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Mayor Stone proclaims October 21-27 as Waste Reduction Week

The Town of Ladysmith is joining municipalities and First Nations, schools, businesses and organizations all across the country in a collective effort to reduce our waste, conserve resources, and educate communities about sustainable living.

Mayor Aaron Stone has declared October 21-27 as Waste Reduction Week in our community.

"Waste Reduction Week is an opportunity for us to reflect on the impacts we have on the environment, as well as the many ways we can strengthen our role as stewards for a community that is a leader in sustainability," said Mayor Aaron Stone.

"Ladysmith residents can all work together to decrease the amount of contamination found in curbside recycling - helping to ensure consumer products are efficiently sorted by Recycle BC for processing and future uses."

In the past two to three years, the Town has been informed by Recycle BC that the contamination rate of our curbside recycling stream continues to be at high levels. 

Contamination means that your yellow recycling bags collected at curbside contain material that is not acceptable in the Recycle BC program and therefore ultimately could make its way to the landfill.

Plastic bags and flexible plastic packaging are among the top culprits when it comes to Ladysmith's local contaminated curbside recycling.  Examples include everything from grocery bags and zipper lock pouches, to potato chip bags or candy wrappers.

Although there was a time when these items were allowed, they are not actually materials that can be reprocessed.   We understand that using bags is also convenient for sorting recycling products, such as paper or containers, but they also create challenges at processing facilities.

Instead, these plastic bags and flexible plastic packaging can be dropped off at the Peerless Road Recycling Centre.

Did you know these materials can also present health and safety risks for both collection and post-collection staff? Fully rinsing out containers like that tub of yogurt or tin of cat food means food residue doesn’t spill on other recycling materials, also leading to contamination.

Ladysmith's other curbside contaminants in order of prominence, include:

• Non-PPP - Non-recyclable garbage and product residue (e.g. paper napkins, single use plastics and forms of packaging);
• Unsortable materials - materials which are unable to be sorted and recycled due to being tied up in plastic bags, stuffed/nested together etc.;
• Scrap metal (e.g. keys, nails, cooking pots, hangers);
• Multi-laminates (such as zipper-top pouches, granola packaging, frozen vegetable bags, and so on);

Most of the items that are contributing to contaminated recycling levels in Ladysmith can be dropped off for free at the Peerless Road Recycling Centre. Visit the Recycling BC website to find out what recyclable material goes where: https://recyclebc.ca/

You can also download Recycle BC's recycling app to learn more about where to direct specific products, check your collection day, or find your nearest depot location and receive notifications about your recycling pick-up. 

A list of where and how to dispose of items for disposal can also be found on the CVRD website: https://www.cvrd.bc.ca/recyclopedia

For more updates on the Town of Ladysmith visit our website www.ladysmith.ca. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.