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

Each fall the Manitoba Association of Regional Recyclers (MARR) hosts a forum and tours in Winnipeg. I attended last week.

The Wednesday afternoon bus tour took us to the Forks ‘Zero Waste’ operations and Exner E-Waste.

The Forks has a zero waste policy for food services. There is a dishwasher so all plates and eating utensils are reusable. Staff removes the dishes and leftovers from food trays, separating recyclables, food scraps and garbage.

We toured the compost site outdoors. The food scraps are placed in a large ‘Biovator’ and moved through a long chamber over a period of time. Compost comes out the other end and is screened and used their green spaces.

Unfortunately we didn’t see it in action as the wiring had been stolen two weeks ago.  
It was great to see that zero was can be done.

The second stop was the plant where our electronics are recycled in Elie. The process is very interesting as glass, leaded glass, plastics and metals are separated and recycled. The only garbage is particle board and foams found in some speakers and stereo systems.

Metal is recovered in many forms from large balls to dust. All floor sweepings are put back in the system as they contain valuable metal. It is sold on the market.

Glass is used as aggregate locally. Leaded glass is sent to a lead smelter. Only plastic is shipped overseas as it is a mix of many chemicals including fire retardant.

All of the end users including the plant in Malaysia have been audited by the recycling program to ensure health and safety standards are met and the materials are recycled.
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It is a very innovative process. 

Originally published Oct 30/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

Recycling in homes and workplaces has become common in the last 40 years in North America. The local program began 27 years ago this November.

Recycling requires people to change their habits about the waste they produce.  Many early programs required significant sorting using more space in homes and workplaces.

Changing habits does not happen easily. There are two ways of making it happen:  through education and making it convenient or  through adopting policies with penalties for not making the change.  I call this the carrot or the stick.

The ‘carrot’ provides information about the environmental benefits and saving money with landfill costs. A small percentage of very motivated people usually make the change very quickly. Providing curbside pickup and convenient collection depots increases participation significantly.  

Getting the majority of people to change their habits takes a long time with the ‘carrot’ approach.

The stick approach involves consequences for not recycling.

The most common and least difficult to swallow is the ‘tags for bags’ program. It requires homes that   have more than a set number of garbage bags (usually two) to buy a tag for any extra bags. Usually free pickup service is available so reducing garbage is very easily done.

This increases recycling rates significantly.

Some places have gone further requiring clear bags for garbage and recycling with fines if items are found in the wrong bag.

Many places are adding compostable materials to their waste pickup.

Some places are reducing garbage pickup to every other week as there isn’t much left after recyclables and compostable food scraps are picked up.
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Local recycling rates have increased, but do we need a ‘stick’ to get the majority in the habit? 

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

​I was asked the other day if we accept meat trays for recycling. Many have the recycling symbol on them with a number six. My answer was ‘No’.

I looked for more information a couple of years ago after a request on our ‘Flin Flon Recycling’ facebook page. Here is what I found.

The technical name for number six plastic is polystyrene (PS). Meat trays and many other things are made from ‘extruded polystyrene’ or polystyrene foam.  Most of us call it Styrofoam which is actually a registered trademark of the Dow Chemical Company for extruded polystyrene used for thermal insulation and craft applications.

Polystyrene foam has many uses because it is strong, lightweight, cheap, and sanitary to use.

According to the Canadian Plastic Industry Association’s web page, polystyrene foam is very recyclable.  However, only about 35% of recycling programs in Canada accept it.

This is because it is 90% air. It takes up a lot of space and is very light. It requires special machines to compact or ‘densify’ it enough to make shipping feasible.

The Recycling Centre gets a lot of polystyrene foam. The biggest pieces are usually found in cardboard boxes where it protected whatever came in the box. It has to be removed before the cardboard is baled which takes time and can be challenging, as it may be stuck tightly in the box.

Foam cups, meat trays, egg cartons, and other items often found with other recyclables we receive. They are removed and put in the garbage.

If the company we ship to in Winnipeg finds a market for number six plastic containers we will accept them.
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It is highly unlikely however, that we ever will. 

Originally published Oct 16/19 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

These are difficult times for the packaging and paper recycling industry when looking at the big picture.

Aside from increased costs, there are only a couple of changes to the recycling program in our community because low grade film plastics such as plastic bags and wrap have never been part of our program.

The biggest change is that all black plastic and #1 solid coloured plastic items like Tide pod tubs are not recyclable. The sorting machines cannot ‘read’ these plastics.

Number one plastics you can see through like drink bottles are very easily recycled. But the #1 you can’t see through isn’t. Our Flin Flon Recycling Facebook page has a picture of one of these containers.

Also, water cooler jugs are not recyclable because of the blue dye in the plastic.

I was asked the other day if the increased cost of recycling is putting our program in danger financially. Fortunately our Board of Directors has made wise decisions in the past so we are okay. Part of the annual calculations for the subsidy from industry considers prices for materials. When prices are low the subsidy increases to help cover costs.

The only serious problem we could have is being unable to ship our recyclables as we are very ‘space challenged’.

The red bag curbside program is in trouble. The number of homes using the service has dropped significantly so the $3.50 charge for the one red bag required for pickup is not covering costs. If this doesn’t change by year end, the program will end.
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Call us at (204) 6876169 or check the website: flinflonrecycling.org for more information. 

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October total – 43,332 kg
       
        Aluminum – 579 kg
        Commingled* - 11,423 kg
        Office Paper – 1,753 kg
        Cardboard – 24,422 kg
        Glass – 4,776 kg
        Books – 606 kg
        Other plastics – 66 kg

Total for 2019 –  439,270 kg
Total for 2018 – 430,810 kg
Difference – 8,460 kg


E – waste – 9,280 kg
 
Batteries – 61 kg

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


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