Contamination in blue residential recycling carts has become such a problem in Canora that it has now resulted in changes to the collection process.
Ottenbreit Sanitation Services (OSS), the company that empties the blue and black carts, will no longer empty blue recycle carts if they contain black garbage bags, according to Michael Mykytyshyn, chief administrative officer, Town of Canora. The Town was made aware of this change by OSS the first week in May. The change was made because of the increasing quantity of garbage in blue recycle carts.
“When residents put their carts out for collection, half the town puts out black garbage carts and the other half, blue carts,” said Mykytyshyn. “The next week, residents switch carts. This provides everyone with garbage and recycling collection on a two-week rotation. Every Friday, the OSS truck first picks up all of the black garbage carts and unloads the material at Canora landfill. The truck then goes around and picks up all of the blue recycle carts. That material is not unloaded here, but is hauled to Yorkton where it is dropped off at Saskatchewan Abilities for sorting and processing.
“When the load is dropped off at the recycle depot, there is always, unfortunately, a certain level of unacceptable material. This may include items that are not recyclable under Canora’s program, but mistakenly considered to be. Examples include No. 1 food containers, glass jars or Styrofoam.”
The problem with contamination occurs when residents include actual garbage or refuse in their blue recycle carts. When this material is mixed in with the load, the recycling depot cannot or will not sort the material. It then has to be re-loaded and trucked to the Yorkton landfill.
“We are not talking about people mistakenly throwing glass jars or Styrofoam into their blue carts,” clarified Mykytyshyn. “We are talking about household garbage -- dirty diapers and used cat litter. It’s unclear how people would think those are recyclable items.”
When this happens, the Town is charged additional fees for the extra handling and disposal of the material.
“These fees are significant and preventable,” he explained. “Residents are charged a fee for garbage collection on their utility bills which subsidizes the costs of collection services. When the Town’s collection costs increase, they are passed on to its residents. In effect, when people throw garbage into recycle carts, they drive up the cost of the service for everyone.”
The Town periodically publishes or advertises a list of acceptable recycle items and the information is available at www.canora.com or from the office at any time. The Town has in the past conducted inspections or spot checks of blue cart contents after they are placed out for pickup. This is a last resort to eliminate garbage from going into the containers and takes staff away from other work they could be doing.
“The problem is easily preventable. Ideally, items placed in your blue cart should be loose and not bagged. And, please do not throw garbage in your blue carts,” concluded Mykytyshyn.
