Small actions carry big impact when it comes to recycling, says Quinte Waste Solutions

By Syerra Turry

BELLEVILLE – When it comes to recycling, small things people do go a long way.

Taking the time to properly sort and clean items before tossing them in the blue bin benefit the environment, your wallet and the workers who collect and sort Quinte’s recycling, says Quinte Waste Solutions co-ordinator Rachel Revoy.

The Quinte region boasts a 10 per cent contamination rate in recycling, meaning that items the plant can’t recycle ends up in the landfill. Revoy said this is a good ratio, but reminds us there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Quinte Waste Solutions is a not-for-profit material recovery facility in Trenton that collects 50 metric tons of recycling per day from nine municipalities in the Quinte region.

The recycling picked up from the curbside is hand-sorted by the 14 employees on the sort line, baled and sold to other companies to be made into new items.

“We’re not looking to make money. We’re really looking to help the environment and give residents a good resource and alternative to sending materials to landfill,” she says.

However, when five metric tons of material needs to be sent to landfill because it was not sorted properly by residents in their homes, that cost can add up, she says.

The most common items in the region mistaken as recyclable are black plastic and disposable coffee cups, she says.

Quinte Waste Solutions communications co-ordinator Rachel Revoy says a 10 per cent contamination rate in recycling is great, but the Quinte region can do even better. Photo by Syerra Turry, QNet News

When plastic is dyed black, it’s reached the end of its life cycle as a recyclable material, she explains. She recommends avoiding it all together, repurposing it, or throwing it into the garbage so it’s not clogging up the recycling stream.

Single-use paper cups should also be thrown in the garbage because they’re designed to protect the fibre and paper of the cup with a thick layer of plastic so it doesn’t disintegrate, she says. The process is more complicated than extracting one element of a product and recycling it, she said. It has to be ready to go as something a company can easily make into something else, she said.

Everything from uncapped veterinary needles to dirty diapers have been spotted on the sort lines, which poses risks of injury for the truck drivers and sorters at the facility.

For example, a truck driver just last June had a needle go through his glove and into his hand as a result of it being improperly discarded, Revoy said.

Being a waste collector is in the top five most deadly jobs in North America not only because of hazardous waste is thrown away but also because of reckless drivers on the road, she says.

It’s important that residents acknowledge and support the hard work done by the collectors and sorters, says Revoy.

Truck drivers stop 900 times in one day of collecting and sorters are exposed to the elements working long hours.

“They’re people. This is their job and they deserve to not be worried about their safety reaching in the blue box and shouldn’t have to constantly try to salvage the few things in a blue box when it’s mostly garbage,” she says.

When materials aren’t rinsed out and there’s visible food left on it, not only can it not be recycled, it’s also unpleasant for workers, says Revoy.

“If you don’t want to touch it and think it’s gross, neither does the person who has to touch once it comes through the facility a week later and is moldy,” she said.

Revoy says she hopes to see contamination rates inch closer to five per cent over the next year or two.

“We sort here. We do that because want to keep taxpayer cost low and we want to help the environment. Those are our goals and I hope that once people understand that then they can take pride in what they do when they recycle,” she said.

Quinte Waste Solutions also collect commercial recycling, household hazardous waste, waste electronics and batteries.