2002 Saskatchewan Waste Minimization Awards

The Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council and Tetra Pak Canada hosted Saskatchewan's seventh Waste Minimization Awards ceremony on March 26th in Saskatoon. The Awards recognize waste minimization leadership by youth, non-profit organizations, and corporations for the year 2002.

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The Youth award recognizes individuals or groups who have demonstrated exemplary commitment and leadership by involving peers, schools, neighbours, or communities in waste reduction efforts. This year's award recipients are the Grade 9 class in Sedley High School. The students, as part of learning about waste management and ecological footprints, conducted a waste audit of their school. They discovered that 90% of the school's waste was paper. As a result, five students set up a paper recycling program. They put bins in each classroom, the staff room, computer room, student lounge and library. These students visited each classroom to teach the students about the program. They collect the paper twice a week and sort it into white, coloured and other. They track how much paper is collected. Their first shipment was 163 kg — enough to save 3.24 trees, 311 litres of oil, .41 cubic metres of landfill space, 720 kilowatts of energy, 5,731 litres of water and 4.9 kg of air pollution. The program has been very successful. The entire school has come on board. It is rare to see paper in the garbage.

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The Non-profit organization award recognizes the significant contribution that non-profit and grass roots groups make in helping us all reduce waste. The 2002 recipient is the Wheatland Regional Centre in Rosetown. The Wheatland Regional Centre has been providing recycling services for the Town of Rosetown for the past eight years. They collect cardboard, paper, glass, tin, and milk containers. They also operate the local recycling depot. For the past two years, the Wheatland Regional Centre has operated a drop-off composting area for Rosetown residents. Finished compost is given back to people in the community. The Centre also shreds and recycles high grade paper, and recycled phone books in a partnership with local schools and SaskTel.

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The Corporate Leadership award for 2002 was given to RTG-Prairie Rubber Corporation in Assiniboia. Prairie Rubber Corporation is a state-of-the-art tire recycling and crumb rubber manufacturing facility. Through a patented cryogenic process, RTG recycled over 25 million pounds of scrap tire material last year. They create five different sizes of rubber crumb which is used for a variety of applications, including sport fields, playgrounds, and golf courses. This is 72% of the volume of tires generated in the province.