Originally published Mar 27/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Many products we use at home are hazardous. They have the danger symbols for explosive, flammable, poisonous or corrosive on their labels. They are a small part of our waste but have serious consequences in the environment.

For many years, hazardous waste was collected for safe disposal one afternoon in September at Centoba Park. It was not very convenient.

The Recycling Centre began accepting paint and compact fluorescent bulbs in March 2016. In July 2017 a full time collection depot for household hazardous waste (HHW) opened at the Flin Flon landfill.

Randy from Product Care, the industry organization that supports HHW safe disposal, trained landfill staff on correct sorting, storage and shipping for these materials. The large collection of hazardous waste that had accumulated at the landfill was cleaned up in the process.

Shipping hazardous materials requires correct labeling and a lot of paper work. Miller Environmental, the company who receives the material, provided forms that were mostly completed. We had to be sure to complete our part correctly when shipping with Gardewine.

This is changing. A truck from Miller Environmental arrived March 5 to collect the paint from the Recycling Centre and Home Hardware (which is also a collection site) and paint and barrels of hazardous materials from the landfill. They did all the paperwork. We just needed to sign off.

Miller plans to collect household hazardous materials twice a year in Flin Flon on a route that will include the other depots opening in the northern Manitoba.

Common household hazardous materials include all aerosol cans, small propane containers, flammable liquids including gasoline (must leave the container), pesticides and cleaning products.

​A complete list is available at www.reGeneration.ca. 

Originally published Mar 20/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Finding the topic for a weekly newspaper column is challenging. Regular readers may notice that some columns sound familiar. It is because a previous column has been reused.

Events during the week often provide the inspiration. That is the case this week.

A couple of people took advantage of the fact that I like questions to stop me for information they need about recycling. One gave me information.

The rule is that mixed materials are not recyclable. An example is the inside cardboard from the ‘Hello Fresh’ boxes which have a layer of aluminum or plastic. This person told me the layer is easily removed and wondered if the liner could then be recycled. The answer is yes.

A friend sent a couple of articles about the struggles in recycling worldwide.  It commented a lot of recyclables are ending up in landfills because of this which is unfortunate. It also mentioned that this is forcing North America and the rest of world to develop other recycling infrastructure.  An increase in our price for cardboard shows this is happening.

On a more serious note, I am worried for our world. Recycling does make a difference but so much more is challenging our planet.

Sunday when I was outdoors it was unusually quiet. There were no birds singing. It reminded me of information I read recently that the total mass of birds has decreased by 50% since 1970. Whether this is worldwide or North America only doesn’t matter. It is significant. Similar numbers are out there for insects and animals.

Habitat destruction, rising temperatures and unknown factors are contributing.
​
Change needs to happen fast. The question is how. The answers are not easy. 

Originally published Mar 13/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

As we understand the importance of dealing with waste responsibly it is also important to make it as convenient as possible.

I have toured several waste management sites in the province over the past few years while attending events sponsored by the Manitoba Association of Regional Recyclers. This organization’s activities provide information and networking about a wide variety of waste management issues.

The first place we toured was the RM of Rockwood’s transfer station. Garbage is placed in large bins for transport to a landfill.

That was the first stop of ten places located on a driveway that looped through the site where a variety of recyclable materials and other items that should not go into landfills could be dropped off.

This is an example of how many waste management sites are becoming a ‘one stop shop’ for responsibly getting rid of things we no longer want.

Our community manages these items at two places.

The first stop is your community landfill that collects metal, used motor oil and antifreeze and automotive batteries. Used tires are recycled from the Flin Flon landfill only. A collection depot for household hazardous waste and appliances that need refrigerant removed are also located there.

There is a trailer at the Flin Flon and Denare Beach landfills to collect cardboard and electronics.

The other stop is the Recycling Centre at 9 Timber Lane.

The main items processed at the Recycling Centre are cardboard, paper and multi material packaging items.

It also processes eligible electronics, household batteries, printer cartridges, books, paint and fluorescent tubes.
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We love questions so call us at (204)687-6169 if you are unsure about where something goes. Information is also available at www.flinflonrecycling.org.

Originally published Mar 6/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The corner booth at the Leisure show last year worked so well last year we are doing it again.

Recyclable items were on one side and non-recyclable items on the other.

