It’s that time of year again when the snow starts falling and many people start thinking about gifts for the coming holiday season. As the temperature starts to drop, hopefully so will the amount of waste we produce. Did you know that we typically generate 25% more garbage during the holiday season than any other time of year? This year we encourage you to reduce your waste, below are some tips to help you do so!
Are you travelling over the holidays and unsure where to properly dispose of an item? If you are in BC, make sure to check Recycling Council of British Columbia or the Recyclepedia Smartphone App for the nearest recycling options around. Not in BC, contact the local municipality and ask for recycling information.
Travelling will likely cause you to pack light, this can be a good excuse to forgo large bulky packaged items in favor of experiences. Take the kids on an adventure while away from home then they won’t be as inclined to beg for a gift. Explore local tourist attractions or if you are more in favor of a non-white Christmas take them to the beach.
Only buy what you need and look for items with less packaging for the groceries. Also, bring your own reusable bags while shopping to reduce the use of plastic bags.
When having people over plan ahead and don’t cook extra. If you plan on cooking lots of leftovers have your guests bring reusable containers so you can send some of it home with them. If you plan on keeping all the leftovers for yourself, eat all the stocked-up food in your freezer that way you’ll have room for all the new delicious leftovers. With guests coming over there is bound to be some waste produced. Set aside clearly labeled recycling bins so that way guests know where their garbage and recycling go.
While serving the home cooked meals use reusable dishes instead of disposable ones. Cloth napkins are a great alternative to paper ones and can be tossed into the washing machine at the end of the night. Same goes for paper table covers, use the tablecloth and save yourself the hassle of cleaning up the mess from dinner in a sustainable way.
When sending invitations opt for the least amount of waste possible, send e-cards instead of paper, or if you do send cards out use those made from recycled content.
Skip buying new and reuse old ornaments or make them yourself with friends and family. Instead of buying Christmas ornaments, try going natural. Large pinecones make for great dinner table and side accents. If you flatten and dry large leaves beforehand, they look wonderful on the wall later mixed in with sparkling lights.
Many people like the smell of a fresh tree in the house during the holidays, instead of cutting down a live tree get a potted tree and then plant it in the spring.
If you are sick of your old decorations, try swapping with a friend to spice up your tree, or wander second hand stores such as Value Village, Hospice Resale Shop and the Salvation Army Thrift Store for hidden treasures from past holidays.
When upgrading to new decorations such as lights, make sure to recycle them at the correct facilities. For more information on where to recycle lights check out LightRecycle, one of British Columbia’s product stewards. For more information on Product Stewardship click here.
Give out gifts such as gift cards, tickets to movies or local events instead of large bulky items. It may sound obvious, but some of the best gifts are personal, look for the experiences people can have instead of the possessions.
With Black Friday shopping around the corner, remember to shop local. This reduces the carbon footprint of the items you buy due to less travel time and helps support those in your community. An additional perk to shopping local generally includes less packaging. Great places to shop local include craft fairs, farmers markets and local buy and sell groups on Facebook.
Is someone you know crafty? Check out community calendars to see who is offering classes in the coming year on things such as painting or pottery.
Instead of buying gifts, you can try baking festive treats for the recipient, or donate to a charity on behalf of your loved one. Great experiences that you can partake in the regional district could include checking out many of our great parks, or the Huble Homestead.
Many things are now meant to break after a certain time period, look for items that are built to last. An easy option is to find a fabulous kitchen gadget that is simple and skip those with batteries and breakable parts.
Old newspapers and magazines make great alternatives to new wrapping paper or use gift bags that can be reused. Another option for wrapping gifts are to use old clothes or pieces of cloth. Also try shredding paper instead of using Styrofoam peanuts for packing boxes. When opening gifts try to save the wrapping paper and bubble wrap for next time.
When recycling make sure to separate your recyclables from your garbage to make disposal easier. Take the separated recyclables, paper, cardboard and non-foil wrapping paper to a local recycling facility or fill your curbside blue bins.
Instead of throwing away food scraps you can compost it in the back yard. However, due to wildlife concerns we do not allow them at our facilities. Below is the approved compost allowed at our facilities. Christmas trees can be dropped off free of charge at a variety of our facilities.
The Regional District sells composters like the one pictured below, for more information click here.
Make sure to secure your load when visiting any Regional District facility and remember that all facilities will be busier during the holiday season. For more information and hours of operation at our landfills click here and for our transfer stations click here.
Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in everyday items such as laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital cameras, toys and power tools. These batteries hold a lot of energy in small, lightweight packaging. As the power of batteries increases and their size shrinks, the potential to catch fire or explode when they overheat or are damaged goes up. Proper disposal of all batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries is essential to prevent fires; in your garbage can, municipal garbage trucks or private waste hauling vehicles and more importantly the landfill.
When your electronic device breaks, is replaced with a newer model, or the battery no longer holds a charge, the batteries need to be removed and disposed of properly. This also applies to retailers which accept returns of electronics and battery powered products or need to dispose of damaged goods.
In British Columbia Call2Recycle© offers recycling opportunities for a variety of rechargeable and single use (primary) batteries (weighing less than 5 kg each):
Many batteries hold a residual charge even when they appear dead. When this battery comes into contact with other batteries or metal, a spark or heat can occur.
Transport Canada requires terminal protection (bagging or taping) for the following battery types:
Primary
Rechargeable
Use clear packing tape, duct tape or non-conductive electrical tape & only tape the terminals.
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George has partnered with Call2Recycle© to offer a number of locations where you can safely recycle your batteries. These include:
There are also private recycling depot locations and retailers that offer battery recycling with Call2Recycle©
For these locations and more information visit www.call2recycle.ca
Did you know?
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George is working hard to minimize the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills.
With a Regional Solid Waste Management Plan in place, the RDFFG is promoting the reducing, reusing and recycling of solid waste to help save valuable space in our landfills. Our goal is to reduce our annual disposal rate to 570 kg per capita.
Working together in partnership with the commercial sector is key to the success of this plan as the sector is responsible for almost 60% of the waste delivered to RDFFG’s Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill. Key steps being undertaken by the RDFFG include:
In 2016 16,000 tonnes of DLC waste ended up in landfills in the RDFFG. Over 80% of this DLC waste had value and could have been recycled:
Estimated tonnage
Painted or Treated Wood 6,500 – 7,500
Asphalt Products 2,500 – 3,000
Clean Wood 1,500 – 2,000
Metals 650 – 750
Concrete, Masonry & Rubble 500 -- 600
Let’s work together and start source separating waste!
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Demolition, Land Clearing and Construction Waste:A mixed load of any of the following materials. Source separating these materials before disposal is encouraged! |
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Asphalt:Petroleum by-product, mixed with gravel or crushed rock, used for paving roads and parking areas. |
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Asphalt Shingles:Roofing shingles made from petroleum by-product, not including wrap or torch on membrane. |
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Clean Soil:Soil, sediment or fill material without contaminants, refuse or large rocks. |
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Stumps and Large Branches:Tree stumps free of soil, shrubs and tree branches larger than 75 mm in diameter. |
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Clean Wood Waste:Untreated or unpainted wood waste typically from construction or demolition projects. Small amounts of metal (nails and screws) are acceptable. |
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Painted and Treated Wood Waste:Wood typically from construction or demolition that is painted, treated with preservatives, or contains adhesives or fillers. No tile, gypsum, glue, carpet, dirt or soil or non-wood materials are attached. |
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Gypsum Board or Wallboard:Construction scraps, painted wallboard and/or covered in wallpaper, vinyl, or ceramic tile, but not containing asbestos. Also known as drywall. |
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Concrete:Hardened mixture of cement with sand, gravel and/or rebar. Rebar protruding from cement should not be longer than 1 ft in length. |
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Masonry and Rubble:Loose mass of gravel, bricks, or crushed rock. |
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Scrap Metal:Sheet metal, siding, roofing, rebar, flashing, pipes, window frames, doors, furnaces, bathtubs, fencing, bicycles, but not where metal is less than 50% of the product weight and cannot be easily separated from non-metallic components (e.g. a couch). |
All categories of source separated DLC waste are $90 per tonne at scaled facilities with the following exceptions:
Double charges may apply to mixed loads. All fees subject to change.
Love Food Hate Waste Canada s a behavioral campaign aimed at Canadians to reduce the amount of food going to waste.
