by Selena Randall
Did you know that there is just 21 years capacity left available at Steinbach Landfill?
So what should our expectations be?
In 20 years time, how big a landfill will we need, and where should we put it? Or could we by some miracle have reduced the amount of waste we discard for recycling or landfill?
This week, South Eastman Transition Initiative went out on a tour of the Steinbach Landfill site and Eastman Recycling facility. We heard what it takes to establish a landfill site - the thick layer of impermeable clay needed beneath the site, the leachate management, the odour management. We also heard that transport costs are the major costs in managing our waste movement from homes and businesses to the landfill.
The landfill has a new facility - it is taking green waste such as grass cuttings and tree prunings and turning it into compost for use on residential gardens. There is a fresh new pile from last year ready for collection - and its FREE!
We saw the collection site and heard how enthusiastic people have been as they come and drop their garden waste off, and fill their bags bags for the street collection in the city. This new facility has increased the volume of waste arriving at the landfill that is recycled. It was disappointing to see other waste included in the garden waste though - plastic bags, metal, old bikes and other non-biodegradable items.
The recycling centre was a real education. The facility provides jobs for about 18 people, who have the horrible job of sorting through our blue-box contents and separating out the different recyclable items. We learned a lot about the items that cannot be recycled and saw how including these adds to the workload of these staff, which in turn costs us as tax-payers money. It made me think a little more carefully about how I toss out my recycling and now I will:
* Put my beer bottles out separately so that they can be collected and returned to the brewery for cash;
* Put out Canadian beer cans uncrushed with the bottles so they can be returned to the brewery for cash;
* Remove the labels from my cans to increase the volume of paper going to recycling;
* Look carefully at the plastics as very few can be recycled - bottles and yoghurt pots are good, clam shell packages and plastic bags and rigid plastics are trash;
* Avoid stacking mixed materials eg yoghurt pots inside cans.
From the pile ready for sorting we could see a whole range of items that would just have to be transferred to the landfill. These included dirty baby's diapers (come on folks have a heart for the recycling staff), and broken household items like crockery. It was disappointing to hear that some items that look recyclable are not. An example of this was the Tim Horton's cups - there is no market for this type of card with a wax coating, and the lids are trash too. This made me more resolved to always carry my travel mug for coffee!
I was really impressed by the enthusiasm of the site managers - Eldon Wallman at the landfill, and Brian Dyck at Eastman Recycling Services. They are passionate about getting us to recycle more. It was pleasing to hear that local schools get a chance to tour the facilities and learn - if you get a chance to join them I urge you to take it!
So, we are doing a good job on recycling, but still the volume of waste grows and we need to find ways to generate less in the first place. I'm getting better at choosing products that come unpackaged or in recyclable packaging, and I reuse what I can. But I know I have a long way to go and I can't see how I am going to stop generating waste, and that means I need to be thinking about what I want in 20 years time - a new landfill or some other way...
But what do you want?