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Clem’s first ride around the block

Clem the red truck could be helping out in his new home of Mount Pleasant sooner than he expected. Lynn…

By akazemi , in Blogs , on November 21, 2012 Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Robert Sutherland will be the driver if Clem’s put in service for Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Challenge. (Photo: Arman Kazemi)

Clem the red truck could be helping out in his new home of Mount Pleasant sooner than he expected.

Lynn Warwick, executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association, was given an opportunity a few weeks ago to apply for Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Challenge. The regional body will award a $5,000 grant to three successful BIAs to launch waste-diversion strategies in their communities.

For 10 weeks, participating businesses will have their waste picked up every day and transported to a local site to be composted or processed into biofuel.

In order for her BIA to get the grant, Warwick needed someone with a truck willing to transport the waste at a reduced cost.

“That was one of my impediments,” said Warwick. “How was I going to transport this garbage, how was I going to tie it all together?”

When Robert Sutherland approached her about his idea to turn an old Studebaker into the Mount Pleasant community truck, she immediately saw Clem’s potential.

“I’d already been approached about the Zero Waste Challenge,” Warwick explained. “So it’s in the back of my mind, thinking, ‘I have no concept of how to proceed with that,’ and [Clem] was sort of the nail in the wood that might make it feasible.”

Clem may be “cute,” but he’s ready to tackle some serious waste. (Photo: Arman Kazemi)

Although still in the proposal stages, the program could offer Clem his first chance to prove himself to the community.

“I think he’s a great symbol of the neighbourhood,” Warwick said. “I think he really encapsulates the fact that we all tend to work together in Mount Pleasant.

If the funding comes through, Warwick sees Clem being the face of the program in Mount Pleasant.

“I think the whole package just ties together really well: the photo opportunity of the cute red truck with the garbage he’s recycling and the waste reduction,” she said.