Is Recycling Going To The Trash???

The issue of just exactly how much of the material you out into your blue bin is actually recycled came up during a Wednesday afternoon meeting of the Public Works, Infrastructure and Environment Advisory Committee (PWIEAC).

Committee chair Reese Allen asked the question “what percentage of our recycling is actually being recyled?”

In the ensuing discussion Director of Public Works and Utilities Darrin Stephanson explained the figures about the amounts hauled by the City’s contractor Loraas and then taken to their contractor Crown Shred.

Allen persisted asking just how much of the material collected and is not spoiled by contamination thus ending up in the landfill. He gave the example of how a dirty yogurt container lid might contiminate a large part of the items recycled and thereby defeat the program’s purpose. He asked how much is just simply being incinerated.

“It is nice to see exactly how much is be recycled but how much is spoiled by contamination and is hauled to the landfill?” he asked.

Despite the impresssion created a large portion of what is collected is not actually recycled but ends up in the landfill Stephanson said that is not entirely true.

“Six percent is taken away as waste,” he said.

A Loraas recycling truck - MJ Independent file photo

Committee member Daryl New said why is recyciling being picked up in a garbage truck and then hauled to the dump? He pointed out a garbage truch had just picked up the recycling in his neighbourhood on Tuesday.

“It’s frustrating for people to do all of the work sorting and recycling and then it is just hauled to the landfill,” New said.

Stephanson said he had seen people on social media claiming that recycling was going directly to the landfill but it was 100 percent untrue.

“There is no recycling collection that goes to the landfill,” Stephanson said. The same trucks could be used to haul garbage and then recycling later as they would be washed out between doing so, he said.

There may be bales of recyclable product which cannot go into the recylcing market at present time due to low demand but Loraas had been baling it and storing it at its Moose Jaw facility. The material is not going to the landfill, he said

“They are not collecting it as waste it is not going to the landfill.”

With the City’s recycling program 15 to 20 percent of waste is potentially recycled before the program it was seven percent or less.

“The program has definitely had an impact,” Stephanson said.

New said appropraite signage on recycling trucks would help so people would not mistake them for garbage trucks.

“They look exactly the same as the City garbage trucks. My perception it was a garbage truck and it is going straight to the dump.”

Regarding signage to indicate a truck is used for recycling and not just hauling to the landfill Stepahnson said he was unsure if it was possible to do so.

“It may be something they (Lorass) may or may not be able to go along with,” he said.

City manager Jim Puffalt said “it’s not part of the contract. I do not know how we can make them do it.”

“People spend time on recycling and then there is a lot of frustration about it not being recycled,” New said.

To help people understand recycling is not ending up in the landfill a suggestion was made about publicizing the facts to the general public.