DISCONTINUATION OF GLASS RECYCLING IN THE PEACE RIVER REGIONAL DISTRICT

Friday, December 19, 2008

 

The world economic crisis has had a devastating effect on recycling efforts across Canada. All recyclable materials, with the exception of newspaper, collected in our region have become worthless. Plastics, tin and glass are no longer being accepted at the mills. For materials that are still being accepted at the mills, we are forced to pay between $17 MT to $116 MT to have the materials recycled.

 

In an effort to reduce the impact of the current market conditions, glass food containers will no longer be recycled in the Peace River Regional District effective January 1, 2009. The discontinuation of glass recycling will affect both the regional recycling depots and the remote bin sites located in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Hudson Hope, Taylor, Charlie Lake and Pouce Coupe.

 

The recycling of glass presents numerous processing and marketing challenges. Glass is a difficult material to recycle due to low demand and high contamination levels. It has no market value and has minimal recycling options. Most recycling programs in British Columbia use glass as aggregate road base, landfill cover or sandblasting sand. All of these recycling options require immense amounts of labour to remove contamination and crushing prior to recycling.

 

After extensive reviews of the current recycling program, we have decided to eliminate glass from the recycling program. Glass is an inert material, so it has a minimal environmental impact if discarded in the landfill.

 

Glass beverage containers with a deposit, such as beer, juice and pop bottles, will still be recycled at the local bottle depots in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge.

 

If you have any questions about this change, please contact Lindsay at the Eco-Depot 250-785-0300.