An employee at the North Bay Hazardous Waste Depot adds an old televsion to a large pile of old electronics destined to be recycled. PHOTO BY: Jazz Mathon
More and more residents are making use of the city’s Hazardous Waste Depot. Just over eleven thousand cars dropped off hazardous waste materials in 2013. This week council released its annual report and Public Works Chair Chris Mayne says the numbers are very encouraging.
“The goal is always to divert as much municipal waste materials through recycling and in a long term it saves the city money.”
In fact the collection of old electronics, such as televisions and computers, has netted the city an extra 60,000 dollars from a contractor who purchases and ships the used goods to Southern Ontario
“You don’t want these items going into the landfill, because there are hazardous chemicals and metals inside that do leech and rot and are not good for the soil and the water,” adds Mayne.
Composting is also on the rise. The city recycled 142 tonnes of organic materials, which includes cut grass, branches and leaves. The biggest collection is that of hazardous materials such as oil and paint, which totalled 247 tonnes.
“People in North Bay like the idea of centralized recycling, they know it’s an easy place to get to, so if you've got old electronics and hazardous waste like paints and cans and jugs in the garage, get rid of it before it leeches into the ground and let’s get them recycled and disposed of properly.”
For more information on the Hazardous Waste Depot, please click on the link:http://www.cityofnorthbay.ca/cityhall/department/environmental/hhw