Meet Liliana Segal. Originally from Santiago, Chile, she’s an event planner, entrepreneur, mother of four boys, and a Bowen Islander of several years now.
Until March of 2020, she didn’t spend much time on-island. She was off on the ferry early in the mornings and back late in the evenings. Her business, Green Chair Recycling, won her plenty of awards (Small Business BC Top 5 Best Green Business; the Canada Business Leader Volunteer Award; Recycling Council of BC’s award for Environmental stewardship) and kept her busy diverting waste from some of Vancouver’s biggest events – sometimes for up to 60 hours per week. The complete shutdown of large public events brought the business to an abrupt stop.
After a year of slow and thoughtful walks with her aging dog, Rumba, Liliana has decided to bring her business out of hibernation and refocus its efforts on Bowen Island. The business will focus on environmental residential cleanups and disposal of construction/renovation materials. Green Chair will take all materials and recycle or donate them in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
“We treat your ‘junk’ like precious materials and see the best home for each item,” says Liliana of Green Chair’s approach. “We have many partners that will accept donations that the Knick Knack Nook does not have the capacity to deal with, including textiles and building materials.”
Green Chair has operated as a social enterprise since its beginning in 2008 and Liliana is particularly excited about re-engaging in the work of educating and inspiring volunteers to get involved with their community. This week the world marked the 51st annual Earth Day, the perfect time to launch with a community-wide clean up. Liliana will park her Green Chair truck outside the Library this Saturday, April 24, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in order to hand out litter pickets and buckets to all participants. Please wear a mask and bring re-usable gloves, and be prepared to pick up even the tiniest pieces of litter.
This will be the first of many events Liliana is hoping to make happen here on Bowen. So bring your good cheer (mask and gloves) and head down to the library to meet Liliana and celebrate spring with some cleaning up.
“I get very excited thinking about all we can accomplish together, working as a community,” says Liliana.
“A re-use it store for building materials is a possibility now on Bowen and if we all collaborate, projects like these will be here sooner than we think.”
To connect with Green Chair or request a quote for a residential or site clean-up, please email [email protected] or call 604-806-0680.
