Residents living outside Flin Flon and Creighton are being asked to step up and help with the cost of the area’s recycling program.
The Recycling Centre in Flin Flon has long received funding from the City of Flin Flon and the Town of Creighton to help cover the cost of processing recyclables in the community.
However, anyone living in the area, including outside the two contributing communities, has the ability to access the facility without paying for the service. This is something that the organization is hoping to change.
The Recycling Centre has calculated the cost of recycling per capita to be $11.40 per person. As such, the centre is making a public request for people outside of Flin Flon and Creighton to come forward and pay the fee individually.
In the past, a number of people who use the facility and live outside the limits of the two communities have come forward to make donations.
In 2014, payment was collected from nine residents of Denare Beach and 18 lake residents. Many of these individuals made an extra donation when paying the suggested $11.40.
“Denare Beach and lake residents contributed $775 in 2014,” said Deb Odegaard, Flin Flon Recycling Centre administrator. “We really appreciate these people stepping forward and contributing.”
Centre have officials approached the Village of Denare Beach, requesting a formal contribution from that community in the same way Flin Flon and Creighton contribute. Council declined to formally support the program without getting additional feedback from residents. A decision is not expected this year.
Odegaard said any area resident has the option to drop off items for recycling at the facility on Timber Lane or at a storage trailer located at the Flintoba Shopping Centre. As such, it is not known exactly who is using the facility and where they reside.
Odegaard explained that less than six per cent of the centre’s costs were covered by money collected through the sale of products last year.
“The money collected from residents would be used to pay for processing the materials,” she said.
The facility bales and ships cardboard and other paper products that are easy to sort, shipping the remaining items to Winnipeg, where they are sorted for a fee of $40 per ton. Odegaard explained that the local facility is not equipped to sort the items on site and it is more economical to pay for the service.
Odegaard said that rent from a tenant in the building, fees from running the landfill and recycling subsidies paid through producer fees contribute 30 per cent of the facility’s cost.
“Everyone living in Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and surrounding area has equal access to recycling services,” she said. “This request helps ensure that everyone who has access to the recycling program shares the cost.”
