The three R’s of waste reduction – reduce, reuse, recycle - is a hierarchy. The actions are in the order of most to least important.
While recycling has great value in reducing waste in landfills it is third in line. It also seems to be the easiest as most communities have active recycling programs.
The Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc which operates the Recycling Centre is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to promote environmental protection so being environmentally responsible guides our activities.
Reusing is a large part of our program.
Large plastic bags for the loose materials carts and for managing sorted materials are reused many times.
Large boxes used for produce at grocery stores are reused to ship books and large plastics.
Reusable school supplies are given away.
Many of the non-recyclable items we receive are taken to the second-hand stores or advertised on social media. We strongly recommend that people take these items to the stores or advertise them instead of bringing them to us as we do not have a lot of space or time.
People have a lot of ideas about ways to reuse items that we recycle. Some examples are pop bottles, egg cartons, small plastic ice cream containers (for soup from the Food Bank), tin cans, fliers for fire starter or packing and jars.
We receive requests for cardboard boxes for moving or shipping items. We need at least a few hours’ notice to collect them as most boxes are baled up right away. We usually have a supply of bubble wrap and packing paper to go with them.
For more information call the Recycling Centre at (204) 687-6169.