What did the waste and recycling world look like when SWRC began 35 years ago? Now that I’m retiring, I couldn’t help sharing a few memories from back then…
Everyone loved SARCAN – it was a new program with a lot of positives – we liked getting our deposits back, it kept roadways cleaner and provided work with dignity. At the same time, people were confused and frustrated that with the accepted container list – a tin can that held juice was included while the same tin that held tomatoes was not. Today, SARCAN is well established and well loved, and yes, a bit of container confusion is still there.
While we appreciated SARCAN, keeners were desperate for recycling options for the rest of the containers. Stashes of plastic containers and bags began to accumulate. An early subscription recycling business was initially popular but when it failed, it left behind a building full of plastic containers that it couldn’t find a home for – now that was a stash!
The Town of Outlook was an early adopter and was the first to establish a comprehensive recycling program. After the Ministry banned landfill burning around 1990, many communities ignored the rule, but Outlook took it to heart. They decided to learn everything that they could about waste diversion, attending every event they could find on the prairies, and ended up creating the most comprehensive recycling program in the province. SWRC organized a trek of Saskatonian keeners who filled their vehicles with their plastic stashes and drove in a caravan to Outlook to get them recycled. Today, the trek is a little shorter for most of us, just outside to your blue cart or building’s recycling bin.
Back then, paper recycling was mostly about newsprint. In Saskatoon, Cosmo Industries (still involved in recycling today) collected newspapers in bins that their volunteers had to jump into to unload. New paper from old had ink flecks and technology was focused on ‘de-inking’. The flecked paper was considered second class. (Flash forward to when we solved the ink spot problem and people wanted to put them back in because recycled paper was cool and now you couldn’t tell the difference). Urban Forest Recyclers in Swift Current used equipment that looked like the world’s largest blender to transform a mix of cardboard and newsprint into egg trays. At its peak, UFR supplied 30-40% of the North American egg tray market. Now, UFR no longer exists, and newspaper is much diminished, but paper joins the containers in our recycling carts/bins and it’s recycled in North America (mostly).
No one had heard of Extended Producer Responsibility 35 years ago – the idea was only introduced to the world in 1990 by Swede Thomas Lindqhvist. It did catch on quickly – Saskatchewan’s first program (used oil) started just six years later in 1996, and we haven’t stopped adding programs since (albeit at a slower pace than my impatient nature would like).
Landfills in Saskatchewan in 1991 were plentiful, no one knew how many there were, and many were located on land chosen for its undesirability rather than its suitability for containing waste. (I have photos of trench landfills full of water with garbage bags floating in them.) Years later, the Ministry estimated we had 500+ landfills/dumps around the province. Currently, we’re at 94, so big progress there.
SWRC’s early years had a big focus on composting. We worked at convincing municipalities to fund us to teach their citizens to compost at home. Today, Saskatoon, Regina and Lloydminster have curbside programs for compost. The majority of Saskatchewan communities have some type of yard waste diversion, but keeping organics out of landfills remains an area with room for improvement.
Many things have changed, and yet, there’s still lots to do. Fortunately, there’s never been a shortage of good folks who care about waste reduction in Saskatchewan. I trust them to continue to make things happen.
