The Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) has added recycling depots at both the Houston and Area G [Houston/Granisle rural] and the Fraser Lake and Area D [Fraser Lake rural] transfer stations.
“Residential recycling depots are now available at all our transfer stations,” Cheryl Anderson, RDBN corporate services’ director said.
Anderson said that the sorted material from RDBN’s depots were picked up and delivered to a local baling facility where it is made into commercial size bales. From there the bales were processed, prepared for market in the Lower Mainland and sold.
She stated that RDBN never landfills material collected at their recycling depots. Depot staff assist residents with sorting recyclables at the depot, and they will remove and discard material that would contaminate the bin so that the accepted material can be successfully recycled.
Recycling is important, and RDBN currently offers it free of charge. “Ultimately, we all need to do out part to reduce the amount of waste going into our landfills, which can only accommodate a finite amount of material,” she said.
While recycling is free, she said that the costs of operating and expanding landfills were paid for through taxation.
“As the RDBN does planning work to implement a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) program, practice in recycling will help residents consider their waste production and develop good practices, this will make the transition to PAYT easier. Recycling is one component in the practice of reducing the amount of waste we generate, and reducing the amount of waste overall is even more important,” she said.
According to Anderson, innovation in waste re-use continues to expand, and the best solution will be to find a local market for recycling material. She emphasized that international export markets were still open with higher restrictions and fines for unacceptable material.
She added that RDBN wasn’t involved in where the baled material is sold, but looks for ways to support local opportunities, should they arise.
According to Statistics Canada, in British Columbia, 889,821 tonnes of plastic were consumed, 270,702 tonnes were produced, and the net trade of newly manufactured plastic was 619,120 tonnes. In Ontario, 2,059,487 tonnes of plastic were consumed while 1,883,138 tonnes were locally produced, and net trade was 176,349 tonnes. Alberta produced 298,161 tonnes of plastic and its consumption was 961,155 tonnes, with net trade being 662,996 tonnes.
Recycle BC is a non-profit organization responsible for managing residential packaging and paper recycling across British Columbia.
Their 2022 annual report stated that, they collected 201,169 tonnes of plastic, 86.2% of which was recycled. In comparison, their 2021 annual report recorded a collection of 214,273 tonnes of plastic.
In the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako, they collected 678 tonnes of plastic and served a population of 36,587 through Recycle BC.