The Cyle of Recycle

I personally love learning the ins and outs of recycling. Ninety per cent of the material we collect in our recycling system is sold to market , including  many local companies . Here are some of our local buyers of household recyclables:

• Allied Paper Savers purchase our mixed paper and newspaper.
• Newspaper is made into insulation sold by Can-Cell Industries.
• Alta Steel buys our tin cans. The metal is melted down and used to make grader blades and rebar.
• Greys Recycling Industries Inc. is currently stockpiling our glass to be made into such things as interlocking sidewalk blocks. The company will also  soon  recycl e  clothing collected from Recycling Depots into paper.  
• EMCO Building Products purchases our mixed paper and forwards it on to another company that turns it into asphalt shingles.

Material is also sent to markets outside of Edmonton. Newsprint, for example, is turned into new newsprint at mills in the Pacific Northwest and most plastic goes to Merlin Plastics in Burnaby BC for processing.  Edmonton.ca/waste has a good breakdown of what happens to our recyclables, including material taken to Eco Stations and the EWMC. If you keep your eyes peeled you can see recycled products everywhere. For example I noticed these barriers at a campground last weekend.

We can all consider waste when we make decisions at the store. Try to purchase items with minimal packaging that can be reused or recycled and consider companies that use recyclables in their products. That helps to close the recycling loop. 

If you’re interested in becoming an expert on how a specific material is recycled and writing a blog sharing your knowledge please sign up for Article Writer - Waste on www.myvolunteerpage.com and we will send you an assignment.