The non-recyclable table was most popular as many of the people stopping by were recycling. I had to remind them it was there for information not to make them feel guilty for sending non-recyclable items to the Centre.
​
Here is a list of things we receive that are not recyclable:
  - plastic bags of any kind including those from dog food, even if they have a recycling symbol and a number.
   - Styrofoam.
  - mixed material items. These are items like cans made of cardboard and tin (i.e. many coffee cans or Pringles cans), padded envelopes, laminated paper. Juice boxes and windowed envelopes are the only exceptions.
  -  #6 plastic items. Common ones are single serve yogurt cups that are attached to each other, some clam shells usually for baked goods, Swiffer item containers. If there is an ‘S’ in the letters under the recycling symbol, it is a #6.
  -  dishes, mirrors, window glass. We only take bottles and jars.
  -  black #1 plastic. Most #1 plastic you can see through. Any #1 plastic items that are not see through cannot be sorted by machine at the mills.
  - kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners. The only exception is microwaves.
  - Children’s toys, sports equipment.
  - cardboard fast food containers, disposable eating utensils and left over food.
  - Tin foil pans.
  - Liners from Good Food boxes, waxed, oily, painted or very dirty cardboard.
  - electric cords, Christmas lights, calculators.
  - Photographs, CDs, DVDs, electronic games.

Check out the pictures at www.flinflonrecycling.org.

Originally published Feb 27/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

It costs $17.00 to ship a bale. A bale of cardboard is worth about $15.00. Cardboard is 60% of a load.

It is obvious the money needed to process and ship recyclables is not covered by sale of materials. It comes from several sources.

In the beginning volunteers did the work. Selling materials paid the rent. Flin Flon contributed $6,500.00. A forklift was purchased with a grant.

Recycling subsidies became available when cans and plastics were added to the program.

In 1996 a one-time $65,000.00 grant from the City of Flin Flon was used to purchase a baler and other equipment needed for recycling to continue in our community.

Financial support from Flin Flon and Creighton increased only slightly over the next ten years while recycling grew by 60%.

The Centre purchased a building with a tenant and began managing the Flin Flon landfill in 2004. This revenue was needed to cover the increasing costs.

Prices for recyclables dropped or disappeared in the recession of 2007/2008. The two municipalities provided extra money both years to keep recycling afloat.

A per capita funding arrangement with was made with Flin Flon and Creighton following an overwhelmingly positive public meeting supporting recycling.  Denare Beach began contributing the per capita payments in 2017.

The Centre charges for pickup services to cover the cost.
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In 2018, the revenue percentages were:  municipal recycling support - 27%, recycling subsidies - 21%, pick up services - 17%, rental Income - 15%, sale of recyclables including beer returns - 8.5%, Flin Flon landfill surplus - 9% and miscellaneous income like donations and the student grant - 2.5%.
 
Check out the Brief History of Recycling on our website, www.flinflonrecycling.org

Originally published Feb 20/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

I received a call from a community asking how much we pay for recyclables. I thought they were talking about paying back the deposit for beverage containers so I explained there is no deposit/return system in Manitoba except for beer cans and bottles.

That wasn’t what they were asking. They thought we paid for all recyclable materials we receive.  

I explained we cannot pay for materials as the money we receive for the materials we sell usually doesn’t cover the shipping costs. We also pay to have most of the materials sorted in Winnipeg.

The Flin Flon Recycling Centre is operated by a non-profit organization. The money needed to cover the costs of operations comes from a variety of sources including municipalities, rental income, subsidies and pickup fees.

Selling recyclables was only 8.5% of our revenue in 2018 and more than half of that came from returning empty beer containers. Prices for cardboard fell dramatically at the end of 2017 and made small increases in 2018.

In March, we began separating aluminum cans to sell to help offset the drop in cardboard prices and increased sorting costs.

Here are the numbers. Sorting costs increased in August from $45/tonne to $110.00. We found another company who only charged $65/tonne. 

Our aluminum prices is $700.00. Cardboard prices were between $15 and $45/tonne. 

It definitely takes a lot of aluminum cans to make a tonne so we compared prices per bale of material.

One bale of aluminum cans which averages about 125 kg is worth about $87.50. One bale of cardboard which averages 350 kg at $45./tonne is worth $15.00.

