By Greg Higgins

N.B. reminding residents to sort recycling properly

Jul 20, 2017 | 5:00 PM

City administration is planning an event to remind residents of the complications that arise when they put unrecyclable items into blue bins.

At North Battleford’s city council’s meeting on Monday night, city manager Jim Puffalt addressed the room to remind the public there are numerous places people can check to make sure they aren’t placing unrecyclables into the blue bins.

“People should remember that all the information is right on their blue bins,” Puffalt said. “We are seeing items that are way more garbage in nature than anything else. We get that some people might not be sure what is recyclable, so the best thing to do is get the information out to them.”

No exact date has been set as of yet  but, the city is planning a barbecue dinner sometime in September where locals can learn more about recycling. Puffalt said putting in the wrong items can ruin the entire shipment when it goes to Saskatoon.

“If there is something like cat litter in a load then the whole load is contaminated and it can’t be recycled,” Puffalt said. “It is more waste in the landfill that shouldn’t be there and just bad for the environment and bad for the program in general.”

ACAC bound

North Stars' Medernach talks commitment to NAIT Ooks

15h ago

Rustlers Volleyball

Crusaders' Bell excited for next chapter with Lakeland College

Apr 24, 2024

Nothing but Net

Vikings' standouts ready for national stage with Team Saskatchewan

Apr 24, 2024

Puffalt said the point of recycling is to extend the life of the landfill as long as possible so it doesn’t become a problem 50 years down the road.

When asked why apartment buildings weren’t equipped with a recycling system, Puffalt said it is up to landlords if the building is more than a four family dwelling. He added there are recycling containers people can pick up at the landfill but there are currently no depots within the city to drop recycling off.

“We used to have depots but they became a dumping ground for other material so unfortunately it didn’t work,” Puffalt said. “Commercial collection and multi-family collection is up to the property owner.”

Macro Properties operates 16 apartment buildings in North Battleford, none of which have a recycling service. Property manager, Ramona Maraj, said she has worked for the company for two years and there have been no talks of implementing one. She added even if they did she doesn’t know where the bins would go.

“These buildings were built 20 to 30 years ago,” Maraj said. “They didn’t take an extra dumpster into consideration when creating the parking lots. They used every single space as a parking spot with just the one spot in the middle for the garbage bin. The main thing would be, where would we even put it?”

Maraj added many of the residents sort their own recycling and bring it to SARCAN themselves. She said sometimes Macro employees will sort out cardboard when they can.

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins