Originally published Mar 4/15 The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.
I am uncomfortable about the incredible number of plastic bags sent to the landfill from the Recycling Centre.
Some plastic bags are here because people don’t know we do not recycle them.
We do not collect plastic bags for recycling because we have no place to send most of them. Only a few kinds could be sent and the most common bags including grocery bags are not included.
The real conundrum for me is that we are responsible for most of the bags sent to the landfill.
I looked up the word conundrum. It is a difficult problem that cannot really be solved.
Here is the conundrum. Our facility does not have ground level access. We cannot drive into our building to remove loose recyclables for processing.
Other centres have trucks that dump it on the floor. It is moved with a machine to a sort line. The Pas pulls trailers into their building and removes the large containers of recyclables from the trailer with a forklift.
Our building has a loading dock on the front. Creating access at the back of the building would require a considerable amount of blasting very close to the building. Our lot is too narrow to create access at the side. All of this would have a high cost.
So for now, everything arrives contained in something. Most often a plastic bag is used, although boxes are fine.
The only exception is the blue bins at the Centre where people can place loose recyclables. The bags in these bins are reused as many times as possible.
I rationalize this conundrum by reminding myself that each bag we throw away means much more has been kept from the landfill.
I am uncomfortable about the incredible number of plastic bags sent to the landfill from the Recycling Centre.
Some plastic bags are here because people don’t know we do not recycle them.
We do not collect plastic bags for recycling because we have no place to send most of them. Only a few kinds could be sent and the most common bags including grocery bags are not included.
The real conundrum for me is that we are responsible for most of the bags sent to the landfill.
I looked up the word conundrum. It is a difficult problem that cannot really be solved.
Here is the conundrum. Our facility does not have ground level access. We cannot drive into our building to remove loose recyclables for processing.
Other centres have trucks that dump it on the floor. It is moved with a machine to a sort line. The Pas pulls trailers into their building and removes the large containers of recyclables from the trailer with a forklift.
Our building has a loading dock on the front. Creating access at the back of the building would require a considerable amount of blasting very close to the building. Our lot is too narrow to create access at the side. All of this would have a high cost.
So for now, everything arrives contained in something. Most often a plastic bag is used, although boxes are fine.
The only exception is the blue bins at the Centre where people can place loose recyclables. The bags in these bins are reused as many times as possible.
I rationalize this conundrum by reminding myself that each bag we throw away means much more has been kept from the landfill.
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