Originally published Sept 2/20 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

I wasn’t surprised that Tuesday to hear the garbage truck emptying the dumpsters at the Recycling Centre. It was unusual to hear the tipping sound repeated several more times that usual.  

A short time later, a City foreman paid me a visit. The garbage truck could not empty one dumpster because it had bricks in it.

We thought we took care of it by removing a large vegetable box full of bricks the next morning. The next day the garbage truck emptied the dumpster with great difficulty. We had missed bricks hiding in the bottom.

The load was very hard on the garbage truck’s hydraulics. It left hydraulic fluid stains on the ground.

This is not the first time there were building materials from our dumpsters. We usually find and remove them before the truck comes. It is often a variety of wood or other construction items. This was the worst.

There are several possible reasons why this happens.

The first that comes to mind is that people are too lazy to take these items to the landfill and/or they do not want to pay the $10.00 tipping fee.

Dumpsters are often featured on home renovation shows, so people may assume all dumpsters take construction materials. Construction dumpsters and their service trucks are heavy duty. I am not aware of any company in town that provides them.
 
We lock the dumpsters now to prevent this from happening again. They are not filling up as fast as they have in the past, confirming our suspicions that many were dropping off their garbage and recycling at the same time.
​
Businesses pay for using their dumpsters so they should not be used by the public.

Originally published Sept 9/20 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The Recycling Centre is the place that usually comes to mind when thinking about recycling in our community. However, landfills are also recycling places.

Metal recycling is a decades old practice. Scrap metal companies collect and reprocess it into new metal.  It is sold to manufacturers at current market value based on world metal prices.

There are metal piles at the Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach landfills. Placing metal items in the metal pile instead of household garbage means it will be recycled instead of being buried for centuries.

Car batteries are another item recycled from landfills. They contain valuable materials which are sold for more than the cost of recycling. The Flin Flon Lions Club collects the batteries from the Flin Flon landfill as a fundraiser.

Landfills collect used motor oil, filters, automotive antifreeze and containers from households for recycling.

The motor oil is used as fuel in environmentally safe burners at Tolko in The Pas. Antifreeze and containers are recycled.

All used tires, household hazardous waste and appliances with refrigerant are recycled from the Flin Flon Landfill only.  There is a $25.00 charge to remove refrigerants.  

Tires are shipped to Reliable Tire in Winnipeg. They make a variety of products including sidewalk blocks, hockey rink mats, blasting mats and a very durable paving material.

There are no tipping fees for recycled items unless you are a non-resident at the Saskatchewan landfills.

Many items in landfills are very usable. Instead of throwing them away, have a garage sale, take them to second hand stores or a local charity that can use them, or give them away.

Everything we have comes from the earth.
​
Reduce, reuse and recycle. 

​Originally published Aug 26/20 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

​A magazine article in 2017 first introduce me to the concept of a circular economy. It was mentioned several times in a meeting last week with the Minister of Conservation and Climate.

The concept is gaining momentum.

The circular economy is a major change in the assumptions about economic growth.

Traditional thinking believes economic growth happens when more people use more stuff and energy – a straight line.

A video called ‘The Story of Stuff’ describes how our thinking about stuff is often a line – take resources from the earth, make something, sell that something, use it and throw it away. The video describes how that story is really much more complex.
Google it. The twenty minutes is worth it.

The magazine article described the new circular economy that finds ways to loop used stuff back into usefulness by repair or making something new.

Repairs are encouraged by making manuals easy to find. Companies sell a process that their machines do rather than selling the machine.  The company replaces used machines, refurbishes them and sends out to do the work again.

Recycling is a great example of looping. Instead of sending stuff to landfills mills recycle it into new stuff. Plastic becomes car parts and carpets. Aluminum cans become new aluminum cans or the body of an airplane. Cardboard becomes new cardboard.

Some other examples are using old cement for aggregate in new cement and recycling old drywall into new drywall.

Self-serve car rental is making it easier to get around without buying a car.
​
Thinking in circles is important as everything we have comes from the earth. We can’t just keep throwing it away.  
 

