​Originally published Feb 6/21 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Work at the Recycling Centre is very repetitive.

Recyclables come in and are organized into the categories of cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans, beer cans, glass, books, batteries, bulbs, books, paint, electronics or garbage.

They are baled, boxed, packed on a pallet, piled for crushing or thrown in the dumpster and moved out.

This is repeated many times every week, month and year.

Days are never quite the same, however.

Lots of recyclables may be dropped off on the dock or just a few in a day. There may be only three bales to tie off and stack or many more. The list of pickups from businesses may be short or long. It can grow with a phone call.

Some days require a trip to the landfill to empty bins at the glass pile. Large garbage items, metal and hazardous products from the Centre are also loaded on the truck.

Recyclables are brought from Denare Beach and Creighton two or three days a week.  The trailer by Canadian Tire may be emptied twice a week or every day.

Beer bottles and cans are returned for deposit every week or two.
 
A semi-trailer of cardboard, office paper, aluminum and commingled materials is loaded every two weeks. Boxes of books or a pallet of printer cartridges may be added to the load.

Electronics are shipped twice a year. Tubskids of paint and boxes of fluorescent bulbs or batteries are picked up for shipping as needed.

Staff set aside requested items like egg cartons for the foodbank or magazines for a teacher.

There are decisions about what to do with wish-cycling items.
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No two days are the same for the great team doing the work. 

Originally published Jan 27/21 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Note: Our program accepts only glass bottles and jars. We do not take dishes, mirrors, windows, etc. 

A gentleman dropping off recyclables last week asked if they should just send their glass to the landfill.

My answer was no. Here is why.

Multi-Materials Stewardship of Manitoba is the program funded by industries that whose products create paper and packaging items that can be recycled. They are required by the Manitoba government to support municipalities with the costs of recycling. The subsidy is based on the number of metric tons or tonnes recycled in the community.

The City of Flin Flon gives this subsidy to the Recycling Centre to help cover costs. It was 39% of our revenue last year.

Specific kinds of packaging must be recycled to receive the subsidy. This includes glass.

Glass is easily recycled in Ontario or Alberta but there is no price for it and shipping it would cost too much. As a result, it is reused in our community.

There is a separate glass pile at the landfill that is driven over and crushed. It is used to cover the garbage which reduces the amount of dirt taken from the earth for this purpose.

Crushed glass can also be used in road beds. Finely crushed glass can be spread around buildings to keep rodents out.

So why not just take it to the landfill?

We need to weigh it so we can receive the subsidy for it.

It is also easier for recyclers to put it in with all their other recyclables.

Glass containers placed in a bag inside the bag of recyclables is helpful but not required. It contains them if some break and makes it easier to separate them at the Centre.

Fifty-one tonnes of glass were reused last year. 

Originally published Jan 20/21 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Last week’s column suggested a scavenger hunt for answers on our website: www.flinflonrecycling.org . Here are the answers.
 

1. Which items are recyclable?       

   Yes: Milk cartons, Magazines, Cereal boxes, Old bicycles and BBQ’s (at landfill), Tin       cans, Milk jugs, Fliers, Pop bottles (empty), Laundry detergent bottles (empty),               Computers, Paint, Tires (at landfill), Glass jars.
   No: Styrofoam egg cartons, Sugar bags, Coffee makers, Aluminum foil pans, Candy      wrappers, Coffee cups, KFC tubs, Glass dishes.
   2.   What day is curbside pickup at homes in Flin Flon Wednesday, Creighton Thursday or Friday, Denare Beach Tuesday. 
    3.  Where can recyclables be dropped off? At the Recycling Centre and the trailer by Canadian Tire. 
    4.  How much does it cost a business to have their recyclables picked up? $23.00 + GST 
  5. How is the Recycling Centre connected to the Landfill? Recycling Centre employees work at the landfill. Recycling programs there are managed by the Recycling Centre 
     6.  What kind of company runs the Recycling Centre? A non-profit corporation 
     7.  How many metric tons (tonnes) were recycled in 2020? 538.  How much was the increase over 2019? 18 tonnes 
    8.  Finish this statement:  Everything we have comes from the Earth, if you’re not recycling you are throwing it all away.

There is a variety of other information on the website. The News tab has monthly statistics, and previous Recycling Bin columns.  ‘A Brief History of Recycling’ in our community isn’t so brief after 29 years.
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We appreciate any feedback you can give about the website. Email your comments to [email protected] or call (204) 687-6169.

Originally published Jan 13/21 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

I recently asked a student volunteer to see how easy it is to find information on our website. Here are some of the questions.

You may know some of the answers. If not, find them at www.flinflonrecycling.org.

1. Which items are recyclable?      Thirteen of them are.

                 Milk cartons                              Cereal Boxes
                Styrofoam egg cartons             Sugar Bags
                Old bicycles, BBQ’s                    Magazines
                Coffee makers                           Fliers
                Aluminum foil pans                  Computers
                Tin cans                                      Paint
                Milk jugs                                     Tires
                Pop bottles                                 Glass Jars
               Candy wrappers                         KFC tubs
                Coffee cups                                Laundry Detergent bottles
`              Glass dishes
     2.  What day is curbside pickup at homes in Flin Flon __________ Creighton ________  Denare Beach__________.
     3.   Where can recyclables be dropped off?
     4.   How much does it cost a business to have their recyclables picked up?
     5.   How is the Recycling Centre connected to the Landfill?
     6.   What kind of company runs the recycling Centre?
     7.   How many metric tons (tonnes) were recycled in 2020? How much was the increase over 2019?
    8.  Finish this statement:   Everything we have comes from the Earth,                                                                           ______________________________________________

The answers are on our Facebook page and will be published in next week’s column.

If you have any comments or suggestions for the website please call (204) 687-6169 or email them to [email protected]. 

Originally published Jan 6/21 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Many are happy to see 2020 with its many challenges come to an end. 

The new year will require some more patience as the vaccine roll out will take several months. Hopefully the promise of a return of more normal life, including events and travel will be realized.

Total weights of materials recycled in 2020 haven’t been finalized. Initial totals show an increase of more than 17 metric tons or tonnes over 2019.

This is surprising as weights were behind those of 2019 until the end of October.

The largest increase is corrugated cardboard. The pandemic related closures resulted in lower monthly cardboard weights in the spring. They increased in the summer. Weights in the fall were high as several stores who picked up Walmart business while it was closed recycle their cardboard locally.

More cardboard is normal for the last months of the year. This year’s weights were significantly higher than 2019. This may be the result of more online shopping.

Aluminum cans increased by 688 kgs which is significant considering they do not weigh very much. The money brought in from returning empty beer containers increased by more than $2,000.00 over 2019.

The pandemic made everyone thirsty.

The trend of lower weights for print and packaging materials (paper, boxboard, plastics) continues. It started mid-2018 and is not unique to Flin Flon. The deficit in this category shrunk slightly in December.

It would be great if households and businesses who are not recycling make it a habit this year.

Growth in the red bag curbside program in Flin Flon in 2021 would also be good news.
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More information about recycling is available at www.flinflonrecycling.org or by calling (204) 687-6169.

January total – 44,035 kg
       
        Aluminum – 613 kg
        Commingled* - 10,659 kg
        Office Paper – 4,888 kg
        Cardboard – 24,224 kg
        Glass – 3,651 kg
        Books –
        Other plastics –  

Total for 2021 – 44,035 kg
Total for 2020 – 41,740 kg
Difference – 2,295 kg


​Batteries – 57 kg

* Co-mingled is unsorted materials sent to Winnipeg for sorting


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