Wasting food means that the resources used to produce that food are also wasted (e.g. water, land, fuel)
Edible food doesn’t belong in the garbage. Composting food waste is better than disposing. But an even better way to lessen our impact on the environment is to reduce the amount of food waste we produce in the first place. (Reference: EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy)
The objective of Love Food Hate Waste Canada is to inspire and empower residents to reduce the amount of food they waste at home. It is a behaviour change campaign developed by WRAP UK. The UK campaign resulted in a 21 percent reduction in avoidable household food waste in its first five years, saving UK consumers £13 billion pounds.
In Canada, a Love Food Hate Waste Campaign has been in place since 2015 in Metro Vancouver. Love Food Hate Waste Canada builds on the proven success of the UK and Metro Vancouver campaigns. It aims to help Canadians waste less by offering simple and actionable tips.
Wasting food hurts the environment and costs you money. The good news is that this problem is easy to solve. Love Food Hate Waste has easy tips to help you get started. We’re asking people to start by making just one small change to waste less. There are three major ways we can all reduce our food waste:
For more information on how you can reduce your food waste, visit Love Food Hate Waste Canada.
The Regional District is partnering with the Major Appliance Recycling Roundtable Stewardship Program starting January 1, 2019 to offer a new waste reduction initiative. The partnership with MARR will allow residences of the Regional District to drop off their large appliances for free, including appliances that contain ozone depleting substances, as well as washers, dryers, stoves and a variety of other approved appliances. All appliances must be clean and empty of food.
Approved MARR ODS containing appliances that can be dropped off free of charge at select facilities include:
Approved MARR ODS containing appliances will be accepted at the following facilities free of charge:
Other appliances that are part of the MARR program that can be recycled at selected facilities include:
The following facilities will accept MARR non-ODS containing appliances free of charge:
For more information on the MARR program, please go to http://www.marrbc.ca/
For information on any other product not part of the MARR program, please contact the RDFFG at 250-960-4400.
Sort Smart is a campaign to help you divert recyclables from your garbage and the landfill. It provides guidance on how you can properly sort your recycling and where to take it.
Taking the time to divert and recycle your products helps increase the lifespan of our landfill. Being smart about how you bring solid waste to the landfill can save you money.
To find the closest recycling location to you, please visit: https://www.rcbc.ca/recyclepedia/search
Check out the guide we’ve provided down below!
In addition to those items above, the following is a handy guide on all products that you can recycle in Prince George and where to take them.
As of January 1st, 2019, the RDFFG wants to remind all commercial customers that the final phase of the Commercial Cardboard Diversion program begins. The tolerated amount of cardboard decreases to 5% of the entire load.
Any commercial load of waste that contains more than 5% cardboard will be subject to a surcharge under Bylaw 3023. Removing this recyclable item from the waste stream will save valuable landfill space, energy and resources.
All loads of cardboard must be clean of contaminants. This includes: Styrofoam packaging, plastic and metal. Cardboard should be folded to make as much space as possible in each bin. Cardboard bins that have high levels of contamination require additional time and resources to sort and may even be rejected if contamination levels are too high.
For more information, or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George at 250-960-4400 or email environment@rdffg.bc.ca.
The commercial sector is the largest contributor to the amount of waste generated, almost 60%, and represents the greatest potential for successful diversion.
Residents will not be effected by this new program. The Regional District encourages all residents to sort smart and recycle their cardboard.
Phase 2 of the program begins January 1, 2018.
There are two components to the implementation of this disposal program: threshold and surcharge. The term threshold refers to the tolerated amount of cardboard allowed in each load and surcharge refers to the penalty charge if the amount exceeds the threshold.
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APRIL-JUNE 2017 |
JULY-DEC 2017 |
JAN 2018 |
JAN 2019 |
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THRESHOLD |
Education Period |
25% |
10% |
5% |
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SURCHARGE |
Education Period |
50% |
100% |
100% |
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INCLUDED MATERIALS |
Corrugated Cardboard |
Corrugated Cardboard |
Corrugated Cardboard |
Corrugated Cardboard |
Businesses may contact one of the haulers below to determine what cardboard recycling service is right for them:
Blue Jewel Recycling Services: 250-960-8531
Cascades Recovery Inc.: 250-563-0233
Waste Management: 250-962-0369
West Bin: 250-563-2467
If a business would like to recycle SMALL LOADS of cardboard on their own, there are a variety of LOCATIONS where cardboard can be recycled.
Contact Us
Toll Free (BC) 1-800-667-1959
Phone: (250) 960-4400
Email:
155 George St.
Prince George,
BC V2L 1P8
