Originally published Nov 16/16   The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Some time ago my neighbour commented that she had started recycling. She was surprised how easy it was. She thought it would be a lot more complicated.

Recycling is easy. There is no need to sort, so only one recycling bin is needed. It is just a matter of remembering which items go in which container.

There are a couple of things to remember.

Items should not be drippy, sticky or gooey. Beverage containers and anything that had liquid in it should be drained. Food containers need a quick rinse.

Lids should be removed from glass bottles and jars. This is important as the glass is crushed and used locally. The lids can cause problems in the crusher.

Shredded office/printer paper can be recycled but needs to be in a separate bag which can go in the bag with other recyclables.

Household batteries including button batteries should be in a separate bag or container to make them easy to find.

There are several ways to get recyclables to the Recycling Centre.

Creighton residents have curbside pickup every Thursday or Friday.

Curbside pickup is available Wednesday mornings in Flin Flon. Items need to be in a red bag that costs $3.50 which pays for the service. Two more bags or boxes will be picked up with one red bag.

Items in bags or boxes can be dropped off any time at the trailer beside Canadian Tire or at the Recycling Centre at 9 Timber Lane. Loose items go in the blue bins at the Centre.

A Christmas gift of recycling bags and a bin is a great way to get non-recycling friends and family started.
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More information is available at www.flinflonrecycling.org. 

Originally published Nov 9/16 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

It has been 24 years this month since recycling began in our community.

I have been thinking how the Recycling Centre has become a place where many items can be taken so they don’t take up space in the landfill or harm the environment.

We started with recycling common items from households and businesses including plastic containers (except number 6), paper items like newsprint, fliers, boxboard, magazines, phone books, office paper, cardboard, and tin and aluminium.

Many items have been added to the list over the years including electronics, printer cartridges, household batteries, books, paint, fluorescent bulbs, and thermostats.

Local landfills also recycle used motor oil, filters and containers, antifreeze, car batteries and metal. Tires can be left at the Flin Flon landfill for recycling.

Getting rid of stuff when we are finished with it requires more thought and effort than it used to but it makes a big difference.

The most obvious is that it saves space and money in landfills. It also saves resources by making new stuff from old things, rather than taking more from the earth.  

Recycling also saves water and energy, and reduces greenhouse gases.

Did you know that recycling one aluminium can saves enough electricity to run the average computer for five hours?

Each year for Earth Day we receive a poster with information about the environmental benefits of our recycling program the previous year.

In 2015, our community saved 4,331 mature trees, 6,809,680 litres of water, 1,094 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, 2,182,860 kWh of energy and 1, 440 cubic yards of space in the landfill.

Recycling is an easy way to make a big difference. 

October  total – 36,711 kg
        Newsprint – 2,003 kg
        Co-mingled* - 10,105 kg
        Office Paper – 2,252 kg
        Cardboard – 18,174 kg
        Glass – 2,101 kg
        Books -  1076 kg
       

Total for 2016 – 369,490kg
Total for 2015 (Sept)  – 384,801kg
Difference - - 15,311 kg

Batteries - 20 kg


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

Originally published Nov 2/16 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Who is responsible to take care of all the garbage we create?

Cities and towns are responsible for managing waste. That was much easier and cheaper when everything was garbage and just went into the landfill.

Landfills are no longer the best way. They take up lots of space, are expensive, and can harm the environment. There are better ways to deal with most of our garbage like recycling.

So who pays for that? Municipalities already spend lots of money on waste management. They can’t do it all.

The Province of Manitoba has made laws which require industries that sell stuff that is recyclable to help pay for it.  

For every specified product a company sells in Manitoba, it must pay a set amount into a fund that helps municipalities with the ‘end of life’ costs. These products include tires, oil products, beverage containers, household food items with recyclable packaging, newspapers, electronics, fluorescent bulbs, and lots of other things.  This extra cost often shows up on your bill as an enviro fee.

And where does that money go?

To the PRO’s – Producer Responsibility Organizations which are non-profit organizations run by industry. They are required by the government to pay municipalities and organizations like the Recycling Centre to cover recycling costs.

Some PRO names are like alphabet soup:  MMSM, CBCRA, EPRA, MARRC.  Some have obvious names like Mb Tire Stewardship, and Product Care. 

Last year the PRO’s paid the Recycling Centre more than $65,000.00 for household, tire and ewaste recycling.

The money doesn’t come from the taxes.  Industries help pay for recycling the waste they create.

The PRO’s make recycling happen in Manitoba.  

Originally published Oct 26/16 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Things were quite slow at the Recycling Centre after the snow arrived early this month. 
Now that the weather is nicer, business has definitely picked up so I spent time on the floor helping to bag up materials for recycling.

We do not sort, but have to take everything out of the boxes and bags they come in, remove the garbage, beer cans and glass.

It is a great opportunity for me to see what information people need to reduce the amount of garbage we have.

First, the good news. Many bags had very little or no garbage. I just took out some glass or beer containers. That tells me the information is available and many people are following it.  

Here are several items we still find regularly that are not recyclable:

• Plastic bags and wrap. We only recycle ‘rigid’ plastic, like containers. We cannot recycle any ‘film’ plastic like bags.
• Coffee cups, disposable plates, cups, cutlery. The only exception is plastic cups that are not a #6. The number is in recycling symbol on the bottom. If there is an ‘S’ in the letters below the symbol it is a #6.
• Styrofoam
• Paper towels, candy wrappers, Kleenex and disposable paper products.
• Dishes, window glass, etc. Only glass jars and bottles are accepted.

Items should not be drippy, sticky or gooey. I put the half full yogurt container in the garbage.

A box of newspapers and other recyclable items had a container with some solvent in it. Unfortunately, it had spilled on everything including the cardboard box.  It was garbage.

Information about what is recyclable is available at 204 687 6169 or on the web www.flinflonrecycling.org.