City officials are in North Battleford decrying the amount of non-recyclable contamination brought to the Waste Management Facility.
In a news release Wednesday they reported a total of 12,700 kilograms, described as “the equivalent weight of two African elephants”, of rejected recycling was brought to the Waste Management Facility between May 25 to 28.
That came from non-recyclable contaminated waste material placed in blue recycling bins in the city. The city states this is reducing the lifespan of the cell at the landfill. The cost to build an additional cell is estimated by the city as two million dollars.
The City has promoted recycling information on social media and has promoted the use of Recycle Coach for residents to easily determine what material is recyclable or not.
The city is also reporting that on June 2, approximately 578 recycling bins were inspected before pick-up. Of those 68 were flagged for having non-recyclable materials in them and were not picked up.
The city adds that residents responsible for those bins will be issued a $100 ticket for this first infraction.
Among the items found in the rejected bins that are not acceptable are the following:
Styrofoam – found in 48.53% of rejected bins
Clothes/towels – found in 11.76% of rejected bins
Garbage bags – found in 11.76% of rejected bins
Food waste – found in 9% of rejected bins
Other – 31% - includes tarps, grease tubes, garbage, paint cans, floor mats, metal, solar light, cassette tape, and aerosol cans.
Once non-recyclable materials are removed from the recycling bins, residents can arrange an additional pick-up by calling 306-445-1700 and prepaying $20 to have a pick-up for the next business day if they do not want to wait until their next scheduled recycling pick-up date.
Residents can use Recycle Coach from the City’s website to determine what materials belong in the blue recycle bin and what is non-recyclable. That can be accessed at www.cityofnb.ca/resident_services/waste_recycling/what_goes_where_.html and can also be available for installation on iOS and Android. It can also be installed on Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa devices.
