The city has embarked on an experiment to recycle construction waste from hundreds of demolished homes that would typically end up in the landfill.
Earlier this year, the city worked with non-profit groups to train 20 "at-risk youth" on how to dismantle a home and preserve such materials as hardwood floors and doors for resale.
About 800 single-family homes in the city are demolished every year and virtually all of the waste goes to the landfill, said Sadhu Johnston, deputy city manager, in a presentation to council Tuesday.
"The homes that we took apart took a couple of weeks," Johnston said. "So it takes longer and you create some jobs in the process. We managed to keep 93 per cent of the waste out of the landfill."
Added Johnston: "This is an example of ways that we can bring green jobs into our work in reducing waste and we see some opportunities to expand deconstruction across our city."
Johnston relayed the story as part of his presentation on a wideranging environmental plan to council that, if implemented, is expected to reach the city's goal of becoming "the greenest city in the world" by 2020.
Growing the city's green economy by creating jobs and helping existing socalled green companies develop products and services is one of the plan's key goals.
Johnston said green jobs are growing three times as fast as non-green jobs worldwide and he believes a "green enterprise zone" could be established in Vancouver.
"We heard loud and clear across the city frustration that many of our high-tech green companies are having to go elsewhere to do their first deployments and demonstration projects," Johnston said. "We'd like to find ways to engage them with our work here."
The "Greenest City 2020 Action Plan" is one of the most ambitious plans to be developed by city staff in years, with several city departments and the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Economic Development Commission all playing a part.
The report didn't include any associated costs for plans such as establishing a green enterprise zone or building four new renewable energy systems for new, large site, high density developments.
But Johnston pointed out cost savings were reached in renovating 36 city facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He said city facilities are about 20 per cent below the 1990 greenhouse gas emissions, despite increasing the overall square footage by 24 per cent.
"So we're growing our overall square footage, reducing our greenhouse gas footprint and saving money-I think about a million dollars a year on that," he added.
The city's 162-page green plan can be viewed at vancouver.ca
Twitter: @Howellings
