Moosomin moving to single-stream recycling

September 17, 2013, 1:57 am
Kevin Weedmark

The town of Moosomin will be expanding its paper recycling program to a single-stream recycling program in the new year.

The recycling bins that can accept only paper and cardboard will be replaced with bins that can accept cardboard, newsprint, paper, plastic containers, milk cartons, plastic milk jugs, shrink wrap, plastic bags, tin and aluminum cans.

All the materials can be mixed in the single-stream bins.

A wide variety of plastics will be accepted—any plastic with a recycling number one through seven.

In making the change and switching to a new company for its recycling program, the town will not only have expand the list of materials that can be recyled, it will also save $30,000 a year.

Council made the decision to switch from Waste Management to Loraas Disposal and go with the single-stream recycling program after hearing a presentation from Loraas at Wednesday’s council meeting.

The change will be made Jan. 1.

The town started the current recycling system in 2008 went with Waste management.
In 2012, Moosomin recycled 265 tonnes of cardboard and paper—material that was going into the local landfill before the recycling program began

Scott Nelson of Loraas told council that Crown Shred, a recycling company in Regina, can now accept multiple recyclable materials from a single stream.

Depending on the market for recyclables, the materials are either separated at the Regina plant or baled together and sent to a large recycling facility in Oregon.

From there, the various components are shipped further for actual recycling. Plastic bottles, for instance, are shipped to China to be melted down and re-formed.

Councillors discussed the options of simply replacing the existing bins at the landfill site with single-stream recycling bins—the option they decided on—or implementing curbside recycling.

Under the curbside recycling proposal council chose not to go with at this time, each household would be provided with a bin that could be wheeled to the curbside for pickup once every two weeks.

The cost of the curbside program would be about $10 per household per month, which the town would have passed on to homeowners if it had gone with curbside recycling.

Nelson said the curbside recycling program leads to more recycling, since homeowners do not have to drive to a depot to do their recycling.

“The curbside program has allowed communities to have bigger numbers for their recycling,” he said.

The town currently receives $25 per tonne from the provincial government for paper and cardboard recycling under a bridge funding program.

The temporary bridge funding will be replaced by a multi-material recycling program within the next year.

A community size of Moosomin can receive up to $222 per tonne for recycling under the new program.

Councillor Chris Davidson spoke in favor of the expanded recycling program.

“I like the idea of being able to recycle all those streams of products,” he said.

Councillor Lyndon Jacobs spoke in favor of the curbside recycling option, suggesting that homeowners might be willing to pay the $10 a month to have curbside recycling.

“I would like to see a survey —would people rather have the pickup service and pay for it, or haul it to the dump,” he said.

Council decided to initially go with single-stream recycling bins at the landfill site.