On Wednesday, February 26, they were a couple of sorters short. Normally, they have about a dozen come out on their sorting days of Wednesday and Friday. Dyck said there have been a couple of people who had to step away for a while that they hope they could get back.
Beard said they would be willing to change their hours if people are interested. They do start up at 6:00am, but most come an hour later, and they like to come fairly early, because they are out of the building early as well.
There are many different duties volunteers do at the centre. There is paper to be baled, cans to be crushed and made into cubes. Sorting is what many volunteers do. They separate the different items by number or type – from different plastics, metals, cardboards. Dyck said many people in the community do a good job of separating their recyclables, but if they are not sorted in the big blue bins in town or out at the centre, the volunteers will sort them.
Once the sorting is done and everything is in its proper place, recyclables are baled. Eventually when there is enough product, they will call up the centre in Portage la Prairie and they will come pick it up. Cardboard will be sent directly to the US. Dyck said they usually have enough cardboard to go every three or four months. Other products like the plastic and metal take about half a year to fill the order, as it is easily crushed so that a lot can go at a time. It takes almost a year to get enough e-waste – computers, televisions, etc. – for a load.
The project can basically take anything but household garbage. If it has a recycling logo on it, they can take it. They do ask people to make sure their cans and jars are clean when they put them out.
The building they use now has been open for about 10 years. Recently, they had a little trouble with their boiler, which tested how hardy the volunteers were for a bit, but overall, it has been a great improvement over their old digs.
“If you happened to work in the old place,” Dyck explained, “this place is a castle. Lots of space.”
The group is still short on paying off the building, but Dyck said they are working on it. They do get grant money and make money off of selling products. Their total income from everything in 2024 was $103,696. Dyck said aluminum and milk jugs do well for them, and cardboard is also decent.
Overall, the group recycled a total of 171,573 kilograms in 2024, and 2,281,587.48 since 2015. It is an amazing amount, and a big contribution to the community.
Dyck said Boissevain has been good when it comes to recycling, but more could be done. Beard said he wishes people who took cardboard to the landfill site would instead recycle it, for example.
“Why drive it all the way to the landfill when you can take it here to be recycled?” Beard asked.
One concern has been a plan from Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba to change the way recycling is handled in the province. The issue is difficult to tackle as no one is really sure how it would roll out, but as Dyck said it would include having large blue containers on streets and then crews coming from outside the community to pick it up and take it elsewhere to be sorted.
He said it would depend if they took all of the recycling or just some of it, but there is the chance it would shut down their whole operation. That would mean the end of several jobs connected to the project, and end the income coming in. As well, Dyck said it might impact the willingness of people in the community to recycle. That would mean more re-usable objects going to the landfill site, shortening its lifespan. It would also be expensive, adding to taxes.
Boissevain-Morton Head of Council Judy Swanson said the issue was discussed with the executive of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. Again, it was hard to figure exactly what the MMSM was trying to do, but they were looking at sending a letter to the appropriate minister to show them what recycling accomplished in Boissevain.
“We’re trying to work with the provincial government to keep everything working the same way,” she explained.
Dyck said the issue might highlight the volunteer issue.
“As long as we keep the volunteers going, I think we will be fine,” he stated. “My hope is that if it is stressed that this other system will cost, and it won’t be cheap, it might induce people say ‘I can come out and help.’”
They could use four or five new volunteers. It would speed up the operation, and would take the pressure off the others if they cannot make it for a day.
One of the highlights for the volunteers is the appreciation dinner, which was held recently. Swanson said it is one way they can say thank you to a great group.
“They are a fabulous bunch,” Swanson said. “We are proud of the work they do in the community. Some of them are the same ones from the start. They do a great job, and we really appreciate them.”
Dyck said they need some help, but there is still a lot of enthusiasm for what they do.
“Let’s keep recycling, keep at it. The less we can send out to the dump, the better.”
by PAUL RAYNER
Recorder staff