New Zealand fans stream past a zero waste station outside B.C. Place Stadium during the FIFA World Cup.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
As thousands of New Zealand soccer fans streamed past his zero-waste work station, Daikole Frazier smiled and took it all in. He never thought he’d be part of a World Cup.
“But we’re part of it today,” he shouted to a colleague as a crowd of chanting New Zealanders with a burning red smoke bomb marched past. A man dressed as a giant kiwi bird approached the station where Mr. Frazier was working and nearly dropped an empty beer can into the wrong recycling bin. Mr. Frazier corrected him with a grin.
“I’m a professional,” he teased. “I gotta be on target every time so I get points.”
“Thank you, guys, for all the hard work. We appreciate it,” shouted another fan as the march continued toward the BC Place stadium on Sunday.
Mr. Frazier is a “binner”– the preferred term for people who collect refundable containers from recycling bins, garbage cans and dumpsters around the city. They’re ubiquitous in most Vancouver neighbourhoods, but often go unseen or unacknowledged; part of a nearly invisible circular economy that helps divert an estimated 61,000 tonnes of material from Metro Vancouver’s landfills each year.
This is the first time Mr. Frazier – or any of his colleagues – have been part of a festival and tournament put on by one of the richest sports organizations on the planet.
“It’s great to be part of it,” he said.
Mr. Frazier is a member of the Binners’ Project, a not-for-profit founded in 2014 that helps organize informal binners so they can win waste-diversion contracts and other employment opportunities.
Jose Lopez helps sort cans backstage at the FIFA World Cup fan zone in Vancouver.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
The organization secured a $75,000 contract to deliver waste-diversion services along the spectator route to BC Place during the World Cup, and a second contract worth at least as much to do back-of-house waste sorting at the FIFA Fan Festival at Vancouver’s PNE.
Each contract alone would have been the organization’s largest ever, Binners’ Project director Sean Miles said. Having two at once shows the binners have proven they’re reliable.
“To me, there’s a level of trust and legitimacy that I think is really important,” he said.
The project is a chance to put some money in the pockets of folks who traditionally come from Vancouver’s most marginalized communities at a time when some are questioning the World Cup’s impact on neighbourhoods like the Downtown Eastside.
Farhad Shokrani, left, and Rose Daniels help sort refundable containers and other waste.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
FIFA is expected to bring in up to US$13-billion from this year’s World Cup, which is being hosted jointly in cities across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. In Canada, tournament organizers are relying on just more than $1-billion in taxpayer dollars to help cover everything from stadium retrofits to the largest deployments of police officers in the histories of either Toronto or Vancouver, the two host cities in this country.
All of the profit directly generated by tournament matches in both cities will flow back to FIFA’s headquarters in Switzerland, including the earnings from every hotdog and beer sold inside BC Place.
But there is another revenue stream that goes largely ignored by most fans. After they’ve paid more than $5.75 for a bottle of water or $8 for a sports drink, most of them toss that empty bottle into whatever waste receptacle is at hand. The binners will sort those returnables from other recyclables like cardboard or compost, and – after it’s all weighed and tallied – divvy up the return fees. On top of that, they’ll be paid an honorarium of about $17 an hour for the FIFA contract.
Last year, the organization put $310,225 into the pockets of its members, who worked more than 13,000 hours.
Jose Lopez helps sort cans backstage at the FIFA World Cup fan zone.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
Working for the soccer tournament puts the binners in a potentially uncomfortable position. Some downtown residents and community groups have protested Vancouver hosting the tournament, pointing to FIFA’s controversial human-rights record. A coalition of advocacy groups raised concerns about expanded policing, increased surveillance and displacement of unhoused people in the Downtown Eastside as the city prepared to welcome the World Cup.
Mr. Miles acknowledges the tension. The majority of the project’s members come from that community, and he said it’s important to not pretend the World Cup has no negative impact. He would have preferred to see more community groups like the Binners’ engaged and benefiting from the tournament like they did during the 2010 Olympics.
“I was kind of surprised ... just to see how little of that happened with FIFA. We were kind of one of the few,” he said.
Ultimately, the Binners’ are participating in the World Cup because it’s what the members want, Mr. Miles said.
“Obviously, it’s the income opportunities, but it’s also the feeling of belonging and being a part of something bigger than themselves that I really think a lot of folks find rewarding,” he said.
Binners Project members Wendy Koh and Rosie (who asked that her last name not be used) work a shift cleaning up trash along the Granville Street pedestrian zone.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
Outside BC Place on Sunday, binner Ed Hawkey watched the crowds flow by. He was skeptical of the World Cup at first, but after working a few shifts outside the stadium, even he was convinced.
“I’m really impressed with what they’re doing down there,” he said. “They sure know how to throw a party.”