Recycling is an eco-friendly gesture that helps preserve our environment. To be a good eco-citizen, make sure to sort the products that go into your recycling bin and those that go into the garbage. Remember that paper, cardboard, metal, plastic and glass are recyclable.
Paper and cardboard account for about a quarter of the waste we produce. It is important to recycle newspapers, flyers, paper sheets and paper bags, milk and juice cartons, etc. Remove the plastic bags from flyers, and bend and empty boxes of their packaging and throw away the straw.
Non-recyclable items include: soiled, waxed or laminated cardboard, wallpaper, stickers, photographs, and all objects made of several materials such as binders, padded envelopes, and diapers.
Recycled paper or cardboard fibre will be transformed into various items such as toilet paper, shoe or cereal boxes, and insulated building panels, etc.
Metal is often the main food product container that is thrown out. Soft drink cans, food cans and aluminum plates are recyclable.
Certain waste items such as used car batteries, all-purpose batteries, propane tanks, fire extinguishers, aerosols, and paint cans are not recyclable. These objects should be brought to the municipal garage which is located at 625, 20e avenue, on the 1st Saturday of each month from April to November, between 9am and 1pm.
It is recommended to rinse metal containers in order to prevent contamination of other items in your bin. Remove the labels if you wish. However, it is not mandatory to remove labels as they will be burned during the metal smelting.
Metals will be reused in the manufacture of cookware, appliances, cans, tools, construction materials or automobile parts.
Plastic comes in several forms that can mostly be recycled. All bottles and plastic containers which bear the symbols 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, as well as plastic bags and packaging films are all recyclable. Note that toys, carpets, garden hoses, Styrofoam boxes, compact disc covers, and plastic utensils cannot be put in the recycling bin.
Recycled plastic is used to make plastic street furniture, recycling bins, clothing, new bottles, carpets, etc. after being transformed.
Glass can be recycled to make jars and bottles. That being said, note that dishes, window glass, pyrex and pottery cannot be put in your recycling bin. Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes must be brought to a hardware store near you.
Nearly 50% of waste glass generated in Québec is recycled to make new bottles, glass fibre materials, asphalt, concrete blocks and other construction materials.
A Few Reminders:
- It is important to separate materials, in order to facilitate operations at the sorting centre. Remove newspapers or flyers form their plastic bags, remove plastic bags from cereal boxes and remove the metal lids from glass jars.
- Scrap metal can take between 100 to 500 years to decompose, while plastics can take up to 600 years to decompose, creating a major source of pollution in the environment.
- To recycle plastic bags, just make a bag to hold all the plastic bags.
- Recycling helps reduce greenhouse gas because it reduces the amount of waste that is sent to landfills.
- It is not necessary to recycle biodegradable or compostable bags. The ideal is to reuse them and then put them in the garbage.
- The clothes you no longer wear cannot be put in your recycling bin; you can instead bring them to a drop-off centre in your area.
To consult the Tricentris Checklist: click on the following link:https://www.tricentris.com/uploads/File/aide-memoire.pdf
Certain green materials can also be recycled, like Christmas trees, tree branches and waste cedar. They will be recycled into wood chips to be used in flower beds and gardens.
Consult the municipal calendar for Christmas tree and green waste collection dates.
With respect to scrap cedar wood, you can contact Arbressence, at 450 434-7512, to ask for a collection pickup. Visit their website :www.arbressence.ca to learn more.
