One Change Per Week
Changing your recycling habits can feel pretty daunting. It also might not feel like what you recycle (or don’t recycle) is really that big a deal. But it all adds up—to 13.5%, in fact, which is the total amount of incompatible material found in our last audit from Recycle BC. They’re the ones who take everything we collect and then sort it at their facilities (we do not do any sorting ourselves). We’ve talked about this before: while the technology for sorting recycling is pretty slick these days, it can’t catch everything. That’s why we require certain items to be recycled in separate streams, rather than curbside. If we picked up everything curbside, the cost would be much higher than it is today—meaning higher taxes for everyone. That’s why we need your help with sorting (and cleaning) items before putting them in your cart or taking them to the depot.
Phew—it’s a lot to learn. But why not try making small changes rather than changing everything at once? We could give you a long list or an infographic filled with every item you might have in your house, but trying to remember everything you read later isn’t exactly easy.
Let’s think about #OneChangePerWeek instead—making one change at a time is manageable and more likely to stick in your brain!
Check out the weekly challenges below and see if you can achieve them each week. You can also click the "Questions" tab to ask for clarification. You'll be a refuse pro in no time.
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Week 5 Challenge - Building Materials
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Wrapping up some fall DIY projects or renovations?For this week’s #OneChangePerWeek, we’re here to say: building materials do NOT go in your curbside carts—garbage, recycling, or organics.
Whether you have drywall, flooring, lumber, tiles, or similar items, these must go to the Thornhill Transfer Station. If you have something that someone else could use (maybe some used cabinetry or a kitchen sink), consider posting it in a buy-and-sell group or donating it (check with group to see what items they are accepting).
Big, bulky, and heavy items like these can damage or get jammed in our trucks, so please don’t put them in your curbside bin. Plus, scraps can be perfect for you or others looking for a DIY project—try making mosaics on tables, mirrors, and frames with leftover tiles, or make a birdhouse with leftover wood. The internet is an amazing thing: you’re sure to find an idea or two out there!
recycle@terrace.ca | 250-615-4019
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Week 4 Challenge - Paper Coffee Cups
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Hey, it’s been a while, but let’s get back to making #OneChangePerWeek to your recycling habits—and this one’s easy (and delicious)! When you’re done with that coffee cup from your pumpkin spice latte or double-double, don’t forget: paper coffee cups can be recycled.
Disposable paper coffee cups, including the lid, paper sleeve, and the cup itself, can go in your curbside recycling cart. Just give it a rinse, separate the lid from the cup, and you’re good to go. (Remember, Styrofoam cups and other hard foam materials must go to Do Your Part Recycling Depot and CANNOT be recycled at the curbside.)
Of course, a reusable cup is always preferable, but when that’s not possible, you can rest easy knowing your cup doesn’t have to go in the trash.
recycle@terrace.ca | 250-615-4019
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Upcoming Remediation Plan
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We’re on a mission to reduce contamination!Did you know? Last year, we were spotlighted on Recycle BC’s website for our great efforts in reducing contamination from 13.8% to 5%.
The unfortunate news is that our contamination rates are back up around 13% in 2021. But the good news is that we KNOW we can do better—because we’ve done it before!
What does this mean for you? During the week of August 31, employees in pickup trucks will pre-screen carts on collection day before the collector truck arrives. If contamination is observed, the city worker will stick a packing envelope on the cart containing both the Curbside Collection Guidelines (to reference for recycling best practices moving forward) and one or more stickers indicating that the cart contains items that are not permitted. One sticker includes a list of several different items, but the workers will try to circle what’s applicable. There is also a phone number and email address listed to reach out to for more information.
Once this envelope is placed on the cart, the refuse truck will come by and will not pick up any carts with stickers on top.
The envelope may contain one or more of the stickers pictured. In the following weeks, collector truck operators will continue pre-screening until consistent proper sorting practices are observed.
This is all part of Recycle BC’s remediation request. Recycle BC, the non-profit organization responsible for residential packaging and paper product recycling throughout BC, collects fees from municipalities like ours to sort collected material. When contamination rates grow higher, it means Recycle BC can’t properly sort collected material, which means not as much of it can be sold to re-manufacturers who turn it into something that can be used again. Recycle BC can fine municipalities for high contamination rates. Before it gets to that stage, another option is to request municipalities develop a remediation plan—and that’s where we’re at in Terrace.
