to Sky Removal has diverted over 3 million pounds of materials from landfill. As experts in their field, they continue to advocate for better, more consistent oversight and make it easier for construction sites to minimize waste and remove it sustainably. 

Pathway maps represent the sequence businesses followed to implement successful sustainability practices and identify emerging ones within firms. The pathways also reveal the diversity of actors that begin to form sustainability enabling ecosystems for businesses to adopt, deploy or test sustainability practices.