BCBusiness

54 BCBUSINESS JUNE 2017 "The president and the current administration are gaslighting us." (The Guardian, March 16, 2017) To "gaslight," from the 1938 play Gas Light and subsequent films in which a man tries to make his wife appear insane by distorting her perception of reality, joined the vernacular long before U.S. President Donald Trump began spouting "alternative facts" while accusing journal- ists of disseminating fake news. Gaslighting, a form of bullying, also happens in the work- place. "Who ya gonna believe," asked Chico Marx in 1933's Duck Soup, "me or your own eyes?" Gaslighters don't care if you believe them. Their goal is to make you distrust yourself. gas•light JARGON WATCH [from Greek khaos + Latin lux: chaos + light] get eaten by bigger ones, and ultimately by people at the top of the food chain, the toxins bioaccumulate, resulting in much higher concentrations." Imagine life on Earth if no one ever died. Then consider that virtually all of the plastic ever created still exists. A plastic water bottle has an estimated life of 450 years. "Many of us don't make the connection that once a plastic item is created, it never goes away," Miller says. "It only changes form." A 2015 study published in the jour- nal Science determined that 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ended up in the ocean in 2010 alone and predicted a tenfold increase over the next 10 years. But the problem isn't de†ned simply by excess use of plastic packaging— it's the follow-up, or lack of it. Any- one who's ever shopped in Japan has encountered that nation's almost bizarre layers of product swaddling— pears encased in individual foam web- bing, then placed in boxes †lled with shredded packing material, the box then wrapped and bagged; bananas sitting on store shelves, sheathed in plastic. And yet Japan's proportional contribution to the global plastic glut doesn't approach that of China because Japan is better at recycling. Laws in place since 1997 require separation of plastics, and there are elaborate trash collection schedules specifying pickup days for di'erent materials. In some cases, plastic packaging is a great way to prevent spoilage, breakage and food waste, Miller says. Whether it's the best choice is a complicated question requiring a life cycle analy- sis for each package. "There is a †ne line between packaging that is neces- sary and packaging that is not," she explains. "That being said, we know that land†lling and recycling is not the answer and that plastic pollution needs to be tackled at the source." Sexy branding is a driver of plastic use, but Miller insists that businesses can still meet branding and marketing needs without excessive packaging. Reusable container programs, digital marketing and in-store displays can all be e'ective, she says. Any business can take steps to reduce waste—with a potential bonus of cost savings. The City of Vancouver is developing a zero waste strate—y with an ambitious target of diverting 100 per cent of waste from land†ll by 2040. Miller notes that many countries have banned single-use plastics such as cutlery, bags and con- tainers, an example she would like to see Canadian provinces and cities follow. An association of B.C. brewers, including the local divisions of Molson Coors Brewing Co. and Labatt Brew- ing Co., recently announced plans to recycle packaging in addition to bottles and cans, while the Vancouver Aquarium will no longer sell water in single-use plastic bottles. "When we were young, we were taught the three Rs," Miller says. "We'd love to see as many schools as possible teaching the †ve Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot, or compost. We hope a more informed generation will be inspired to take action." Our 5, 10 and 20 bundles— the first in Canada—are cost- effective plans designed to keep up with the demands of growing companies. Transit bundles recognize the constant need for change when it comes to your technology. Which is why you can modify and upgrade your bundle,when-ever required, to suit your needs. From internet to data backup and storage, managed firewalls, local customer service and much more, Uniserve is here, and ready to serve you.

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