Prices are beginning to improve so more adjustments will come in 2019.
  

Originally published Feb 13/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

This past year brought several changes at the Recycling Centre.

We set a new record with 510 metric tons (tonnes) recycled. Corrugated cardboard increased by 50 tonnes. Commingled materials dropped by six and a half tonnes after significant increases in the three previous years. This is concerning as it may indicate fewer people are recycling at home.

The after Christmas mountain of materials at the beginning of 2018 almost crushed us. We got behind before Christmas because we closed for three days while our new baler was put in place. There wasn’t time to get it operational so we couldn’t use it to bale up the Christmas backlog.  

Illness and the death of one of our crew left us in shock and short staffed for most of January. Our forklift also had a break down which complicated things.

We were able to catch up by February. The new baler was operational on February 8.  It has been an essential addition to our operations as we could not keep up without it.

We purchased a trailer to collect cardboard and electronics at the landfill.  This makes it more convenient for contractors to recycle.

We began to separate, bale and sell aluminum cans in March as the price paid for corrugated cardboard had dropped dramatically at the end of 2017.

The cost of sorting materials increased dramatically in August so we changed to a processor where the increase was not as much.   

We shipped 26 semi-trailer loads of cardboard, commingled materials, office paper and aluminum cans last year. 

Thirty tonnes (three trailers) of electronics and 654 kg of batteries were recycled in 2018.
​
2018 was a challenging but very successful year. 

Originally published Jan 23/19  The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

​It is very easy to make recycling a habit.

1. Find out what is recyclable.

Check the website www.flinflonrecycling.org and the Flin Flon Recycling Facebook group page. There are pictures.  Information is available by email by request at (204)687-6169 or recycled@mymts.net.
 
Recyclables are usually containers and paper products.
 
If you can tear a paper product it is recyclable. This includes fliers, catalogues, office paper, and boxboard.  The exceptions are gift wrap, tissue paper, coffee cups, construction paper and mixed material items like foil lined or padded envelopes and art projects.
 
Paper that is dirty, wet or has paint or oil on it is not recyclable.
 
Plastic containers with numbers except #3(PVC) or #6 (PS) can be recycled. The number is in the recycling symbol. Plastic beverage containers may not have a number but are recyclable.
 
Plastic bags and wrap are not recyclable.

  2.  Nothing should be drippy sticky or gooey. It is easy to drain empty liquid containers in the sink for a few minutes before adding to the recyclables.
 
Use a food scrapper to remove gooey stuff like sour cream or peanut butter then give it quick wash and drain. A net dish cloth works great.

   3.   Everything can go in the same bag or box. Shredded paper and household batteries should go in a separate closed bag or container before adding it to the collection.

  4.  Recyclables can be picked up at homes on Tuesdays in Denare Beach, Wednesdays in Flin Flon (with a red bag) or Thursdays and Fridays in Creighton. Or they can be dropped off at the Recycling Centre at 9 Timber Lane or in the trailer by Canadian Tire.

Call (204)687-6169 with any questions.

March total – 41,346 kg
       
        Aluminum – 615 kg
        Commingled* - 10,173 kg
        Office Paper – 2,684 kg
        Cardboard – 23,289 kg
        Glass – 3,619 kg
        Books –  776 kg
        Other plastics – 190 kg

Total for 2019 –  120,163 kg
Total for 2018 – 113,813 kg
Difference – +6,350 kg
 
Batteries – 146 kg

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


Comments – 

February total – 36,015 kg
       
        Aluminum – 230 kg
        Commingled* - 9,191 kg
        Office Paper – 4,111 kg
        Cardboard – 19,300 kg
        Glass – 3,183 kg
     

Total for 2019 –  78,817kg
Total for 2018 – 70,777 kg
Difference – +8,040 kg

Batteries – 46 kg

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


Comments – 

January total – 42,802 kg
       
        Aluminum – 627 kg
        Commingled* - 9,987 kg
        Office Paper – 3,085 kg
        Cardboard – 23,644 kg
        Glass – 4,306 kg
        Books – 819
        Other plastics - 334

Total for 2019 – 42,802 kg
Total for 2017 – 37,799 kg
Difference – +5,003 kg

Batteries – 96  kg

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


Comments –