Plastic Recycling in SK

What do shampoo, yoghurt, and antifreeze have in common? They almost always come in a plastic package. Convenient and cheap for the manufacturer, a problem for municipalities who have to deal with the empties. Saskatchewan is no exception.

Saskatoon did a waste audit in 2006, and found that 13% of the residential waste stream (by weight) was plastic. [Did you know that there are special tools designed to help you open heat-sealed plastic packaging, and that those tools come in the SAME kind of package that you buy them to open?]

Where has Saskatchewan succeeded in dealing with this prolific material, and where can we improve? Our most well-known collector of plastic is SARCAN, who has been accepting plastic beverage containers for recycling since 1988. Ten years later, they added plastic milk jugs to their repertoire. In 2007, computers and TVs were added to the list of materials SARCAN takes. Plastic from these are also recycled. SARCAN does a great job and has achieved one of the highest return rates for beverage containers in Canada. Another program that has a hand in plastic recycling is the Saskatchewan Association for Resource Recovery Corporation, which collects and recycles empty plastic motor oil containers.

When it comes to the rest of the plastic in the Saskatchewan waste steam, there are fewer answers. There is no provincial program and it has been left up to private entrepreneurs and committed municipalities to try to keep plastics out of landfills. Crown Shred and Recycling in Regina and Saskatoon Curbside Recycling have established businesses that offer the opportunity to recycle plastics. Their clients pay to have their recycling picked up at their doors, because the salvage value of plastics in no way covers the cost of collecting and processing it and shipping it to market. Some municipalities do accept plastics in their programs, but they are getting fewer and fewer. The Town of Outlook has been successfully collecting plastics since 1993.

We are lucky to have at least one plastics user right here in Saskatchewan. Impact Products in Regina recycles plastic and automobile shredder residue (what is left after they shred up old cars and remove the metal) into landscaping ties and parking curbs. See www.xpotentialproducts.com. (Editor's Note: The Impact plant was closed not long after this article was written. Collectors have so far found other markets, but the recent economic downturn is presenting its own challenges.)

Where will we go from here? That’s just the question our provincial government has been trying to answer for some time. Consumers and waste managers alike are fed up with having so much plastic in our landfills. A provincial recycling program for plastic as well as paper, household glass and tin is in the works, and we all know how quickly governments gets things done!

(Source: August 2008 WasteWatch)

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