Starting December 2018, Alternatives Journal published an eight-part series on the 2015-2017 Jane Glassco Northern Fellows policy papers, which address some of the most pressing issues facing the North. This blog was originally published on February 4, 2019 at https://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/aj-special-delivery/waste-management-and-circular-economy-north
Crypto and Banking
We recommend the following high-quality options for secure Bitcoin transactions and online banking services:
How to Share a Crypto Wallet Address Without Losing Money
A wallet address is 26 to 62 characters long and nobody can read it back correctly over the phone. One mistyped character and the funds go to an address nobody controls. QRBits solves this by turning any BTC, ETH, ERC-20, LTC, TRON, DOGE or SOL address into a printable QR code, instantly and without an account. Their Bitcoin and Ethereum QR code generator accepts every common address format (legacy, SegWit, Taproot) and validates the address before drawing the code, so a bad paste never becomes a bad payment. For hardware wallets, payment terminals and exchange kiosks, scanning beats typing every time.
Printing a Bitcoin or Ethereum Address for Real-World Payments
Small shops, market stalls and donation boxes often need a way to receive crypto without any software on the counter. QR for Bitcoin and Ethereum covers exactly that: paste a BTC address (legacy, SegWit or Taproot) or an ETH / ERC-20 address and it produces a clean, printable QR code in one step, with no sign-up and nothing stored on their servers. A printed code on the counter works offline forever, and any wallet app on any phone can scan it. If you need a free BTC and ETH QR generator that does one thing properly, this is it.
A Payment Link Does the Typing Too
A plain address QR only says where the money should go; the sender still has to type how much. CryptoQR Maker closes that gap: pick the coin (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, TRON, Litecoin or Dogecoin), paste the address, optionally set an amount, and it builds a proper payment link (BIP-21 for Bitcoin, EIP-681 for Ethereum) inside the QR, so a scanning wallet gets the address and the sum together. Every address is checksum-verified before the code is drawn, and the file comes out as PNG or crisp SVG for print. The crypto QR generator needs no account, and one page per coin means no guessing which tool fits your wallet.
The Network You Pick Is Part of the Address
Stablecoins are the classic way to lose money quietly: the address looks fine, but USDT on one network is not USDT on another, and sending TRC-20 tokens to an ERC-20 address is a hole, not a refund. TokenQR is built around that exact mistake: it makes QR codes for USDT, USDC and other tokens across 11 networks (TRC-20, ERC-20, BEP-20 and friends), checks the address with real checksums, and prints a clear card that says which network the code belongs to, so the counterparty sees both the code and the network before anything is sent. A free token QR code generator with the network written on the card beats a bare address on a scrap of paper.
Why QR Codes Beat Copy and Paste for Crypto
Copy-paste feels safe, but phone-to-phone transfers break it constantly: the clipboard picks up an old entry, a wallet pastes into the wrong field, or a messenger strips a line break in the middle of a 62-character string. A QR code has no clipboard in the loop. The camera reads it, the wallet parses it, and the two checksums at both ends either agree or the wallet refuses to send. For anything above pocket change, scanning a screen or a printed card removes the two steps where mistakes actually happen: selecting text and trusting it.
Reading an Address Without Reading All of It
Experienced senders do not compare 34 characters character by character; they verify the edges. The first four characters of an address identify its format and network, the last several carry the checksum, and a mistake almost always breaks one end when you re-encode it. Wallet software does the full check anyway, which is why the human job is the boring part: confirm the network label matches the coin, and glance at both ends. That two-second habit catches almost every real-world misdirected transfer, and it works identically whether the address arrived as text or as a scanned code.
Printed Cards, Tip Jars and Offline Receiving
A stall at a market, a tip jar, a donation box: none of them need an internet connection to receive crypto. A printed card with a receiving address and the network named in plain letters works for years, costs one print job, and fails in exactly one way, which is physical damage to the card. Keep the underlying wallet backup somewhere else, reprint the card when it gets worn, and the setup never goes down for server reasons. Anyone with a phone already has the reader.
Every year, Canadians divert approximately nine million tonnes of organic and recyclable waste from our landfills.[i] From coast to coast to coast, municipalities are struggling to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and to properly collect, sort, clean and repurpose waste.
