Merritt residents reminded of proper recycling procedure

Lane Robinson REPORTER@MERRITTHERALD.COM

The blue lidded recycling bin that is put on the street once a week for pick up could be going into the landfill.

The Curbside Recycling Program (CRP) provides Merritt residents curbside collection of some, but not all, recyclable materials through a partnership with the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD).

Although there are many different types of recycling, the CRP can only accept paper products, cardboard products, hard plastic products, and metal products. Even though other materials like foam, flexible plastic, and glass are recyclable, the program says there is not enough manpower to sort through these materials. They refer to these materials as contaminants.

“Although the target contamination level is less than 3% by volume of a load, certain types of contamination can pose larger problems,” says Andrew Roebbelen, waste reduction coordinator with the TNRD.

“Just a few plastic bags can entangle many items and make them un-sortable and thus unrecyclable. Glass can be the same way, one or two broken jars can create a hazard for workers making the load unsortable.”

The contents of the recycling bins are visually inspected at multiple points along the route, from the driver before they pick up the recycling, to the hand-sorting of samples to determine the amount of contaminants. Loads that don’t have noticeable contamination will proceed through the system to be sorted by a variety of methods, including air sorters and optical sorters. Some stages involve hand-sorting of material on a line.

When a load is unsortable, it gets thrown into the landfill, even though the materials are recyclable. The amount of waste per truck load varies depending on the type and severity of contamination.

“Sorting facilities do their best to salvage as much material as possible,” said Roebbelen.

“A curbside truck that has been contaminated could result in small amounts like 10-50kg being landfilled, when the contamination can be isolated. Other forms of contamination can result in the entire load being rejected by Recycle BC.”

Other types of recycling that the CRP cannot pick up can be taken to recycling facilities such as the Lower Nicola Eco Depot, Merritt Machine Works, Merritt ReturnIt Depot, Home Hardware, and Doctor’s Eyecare Merritt. Types of materials that can be recycled at these places include household and cell phone batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, unused paint, refundable beverage bottles, and some hazardous waste.

“We have a pretty good recycling system here, we can accept many types of packaging that other places can’t like Styrofoam and plastic bags, but the only way this works is if the material in those packages can be delivered to an end user clean and free of contaminants,” added Roebbelen.

“The best way to keep contamination out is at the beginning, with residents sorting into categories. If material is jumbled together it is difficult and costly to sort which would result in less material available, at lower quality and higher prices. Recycling only works when there is a circular economy to support it.”

SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 58 (NICOLA-SIMILKAMEEN) BUDGET PLANNING PROCESS – 2023/2024 ANNUAL BUDGET

Tuesday, April 5, 2023:

A public budget presentation will be made to interested stakeholders at the Merritt School Board Office and live streamed via the School District No 58 Facebook page Representatives from schools’ Parent Advisory Council (PAC), District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC), teacher and support staff Unions, Principals, and members of the public are invited to attend this meeting to review provincial funding, District projections for enrolment and funding, as well as provide more specific infor mation regarding the District’s annual budget Stakeholder groups and members of the public are welcome to outline their priorities to the Audit & Finance Committee The meeting will commence at 17:00 The purpose is to discuss priorities and listen to concer ns in order to help set the framework for the 2023/2024 annual budget

Tuesday, April 18, 2023:

Wednesday April 19, 2023:

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

PLEASE NOTE:

The Audit & Finance Committee will meet to study a draft summary which will be presented to Board on April 19, 2023.

A draft summary prepared by the Superintendent and the Secretary Treasurer to be presented to the Board for discussion

Budget bylaw to be presented at the Regular Board Meeting Subject to feedback, the budget for the 2023/2024 year will be adopted at this meeting

Representatives from stakeholder groups or members of the public will also have the opportunity to make a presentation to the Audit & Finance Committee in private if they so desire Individuals or groups interested in making such a presentation should contact the Secretary Treasurer at drichardson@365.sd58.bc.ca by April 7, 2023, to arrange a meeting, supported by a written submission