SWRC Update: Saskatchewan's Recycling Top 5

SWRC Update: Saskatchewan's Recycling Top 5

“I have a dead microwave…is there anywhere I can take it besides the landfill?,” “What can I do with an old propane tank?,” “I have a bunch of old batteries, where can I take them?”

These are the types of questions we get every day. As you may know, we keep a pretty extensive list of answers for people in our recycling database on the SWRC.ca website.  We thought it would be useful to share with you the trends in information that people were seeking out this past year.

People can either search our database or contact us directly via phone, email or Facebook .

Website Recycling Database - Where do I Recycle My ... ?

In 2017, there were 3430 unique searches on our database. Here's the top five categories:

1)      Appliances  241
2)      Household items 139
3)      Miscellaneous   96
4)      Hazardous products  87
5)      Light bulbs  60 

(Note, these numbers do not include the popular options of selecting ‘All Materials’ or not even setting a category – which will show you all the options available in a given community)

Direct Contact

In 2017, we received 743 phone calls, emails and Facebook messages. Top 5 categories:

1)      Non-program electronics 126  (small appliances and electronics not included in the provincial program)
2)      Household hazardous products 120 (pesticides, solvents, propane tanks, ...)
3)      Appliances 97 (fridges, stoves, washers, dryers,...)
4)      Light Bulbs 55
5)      Microwaves 39

While it’s interesting to track the trends, we are also making use of the information to improve our online database. We know that the majority of  non-program electronics calls are for small appliances. Given that, its pretty likely that all the web searches people are doing for appliances and household items are actually looking for small appliances too.

So, we've added a small appliance category. London Drugs has an excellent small appliance recycling program, so we at least have somewhere to direct people in Saskatoon & Regina.

Another heavily requested category is household hazardous waste. On average, we get a call every other day about where to take hazardous products. Unfortunately, we do not have many good options right now, although the province is working on a program. We are sharing our data with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment to emphasize the need, and demand, for a comprehensive hazardous waste collection program. 

In the past, our database was a simple spread sheet. Around 2007, we moved to a searchable database with a grant from Shell Canada. That initial database has expanded and been improved upon to its current form. We still look for ways to make it better. If you have suggestions, we would love to hear from you.