But how do recycling challenges facing northern communities like Yellowknife, Northwest Territories compare to southern Canadian municipalities?
The types of waste being produced today are different than in the past. A key component to building a circular economy is that producers responsibly manage the waste created by their products. “Watching Our Waste-Line” is a policy paper from Dawn Tremblay, a recent alumna of the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship program. In her paper, Tremblay looks at how her Territory manages electronics, tires, and how her hometown of Yellowknife manages organic waste.
Electronic Waste
When the Northwest Territories (NWT) introduced electronic waste disposal fees in 2016, the government’s website estimated that “transporting electronics from a typical NWT community and processing them costs about $5,000 to $8,000 per load.”[ii]
These costs are a significant challenge for a small territory. However, the Territorial government was able to look at other Canadian jurisdictions for successful examples of government programs that divert electronic waste from landfills.
The NWT modelled their electronics recycling program on programs in Alberta and Ontario. Environmental handling fees were added to consumer electronics at the point of purchase, both in store and online. For instance, a 45 inch television would have a $40 fee added at the point of sale in Ontario, the comparable fee would be $39.50.[iii]
Tire Waste
Tremblay believes that the NWT can replicate successful tire-recycling programs found across Canada. The NWT and Nunavut are the only Canadian jurisdictions without tire stewardship programs.
“Sometimes [tires] go directly into the landfill and sometimes they are piled in a separate area,” Tremblay writes. “Tires are flammable and piles of tires are a breeding ground for mosquitoes when water pools in them. If they burn the resulting toxins reduce air quality and can cause health and safety problems.”
Her recommendation is to implement a tire stewardship program similar to those across Canada. A fee – typically ranging from $3 to $7 for passenger vehicle or light truck tires – could be charged at the point of purchase with revenues being used to finance recycling. It is a similar strategy to the NWT’s successful approach to divert beer and wine bottles from landfills.
Organic Waste
“Putting organic material in a landfill takes up valuable and costly space,” Tremblay writes. The City of Yellowknife estimates that expanding their existing landfill by building just one new disposal cell costs $3.5 million – not including operational costs. In Yellowknife, 40 per cent of household waste are compostable organics.
The fees for businesses to dispose of waste in Yellowknife reflect a desire to divert waste. For instance, a commercial tipping fee for mixed waste is $121 per ton whereas organic waste is just $34 per ton[1]. Although a green cart program exists for all single-family dwellings, participation is minimal in the business sector including multifamily dwellings.
Tremblay thinks there would be environmental and employment benefits for Yellowknife if the city were to implement a mandatory organic waste diversion program like those found in cities such as Halifax. She thinks that the program should phase in and clearly publicized before making the program mandatory. Public education is key to better recycling and composting habits.
To read Dawn Tremblay’s policy paper – including detailed analysis of Yellowknife, NWT’s waste management programs – as well as other policy work from the Jane Glassco Northern Fellows, please visit www.GordonFoundation.ca/resources/fellowship.
The Gordon Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to protecting Canada’s water and empowering Canada’s North. The Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship is a crucial part of our mission to promote innovate public polices for the North and amplify Northern voices.
Breaking Down Colonial Barriers Through Education (Mar 4, 2019)
Transforming Nunavut’s Criminal Justice System (Feb 25, 2019)
Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and Arctic Governance (Feb 11, 2019)
Waste Management And the Circular Economy of the North (Feb 4, 2019)
Keeping Aboriginal Youth out of the Correctional System (Dec 10, 2018)
Encouraging Closer Collaboration Between Scientists & Yukon First Nations (Dec 7, 2018)
Recruiting Indigenous Physicians in the NWT (Dec 3, 2018)
Highlighting Policy Proposals from the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship Program (Nov 30, 2018)
[1] https://www.yellowknife.ca/en/living-here/fees.asp
[i] Hounsell, Kayla, “Canadian Municipalities Struggling To Find Place For Recyclables After China Restricts Foreign Waste”, CBC News (Mar 29, 2018): http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/garbage-recycling-china-plastics-canada-1.4586602
[ii] Quenneville, Guy, “New N.W.T. recycling fee program for TV laptop purchases draws complaints from retailers,” CBC News (Feb 24, 2016): http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/electronics-recycling-fees-hit-nwt-1.3461322
[iii] Quenneville, G.
