One common idea is that any recycling or organics you put into the garbage gets sorted out when it gets to its destination.

This is not true.

Think about it. If that was true, we wouldn’t be asked to sort things in the first place.

One reason we’re asked to sort things at home is to keep costs down. We all like paying less for things. If the city had to pay people to properly sort our garbage, we would be paying a lot more on our waste bill.

Another reason is contamination, particularly in relation to mixing organics and recycling. Organics are wet. This makes any paper or cardboard recycling wet and it disintegrates. The organic material can’t be washed off and it brings down the quality of any recycled product it makes it way into.

There’s plenty more reasons but these are the main two, in my opinion.

So, in a nutshell, if you put organics or recycling into your black bin, it all just goes to the landfill and fills it up with stuff that shouldn’t be there.

This is where folks in Spruce Grove need to do better. The 2019 waste audit showed that 66% of stuff in black bins had other places to go, like recycling, the Eco Centre, a second-hand shop, bottle depot… That means that only 34% of the contents were rightfully in the black bin. Only 34% was sorted correctly!

66% needlessly goes to landfill. This number will only get better if we make a bigger effort at home.

Side note… Here’s a link to the 2019 Residential Waste Audit I keep referring to.

Anyhow…. Have a wonderful day, folks!

L