Originally published Mar 14/18 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The Recycling Centre is operated by the Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc., a non-profit organization. Its goal is to encourage environmentally friendly activities in our community. The recycling program is the main activity.

As a non-profit, the organization is not trying to make money.  All the money that comes in is used to cover costs.   

Good business practices are still important as there must be enough funds to pay the bills.

It is a good thing profit is not the goal as selling recyclables does not make money. In 2017 only 10% of the revenue came from sales. One third of that came from returning empty beer containers.

Municipal governments are responsible for taking care of waste. The recycling support grants from Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach provide the largest portion of the revenue at 29%.

In Manitoba industries that produce recyclable waste must subsidize the cost of recycling through stewardship programs.  This includes household recycling, tires, electronics, batteries and household hazardous waste.

The recycling program received 21% of its funding from stewardship programs last year.

The Recycling Centre charges a fee to cover the cost of pickup services.  Seventeen percent of last year’s revenue came from business pickup fees and the red bag curbside program.

The Recycling Centre owns the building at 9 Timber Lane. The rental agreement with its tenant provided 14% of the revenue.

The surplus from the Recycling Centre’s contract to operate the Flin Flon Landfill provided 5% of revenues.

Four percent of revenue came from a variety of places including a student grant, donations and fundraising.

The stability provided by these funds means recycling will continue to make a difference in our community.

Originally published Mar 7/18 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

March already! I finally found the time to look at the recycling stats for last year.
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2017 was a good year. We recycled 463 metric tons or tonnes.  This is an increase of 21 tonnes over 2016 and the third highest total in our 25 year history.

Some trends are emerging.

More people are recycling at home.

We processed 156 tonnes of comingled materials. These recyclables come mostly from homes.  This is up 8 tonnes over last year. In 2016 comingled materials were up four tonnes over 2015.

Cardboard continues to be about half of the materials recycled. Last year it was 45%, down slightly from 47% the year before

Electronic recycling continues to grow. In 2017 we shipped three trailers of electronics for a total just over thirty tonnes. 

The future of electronics recycling will be interesting. Gadgets are getting smaller so more items may be recycled but the weights will not show it.

We recycled 400 kilograms of household batteries.

The household hazardous waste depot opened in 2017. Materials are shipped in large crates called tubskids and metal or plastic barrels or drums.

Nineteen tubskids and 31 drums of paint and other materials were shipped. There will be less in 2018 as many items were cleaned up at the landfill when the depot opened.

Last year 7,954 tires were recycled from the Flin Flon Landfill.  

I just began keeping track of the boxes of fluorescent bulbs we shipped this year so I don’t have that number for 2017.

Next week we will look at where the money comes from to keep recycling happening in our community.

Thanks to everyone who helped make recycling happen in 2017. 

Originally published Feb 28/18 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The Board of the Recycling Centre decided to purchase a second baler to manage the increase in recyclables from homes. It is making big changes to the way recyclables are prepared for shipping.

Recycling Centre staff goes through all the bags and boxes of recyclables. The glass, beer cans and garbage is removed and the recyclables are placed in large plastic bags. These bags used to be stored in one of the semi-trailers attached to the building until the comingled materials were baled. Often the need to keep up with baling cardboard meant the trailer would be piled full.

Emptying the bags into opening in the front of the baler was awkward. Many items had to be cleaned up from the floor.

The conveyor feed on the new baler changes all that. The large bags are emptied as soon as they are filled. Bags and boxes that arrive with no glass or garbage are emptied straight into the hopper on the conveyor. When it is full, the baler and conveyor are turned on and the recyclables are fed into the back of the baler.

When the materials reach a specific level in the baler the conveyor stops and the baler presses the materials. After the press, the conveyor continues to feed the recyclables.

The sensors still need to be set for the baler to stop feeding when the bale is done.

The first bales were 51 inches across. They can only be 45 inches to fit side by side in the semi-trailer for shipping.

The Recycling Centre isn’t very big so organizing the stacking pallets, carts and bales is a work in progress.

An open house is planned for Earth Day in April. 

Originally published Feb 21/18 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

​I attended a conference in Thompson last week with people from several First Nations who are working to start recycling and waste management programs in their communities.

There was so much information about what can be recycled, how to do it and who to contact. I wasn’t sure anyone would have energy left for my presentation of our story at 3:20.

I had 15 minutes which didn’t seem like enough for 25 years!

It went well as many of the things described during the day are part of our story. I had more time because Solomon from St. Theresa Point hadn’t arrived yet. It was still a 12 hour journey by ice road.

I met Solomon that evening. He is a 74 year old gentleman who is responsible for removing the ‘end of life vehicles’ or ELV’s from his community.

His presentation the next morning began with a CTV news clip. There were 5,000 old vehicles in the community when it began. They gathered the vehicles, trained people to remove the toxics (oil, antifreeze, batteries and gasoline) and purchased a machine to crush them for backhaul on the winter road.

Solomon told the story. He had worked in a variety of jobs in Manitoba. When he was in his community he thought ‘Somebody needs to clean up.’

“Then I realized I was somebody!”

That was the beginning. He is very proud of his 13 employees, of his clean community and that revenue from the old vehicles allows him to upgrade his equipment and contribute to other community needs.
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Solomon is right. Everyone is the ‘somebody’ who can make a difference for the environment and our communities.

        Co-mingled* - 11,013 kg
        Office Paper – 3,531 kg
        Cardboard – 17,130 kg
        Glass – 1,286 kg
     

Total for 2018 – 70,777 kg
Total for 2017 – 68,557 kg
Difference – +2,220 kg


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


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