Originally published Aug 9/17 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.  Guest post by summer student Parker Mathews. 

I remember my job interview with Deb, asking me what I knew about recycling. All I knew were the 3 R’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. What I have learned about recycling is amazing; from fluorescent light bulbs and hazardous material to beer bottles and beer cans.
 
Fluorescent light bulbs have mercury vapors inside the bulbs, mercury is toxic and needs to be put in an airtight box and shipped out where certain business take CFL’s and crush them in an airtight crusher.
 
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) is uncommon, it accounts for small portion of the recycling we get at the Recycling Center.
 
The HHW is sent to a seacan in the landfill where we sort and organize the HHW into categories depending on the hazard symbol; flammable, toxic, corrosive etc. All categories are packaged differently and put into a drum or crate and then shipped.
 
Beer bottles and beer cans come through the Recycling Center all year round. We can return all non-Saskatchewan Canadian beer cans and bottles for refunds. Beer cans are packaged into bags of 144 cans, the beer bottles get categorized into boxes of domestic which is your average beer; Miller, Bud-light, budweiser etc. or the specific brand. We take these bottles and cans back for a refund of 10¢ per can or bottle.
 
 We have made $5,246.70 in beer container refunds, accounting for 35% of sales in 2017
 
This is hardly half of what I have learned here. Working at the Recycling Center has opened my eyes to the importance of recycling and how we impact the environment. It has been a great experience.
 
I am grateful for the opportunity to work here.

Originally published Aug 2/17 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.
 Guest post by summer student Parker Mathews. 

The Recycling Center is having a Recycled Back to School Supplies event. It is an opportunity for the community to come down and pick up any unused school supplies that has been amassed over the years. We are setting up a table at the Flin Flon Public Library, you can come down and help yourself to the school supplies we have.
 
We have all sorts of supplies that you can pick up; binder, notebooks, duotangs, divider, paper and much more. The amount of supplies the Recycling Center receives at the end of every school year every is astonishing to me.
 
Most of it is unused.
 
According to the Consolidated Credit survey families in Manitoba spend close to $119 per child each year on school supplies and a whopping $1,182 dollars total from preschool to grade 12. By reusing school supplies you can cut the cost of buying school supplies by at least half.
 
It just goes to show that by reusing school supplies not only are you making a difference for the environment and the community but it is also saving you a considerable amount money. Reusing any household items or anything partially used will help reduce expenses and lower the amount of waste we create.
 
Here is a fun fact about how much we waste every year.
 
In the U.S they manufacture around 15-20 billion pencils each year cutting down 60,000 trees. An estimate of 2 billion of these pencils are thrown away each year, that is around 8000 trees that are destroyed for no reason.
 
We look forward to seeing you at the Flin Flon Public Library August 12, from 1-3:30.
​

July total – 44,525 kg
       
        Co-mingled* - 14,128 kg
        Office Paper – 5,096 kg
        Cardboard – 20,733 kg
        Glass – 3,829 kg
        Books -  739 kg
       

Total for 2017 – 267,584 kg
Total for 2016 – 251,786 kg
Difference – 15,798 kg

​Batteries - 39 kg


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


Comments –  July was a good month. It was the fourth highest weight since January 2011. Five months in 2015 were over 40 tonnes with two at 47. Last year August had 44, the only month over 40. July is the second month this year that we processed more than 40 tonnes. I am hoping for another couple of months like this so we can pass the 460 tonnes we did in 2015. I would be really happy if we did 500 tonnes this year. 

Originally published July 26/17  The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

I recently received the summary of a research paper by Reegan Lawrence, a University of Manitoba student. The paper is titled The Green Economy: Manitoba’s Waste and Recycling Sector.

I found this quite interesting. People and businesses are recognizing that things need to change to reduce damage to the environment.  On the other hand, many believe that being good to the environment is bad for the economy.

The study looked at municipalities, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations like the Flin Flon and District Environment Council, Inc. which runs the local recycling program and the private businesses. The private businesses included e-waste processing, consulting, education and awareness, producer responsible organizations which provide financing to encourage recycling,  tire recyclers, manufacturers,  composters, construction and demolition, scrap metal dealers, haulers/transporters, multi-service facilities, Materials recovery facilities like the Flin Flon Recycling Centre, and reuse/refurbish operations.

That is quite a list.

The study used results of a survey and information from a variety of sources to calculate the economic impact of handling waste differently. It estimates there is an equivalent of 4,443 full time employees contributing an estimated $184,537,783.50 to the Manitoba economy.

Locally the Recycling Centre employs five full time and one part time person. There are four more positions at the landfill. Our wages are not as high as the ones used in the study, but our payroll in 2016 was just over $250,000.00.

The increase in businesses and organizations doing things like recycling shows a new way of thinking called corporate social responsibility. It means they consider the environment and the larger community as well as making money when making decisions. 
​
This study shows that the new way of thinking is good for the economy.