Spring a Great Time to Make a Greener Tomorrow

Spring a Great Time to Make a Greener Tomorrow

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

We’re now on the cusp of Spring. Even though the weather is starting to warm up, it’s still too early to do yard work or gardening. While many have been busy purging and cleaning for quite some time now, others may just be beginning the annual task of sorting and packing items they no longer want or use.

One of the great local resources available to Vegreville and area residents is the Vegreville Materials Recovery Facility (VMRF). Lead Hand Phyllis Sereda and Municipal Services Manager Tony Tymchyshyn have been working hard behind the scenes for many years to make it a first-class recycling facility.

VMRF recycles a vast array of products including newspapers, white paper, cardboard, solid plastic, film plastic, tin-aluminum, and single-use and rechargeable batteries and cell phones.

Tony Tymchyshyn, Municipal Services Manager for the Town of Vegreville, and Phyllis Sereda, Vegreville Materials Recover Facility Lead Hand, stand beside some of the baled recycled products

The facility, formerly the community’s curling rink, has been the hub of operations for more than 10 years and has seen a steady rise in the volume of products that are recycled. In 2019 alone, the facility processed 745 bales of cardboard, 180 bales of newsprint, 63 bales of white paper, 99 bales of solid plastic, 37 bales of film plastic, and 17 bales of tin-aluminum.

In 2019 VMRF confidentially destroyed 40,929.56 lbs. of resident and business documents. They collected and crushed 3,891 bulbs, 2,735 lbs. of fluorescent bulbs, CFL and incandescent bulbs. They collected 1,062 lbs. of ink-toner cartridges.

The Town of Vegreville also has a central drop-off centre just off of Highway 16A on Pacific Avenue, (behind the Dairy Queen). The town was also awarded $20,000 through the Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation’s Community Champions Partnership (CCP) Program, and recently installed 25 large volume bins at town-owned facilities to better accommodate day to day use and seasonal traffic.

Other recyclable items like electronic waste, paint, household hazardous waste, tires, compost, automotive batteries, agricultural chemical containers, metals, wood, glass, and concrete can be taken to permanent collection areas at the Vegreville Sanitary Landfill which is located at 52321- Range Road 144.