Convincing residents in multi-residential (MR) buildings to recycle is a challenge, getting them to recycle right can be even harder, but - as City of Ottawa staff have demonstrated, that doesn't mean you want to stop trying. The issue In 2015, staff approached CIF with a proposal to try a novel approach...
A MRF study might be the best money you spend all year. But what exactly is a MRF performance audit? In short... it's a study to determine how well your facility is functioning. It involves a systematic review of material-flow to identify opportunities to lower operating costs, minimize loss, and improve...
Is a compactor right for you? With shipping costs consuming much of a small depot program’s recycling budget, operators need to consider alternative ways to manage these costs. For programs that ship numerous loads or haul recyclables over long distances, compactors can reduce hauling costs by as much as 60-80%. CIF's new Depot Compactor Guide...
Source: Northumberland County Project Report #515.11 Ever increasing volumes of containers, such as PET, are imposing greater and greater challenges to manual sorting systems. Light-weighting and the shift towards smaller, single serve containers has increased to the point where manual sortation is becoming overwhelmed. As such, Optical Sorting Technology (OST) is...
Under recent changes to the Development Charges Act, development-related waste management capital costs for Blue Box and other diversion programs may now be eligible to be included in the calculations for determining municipal development charges (DCs). Landfill sites and services, and incineration of waste and services remain ineligible. In general, when...
What does the data really show when it comes to Ontario’s Blue Box Recycling program*? October 6, 2016 Dr. Calvin Lakhan, York University, Faculty of Environmental Studies, lakhanc@yorku.ca, 416-736-2100 ext: 22612 In Ontario, the recovery of total recyclable material (per annum) of Blue Box materials has increased from 779,884 tonnes to 884,504 tonnes...
Many programs are coming out of a long term contract cycle and may not have had to draft an RFP or tender for years or even a decade. Staff and Council may have turned over and many municipal folks have never been involved in the waste management procurement process before. If...
Managers of municipal curbside collection programs often have a hard time gathering accurate information about collection routes and services provided at various locations. This issue is even more difficult in areas with seasonal populations and leads to challenges reporting out in the WDO datacall. In many cases, the use of GPS...
City of Timmins Transfer Station Source: City of Timmins Timmins has the largest municipal Blue Box program in the Northeastern Ontario waste shed area. The city offers automated cart-based collection plus depot services to a population of 43,165 in 18,806 households, resulting in about 3,000 tonnes/year of Blue Box materials marketed. Throughout...
You have heard it before: Blue Box program operators need to know exactly what is in their Material Recycling Facility (MRF) materials, including what type and how much of each material is going into and out of the facility where recyclables are processed. Without this information, it isn't possible to know...
Are you a community with recycling roll offs? Want to save some operating dollars? Consider knocking off your old, un-compacted, multi compartment recycling roll offs. Depot set-up in Madawaska Valley Source: Township of Madawaska Valley Project 858 Report In Eastern Ontario, the CIF supported two projects one for the Township of Madawaska...
An estimated 10 billion pounds of plastic film enter North America annually and residents want to recycle it. CIF consulted with Nina Butler of Moore Recycling Associates for her expertise on how best to recycle plastic film. She provided insights on best practices from collection and processing through to end...
You’ve probably heard the adage: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Good advice if you’re trying to feed someone, but not so good if you’re trying to produce a strong request for...
The City of Kenora is located in Northwestern Ontario and is remote from other major Ontario cities. Kenora does not have its own Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and ships its recyclables to the nearest major city, which is Winnipeg, Manitoba, 220 km to the west. (more…)
Peel Region transitioned from Blue Box collection to an automated cart-based collection system in January 2016. Cart-based service offers residents more storage capacity for recyclables between collections and allows the Region to collect recyclables every other week rather than weekly. While the roll out to roughly 300,000 households was one...
