“It is mostly about space. There is more space to work around, to move the equipment. With all of the people around, the old building was pretty crowded.”
Fisher added they should have the building paid off in a few years, saying they figured they could do it in 12 years and they are on target. They were able to set aside about $22,000 from their profits against the mortgage this year.
The group sorted and dispersed a total of 208.87 metric tonnes of material this year. Fisher said the biggest amount is still paper and corrugated cardboard. Paper came to 50.9 tonnes, with a whopping 105.4 tonnes of cardboard. Aluminum, different plastics and metals all get dealt with at the centre, and they all contribute to it.
Boissevain Recycling was able to collect over $4,000 from paper this year, as it came in at $80 per tonne. Collected paper is transformed by North Star Fibre of Morden into cellulose insulation for homes.
They also collected over five tonnes of plastic drink bottles this year, some of which became fiberfill for winter jackets or fence posts.
One of the interesting developments over the years has been the e-waste. The centre has collected old pieces of telecommunications equipment, and sent it on to Exner E-Waste, located in Eli. They harvest the “rare earth metals” from them. Fisher said they take old computers, televisions, microwave ovens, etc. and sell for more than $100 per tonne.
“We get about a semi load a year of e-waste.”
Fisher said the public is generally very good about getting the right material to the centre, either directly or through the blue boxes. The volunteers would like to remind people there are ways to make their work easier, such as rinsing out milk jugs and food containers, taking the caps off drink bottles and boxing or bagging recyclables before dropping them off.
Although Boissevain collects a lot of recyclables, collecting $51,550 from sales and Manitoba Stewardship, Fisher said more could be done.
“We’re not doing as much as we could,” he said. “A lot still goes out to the landfill. I would say about a third is still going to the landfill.”
He said there needs to be more education about the value of recycling getting out to the public, although the fact the younger generation are growing up with it helps.
They could also use a few more volunteers. There are over 20 signed up and on Wednesday and Friday mornings about 17 show up to work. More are welcome whenever they can come out.
Fisher said the group is helping to keep usable materials out of the landfill and people can use their imagination to think of what they are saving.
“If you had all the recyclables we deal with in one big loose pile, it would show up as a big pile.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff