Recycling Basics

Did you know that up to 60% of your household waste can be diverted from entering landfills just by recycling and composting?  Recycling programs are available to all residents in the Regional District of Central Kootenay for materials such as glass food & beverage containers, tin & aluminum cans, newspaper, cardboard, plastic containers and mixed paper.

Putting your household waste on a “Waste Reduction diet” involves the 4 “R” approach:

• Reducing your consumption of resources
• Reusing your resources
• Returning your resources and
• Recycling

Look at our composting page for information on how you can produce valuable material from your household organic waste.

For more information on Recycling please call: Recycling Council of British Columbia toll free at 1-800-667-4321 OR Visit their website at www.rcbc.bc.ca

How does the RDCK divert waste?

Recycling doesn’t end at your local depot. Your Regional District is committed to finding more opportunities to divert waste from entering the landfill. When you visit a local landfill or transfer station you will soon discover that we too recycle and compost! All our facilities are sort-sites, meaning that if a material can be recovered or recycled we make sure that it is separated and recycled or re-used.

The benefits of recycling are endless!

• Reduces unnecessary waste
• Reduces consumption of resources
• Reduces your disposal costs
• Reduces landfilling costs and extends landfill life

What you can recycle

Plastic Containers

Not all plastics are created equal. Chemical compositions among plastics vary resulting in different plastic resin types. STYROFOAM is NOT accepted in RDCK recycling programs.

• Always clean your plastic containers
• Always crush or stack your plastic, it saves room in the recycling bin which reduces hauling costs
• NEVER include oil or oil byproduct containers in the recycling bin

Types of Plastics that are accepted for Recycling by Sub-region

PLASTIC CATEGORIES

#1 PETE Polyethylene Terephthalate	Plastic soft drink, water, sports drink, beer, mouthwash, ketchup and salad dressing bottles.  Peanut butter, pickle, jelly & jam jars.
#2 HDPE High Density Polyethylene	Frosted milk, juice, cosmetics, shampoo, dish & laundry detergent bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs.
#3 VINYL or PVC PVC, PVB, EVA	(Food grade containers, medical tubing, wire and cable insulation, film and sheet, construction products such as pipes, fittings, siding, floor tiles, carpet backing and window frames. ONLY food grade plastics are accepted in RDCK recycling programs.
#4 LDPE Low Density Polyethylene	Squeezable bottles such as honey and mustard bottles.
#5 PP Polypropylene	Ketchup bottles, yogurt containers and margarine tubs, medicine bottles.
#6 PS Polystyrene GPPS, HIPS, EPS Foam	(Compact disc jackets, food service applications, grocery store meat trays, foam egg cartons, cups, plates & cutlery) STYROFOAM is not accepted in RDCK recycling programs.
#7 OTHER Polycarbonate, Acrylic, ABS, Mixed Plastics	Three and five gallon resuable water bottles, some citrus juice and ketchup bottles.

Newspaper Recycling

Newspapers account for only a small portion of the recycling collected at the Regional District recycling facilities. Currently, newspaper is bailed and shipped to various markets for recycling by RDCK contractors.

ACCEPTABLE	NOT ACCEPTABLE
Clean and dry Newsprint	Paint or Oil stained Newsprint
Newspaper inserts	Wet or moldy newsprint

Mixed Paper Recycling

Mixed Paper has the widest range of recyclables accepted in one recycling bin and not surprisingly yields the greatest amount of recyclables collected! REMEMBER TO KEEP IT DRY AND CLEAN!

What Is Mixed Paper?

• Magazines and catalogues
• Reading books and school notebooks or scribblers
• Envelopes and everyday paper and high quality paper
• Office paper including computer paper and ledger paper
• Boxboard including cereal boxes, Kraft Dinner boxes, tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls, etc…

Why you should recycle mixed paper:

In the process of manufacturing recycled paper: 74% less air pollution is generated compared to virgin fibre manufacturing, 35% less water pollution is generated, 58% less water is required, and 64% less energy is required!

Cardboard (OCC) Recycling

The cardboard bins provided at your local recycling facility are for the collection of corrugated cardboard only. Things to remember when recycling cardboard:

• Flatten your boxes
• Waxy cardboard is NOT recyclable

Glass Recycling

All of our recycling sites have receptacles for glass. As with plastics, glasses have different chemical compositions. Recycled glass is crushed and re-used as road construction material at our landfill and transfer stations. Glass is a very strong base use for road construction and takes the place of other costly resources.

ACCEPTABLE	NOT ACCEPTABLE
Clean food jars	Window glass and mirrors
Clean beverage containers	Pottery or ceramics
All colours are accepted	Light bulbs or fluorescent tubes
Glass should be CLEAN	Drinking glasses

Tin & Aluminum Recycling

Aluminum and Tin are accepted at all facilities in the Regional District. Many people don’t realize the impact that metal cans have on the environment. Take a look below for more information.

Interesting Facts About Tin & Aluminum Recycling

• The energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a television set for three hours. Making aluminum from recycled cans uses 95% less energy
• Every tonne of steel cans recycled saves 1.36 tonnes of iron ore and 3.6 barrels of oil
• Beer bottle caps, jar lids, steel cans, and frozen juice ends are all recyclable
• If you throw an aluminum can out of your car window, it will still litter the earth 500 years later