Whitehorse to host pan-Northern 'zero waste' conference

People from across Northern Canada and Alaska will be in Whitehorse later this winter, to figure out ways to reduce waste.

The Yukon capital will host a "Zero Waste" conference, with more than 100 representatives from business, government and community groups expected totake part.

It's meant to contribute tothe city of Whitehorse's effortsto reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill, with an initial target of 50 per cent diversion, and a goal of zero waste by 2040.

"I think the biggest challenge right now is simply educating people on why this issue is important,instead of automatically having the defaultthat you simply throw things in the garbage," said Ben Derochie, the co-ordinator for Zero Waste Yukon.

"Since we are such a small population, size-wise, we have a real impact on what we can achieve right here, compared to elsewhere."

Rick Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, says the conference will help local businesses keep thinking about reducing waste.

"The whole business community, we are in transition now to really making this one of the top priorities for all of our community," he said.

The conference will host several guest speakers, including filmmakers Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin, who made the films Just Eat Itand The Clean Bin Project.

The "Working Towards Zero Waste in the North" conference runs Mar. 3 to 5, at Yukon College.