Recycling volumes on the rise

With the introduction of “bag tags” earlier this year, and then the increase of acceptable recyclables in “blue boxes” since late September, town residents are recycling a total of 66 percent more materials each month than they did at the start of the year.
“For the period running January to May, before we had the ‘bag tags,’ we had an average of 14.4 tonnes [of recyclables] per month,” said Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown.
“From June to August, after we had the ‘bag tags,’ it went up to 20.5 tonnes,” he added. “And after we started allowing boxboard and everything, it went up to 23.9 tonnes.
“I guess we’ll see how everything goes now,” said Brown, adding he’d definitely like to see the amount of recyclables go up even more over the winter months.
One step, which Kenora, Dryden, and Sioux Lookout already have taken, is to make it illegal to get rid of cardboard at the municipal landfill and so force people to recycle it.
“It’s something that will be looked at in the 2005 budget,” said Brown.
The town’s new recycling contracts with Asselin Transportation and Metro Materials Recovery Inc. in Winnipeg kicked in this week, meaning that paper products and other recyclables no longer will have to be sorted by residents first.
While the town had announced a few weeks ago it would be switching to a “co-mingled” stream, the contractor still had been separating paper and cardboard from plastics and so forth up until the end of October.
The former products were sent to International Bildrite over in International Falls while the rest was stockpiled here in anticipation of hauling it to Metro Materials Recovery Inc. in Winnipeg.
Now, all recyclables, including the paper products, will be sent on to Winnipeg. There will be an estimated 32 such trips a year.
While some residents have complained they’re being forced to stockpile recyclables because the pickup is now only once every two weeks, and will remain that way under the new five-year contract with Asselin Transportation, Brown stressed the town simply can’t afford to switch back to weekly pickups.
But he noted one solution is to put any recyclables that don’t fit in your “blue box” into cardboard boxes, paper bags, or even reusable containers, like laundry hampers.
While a “blue box” is preferred because it’s instantly recognizable as containing recyclables, a cardboard box put out to the curb on recycling day is totally acceptable, Brown said, adding the size of the box isn’t an issue as long as it contains acceptable recyclables.
As always, it’s preferred if items like cans are crushed and boxes broken down so the truck can carry more of it per haul, he added.
But Brown stressed residents must never put their recyclables in a plastic bag because absolutely no plastic bags, whether they’re Safeway bags, garbage bags, or any other type, will be accepted.
As such, recyclables left in them will not be picked up.
Town residents have been encouraged to put out a wider variety of recyclables for pick up since late September.
These materials include pop/beer cases, cereal boxes, egg cartons (paper, not styrofoam), milk cartons, juice boxes (tetrapaks), tissue paper, plastics #1-7, paper bags, newsprint, office paper, magazines, corrugated cardboard, clean aluminum/steel beverage cans, and clean metal food cans (rinse and remove labels).
Brown noted people don’t have to worry about removing plastic tops from pop bottles and plastic spouts from juice cartons and tetrapaks because even if they aren’t recyclable, they’ll just get removed at the plant in Winnipeg.
Council decided Oct. 13 to stay on with Asselin Transportation as its contractor for recycling pickup, awarding a five-year garbage and recyclable collection contract at a cost of $203,949.15 (plus GST) per year.
The total cost over five years is $1,019,745.75.