#WasteWednesday

Hey there, it’s Brad Ollen with another #WasteWednesday, and this week we’re talking about my Top 10 tips for making your trip to the landfill a little bit smoother. 

1. Sort your materials prior to heading to the landfill. We do not charge M.D. residents to use the landfills, but we do require waste and recyclables to be put in their respective places so they can be recycled and we can keep our sites organized. If you have your items sorted before you leave home you will have an effective and efficient experience.
2. Bag and knot your household waste. Waste is transferred a minimum three times before it leaves the M.D. and if it’s bagged properly it will transfer effectively and not end up blowing out. Loose items in the transfer bins blow out easily when they are tipped creating a mess of loose garbage. 
3. Please put your Propane Tanks and Fire Extinguishers in the designated collection area. These items are considered dangerous goods and are a hazard to our metal recyclers when found in the metal pile. 
4. Wire, barbed wire, and wire paneling need to be put in the designated wire area. These items should not be mixed in with the general metal pile.
5. Cardboard - Remove and bag your Styrofoam and plastic from your cardboard boxes. These items are contaminants in the recycling process and could result in the entire load of cardboard being landfilled. There is no point putting your cardboard box in the recycling bin if you are going to leave garbage in it to contaminate an entire load of recyclable material. Recyclables are commodities which manufacturers must pay for. If they are getting contaminated loads they will begin to look elsewhere leaving our cardboard as waste.
6. Electronics - Follow the signs when dropping off your electronics. With the electronics pilot program now in full swing we must ensure pilot program materials (approx. 600 new items) go in the pilot program totes and that TV’s, computers, printers, etc. go in the totes for the original program materials. Almost any household item that takes batteries or has a cord is now included in the electronics pilot program so please bring us those items and help us win the ewaste pilot challenge put on by Alberta Recycling! 
7. Paint - For the paint recycling program we now want all paint cans, whether they contain paint material or are empty, to be put into the paint recycling bin. There is an environmental fee charged on these items to offset the costs of recycling so please get them back to us so they stay out of the waste stream. 
8. Mattresses - Place your clean mattresses in the sea can for recycling. Soiled units will need to go into the pit. In less than 4 years we’ve recycled over 3000 mattresses! We’ve filled 32 sea cans and diverted those from landfills saving the M.D. money by saving valuable landfill space and having the materials recycled at the same time. 
9. Oil – please be prepared to unload your own oil and containers. Landfill operators have a lid remover tool for residents to remove the lids from 5-gallon pails, but it is not their responsibility to unload your oil and containers.
10. If you bring children or pets to the landfill please follow the rules and keep them in your vehicle. There was a tragic incident 18 months ago where a child was killed at a landfill in a nearby municipality. We never want to see anything like that happen at any of our sites and have had this rule in place for many years to ensure everyone’s safety.