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

​Many people know of the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

These actions reduce how much is thrown away, the use of natural resources, landfill space and energy used.  They are listed in the order of importance for the environment.

Recycling has become a regular practice for many. Services are available in most communities. It definitely benefits the environment but is last on the list.

Reusing is fairly common. Second hand stores, garage sales and give-aways are evidence of this.

What about reducing? The most important ‘R’ doesn’t get a lot of attention.

Everything we have comes from the Earth so if we use less there is less damage to our life support systems.

Reducing is good for the Earth but it isn’t very good for the economy. It needs people to consume products and services and does better when more is used.

Recent events in the world have caused people to reduce how much they use. Many have less to buy things with. The economy is suffering.

There has been evidence that this reduced activity has benefited the planet. There has been less air pollution, fewer greenhouse gases and reports of wildlife returning to habitat they had left because people were using them. It did not fix the problems but gave the environment a break.

Now is a good time to think about being kinder to the Earth as people find the new normal.

Important questions are: Do I really need this? How can I use less? Could I rent instead of buy? Can I repair what I have? Should I pay a little more for one that will last longer?
​
Let’s not miss this opportunity for change.

Originally published Aug 12/20 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The answer to this question is yes, absolutely! I wish it was illegal to throw aluminum cans away.
 
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough electricity to run a laptop for five hours.
 
Aluminum can be recycled many times. Aluminum in use today may have been manufactured in the early 20th century.  
 
Aluminum is made from bauxite. It requires huge amounts of electricity. The chemicals used in the process are toxic and can damage the environment.
 
Aluminum cans take 500 years to break down in nature.
 
I was informed in a recent conversation with personnel from Recycle Everywhere that the rate of aluminum can recycling is lagging behind other beverage containers.  They are at 58% return rate as compared to plastic bottles at 77%.
 
Do plastic bottles have a higher return rate because the problem of plastic in the environment is in the news frequently?
 
Is it possible that that people don’t know aluminum cans are recyclable?
 
Our 2016 survey results are puzzling. Aluminum cans seemed to be ignored on the list of items people could mark as recyclable, not recyclable or not sure. No one marked yes. One person marked no and 12 weren’t sure. 429 people completed the survey.
 
Are aluminum cans being taken to Saskatchewan to collect money? This is a problem for us as we do not get the rate of return or the money from selling the aluminum.
 
It is an expensive problem for the Saskatchewan program as the deposit is not paid on beverage containers sold in our community so they lose money.
 
Recycling aluminum cans locally is easy, environmentally friendly and supports local recycling. If you see one get it into a recycling bin.

Originally published July 29/20 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The recycling program is in its 28th year. It has grown from volunteers collecting of paper outdoors in November 1992 to an operation with 11 employees that recycles ten different kinds of waste.

This week we continue to honour some of the people who contributed the program's success.

Fran Gira and Dennis Whitbread volunteered in the early days at the Market Garden and continued as the program moved indoors. Fran was a member of the first Board of Directors in 1995 and served until 2007.

Fran's thoughtful participation as a board member was very valuable. She was the treasurer and kept the financial records before there was a computer program so it was a major time commitment.  

I was the first paid Administrator in 1996. Carie McIntosh took over in May 1997 and held the position for four years. She guided the day to day operations with wisdom and creativity as the number of employees and volunteers grew.

Doreen Murray was hired as the Administrator in 2001 and served until she retired in 2013. There were many changes during that time.

In 2004 the Centre moved into a new building. Later, renovations were needed to accommodate electronic waste recycling and to create more space.

Managing the landfill was added to her responsibilities in 2004.

Curbside and business pickups were added to the program, then dropped when material prices fell,  then started again.

Finances were challenging. Doreen kept things balanced and worked with the Board to develop a successful financial plan.

Doreen managed 5 - 11 employees and supported them in ways they greatly appreciated.
​
Many more have contributed to recycling's success. It is an example of what working together can accomplish.