This starts next week—so why not step up your recycling game today? Here are 3 places to go to learn more about recycling now:
- Make small improvements by focusing on #OneChangePerWeek
- Search for specific items to learn what goes where
- Take a minute to understand what is considered contamination and why
And one last thing: if you have questions about recycling, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Post your questions here, email recycle@terrace.ca, or call 250-615-4019. Thank you so much for helping us get back to 5%! We can do it!
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Week 3 Challenge - Foam Meat Trays
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Next to glitter, which clearly tops the chart, Styrofoam must be one of the worst items to clean up around the house. As soon as a block of it gets bumped or dented, those teeny, tiny little particles start breaking loose, getting everywhere and sticking to everything. Thanks, static electricity!If you think it’s bad around your house, imagine what it would be like to pick those bits off of plastic containers, newspaper, and other materials in a whole community’s worth of recycling bins! Today’s recycling sorting technology is pretty high-tech, but separating out Styrofoam fragments from other materials in your curbside cart is a tall order. That’s why Styrofoam can’t go in your curbside recycling cart.
It CAN be recycled, though, with a little help from you! Your #OneChangePerWeek challenge this week: Foam meat trays (also used for seafood or other fresh items at the grocery store). Remove food residue and liquid-absorbing pads, give them a wipe to clean off any leftover residue, then take them to Do Your Part for recycling. White and coloured foam should be separated into the marked bins onsite.
Hot tip: Keep a tote bin in a garage or closet to store Styrofoam—and any other items destined for Do Your Part, like glass and soft plastics—until you have enough to make a trip. Combine this with a stop at the Bottle Depot to return refundable containers, and you’ve made the journey an efficient one.
What happens to foam after you drop it off? It gets compressed to squeeze out the air and densify it, therefore reducing shipping costs to recyclers. The blocks may then be manufactured into commercial products such as decorative mouldings and picture frames. Nice!
recycle@terrace.ca | 250-615-4019
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Week 2 Challenge - Propane Tanks
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Changing recycling habits can be pretty daunting, but making #OneChangePerWeek is doable, right?This week, we wish to burn into your brain that propane canisters and similar compressed gas containers should NEVER, EVER, NOT EVEN IF YOU ARE IN A BIG RUSH TO CLEAN UP YOUR HOUSE BECAUSE YOUR IN-LAWS ARE COMING TO VISIT OR IF YOU JUST CAME BACK FROM A CAMPING TRIP AND WERE STUCK BRINGING BACK ALL YOUR FRIENDS’ GARBAGE OR IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT go in any of your curbside carts. Not garbage, not recycling, and certainly not compost!
It’s simple. These canisters tend to explode when compacted and can become self-propelled rockets if ruptured. They could also catch fire—particularly dangerous in sorting facilities full of highly flammable paper and cardboard. Putting propane canisters in your recycling bin puts our operators and the public at risk, as well as workers in the recycling facilities further down the recycling chain. It is incredibly dangerous, and yet we still see this happen regularly. Even one is one too many.
Recycle Coach indicates these should be taken to ABC Recycling, Allen’s Scrap & Salvage, or the Transfer Station. Please, NEVER try to sneak propane canisters or any hazardous items into your cart—it’s just not worth the risk.
recycle@terrace.ca | 250-615-4019
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Week 1 Challenge - Bagless Recycling
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Our recycling carts are BAGLESS. That means you should not put your recycling in bags before adding it to your cart. Loose items only, please! You are always allowed to put extra recycling in clear plastic bags next to your cart, though.On that note, our drivers are now ripping open those extra recycling bags at the curbside, dumping them in your cart, and then dumping the cart into the truck. The empty bags are then taken to Do Your Part to be recycled with other soft plastic there. During the pandemic, as a safety precaution, drivers were just tossing the full bags into the truck to be ripped open later at the Recycle BC facilities.
We hope this #OneChangePerWeek is an easy one to remember—see you next week!
recycle@terrace.ca | 250-615-4019
Who's Listening
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Public Works
Phone 250-615-4019 Email recycle@terrace.ca -
Communications Advisor
Email engage@terrace.ca