It started with a semi trailer and a group of volunteers.
Over four days in November 1992, 13 tonnes of used and discarded paper from the community was packed into a trailer and shipped out of town to be recycled. It was the beginning of something that would grow to be much bigger.
The Flin Flon and District Environment Council (FFDEC) is celebrating 25 years of community recycling in Flin Flon this month. Over the last quarter century, recycling has happened in many different ways, in four different locations in Flin Flon. The organization has grown from a small group of dedicated to volunteers to a flourishing non-profit organization.
“We started outside at the Market Garden,” said Deb Odegaard, administrator of the Flin Flon Recycling Centre, and a long-time board chair of the FFDEC.
“We asked for a semi trailer, we advertised, parked it for four days and packed it full of boxes. We purchased another used semi trailer …
we’d pack everything in
little boxes, and when it
was full we’d get people to pack it into a big truck and send it off. We did that for the first two years.”
In those two years, the FFDEC shipped about 71 tonnes of paper to Winnipeg to be recycled. All of the shipping costs were covered by donations and by the receiver – there was no financial return for the effort.
In December 1994, the recycling centre moved indoors to one of three locations it would occupy over the course of its existence on Timber Lane. In the next year, the FFDEC was incorporated as a non-profit organization. They bought a forklift, and the centre was open twice a week, accepting paper, tin, glass, aluminum, and two types of plastic.
In the beginning the sale of product – recyclable materials are sold to buyers who convert them into items including car parts, flooring and mattresses – was the main revenue stream for the recycling centre. Odegaard recalls some of the challenges this presented.
“We used to sell all of the stuff, and the prices are just like commodities – they go up and down all the time,” said Odegaard.
“It was crazy, because we had to save 30 big bags of 13 different things. We didn’t have space to do the e-waste. It seemed like we just never got done, there was always a mountain in the middle. We really needed more staff, but we couldn’t afford more staff.”
The amount of recyclables being shipped out of Flin Flon was steadily increasing, and in 1996 the City of Flin Flon gave the FFDEC $65,000. It was the momentum needed to push the recycling initiative forward. Along with a vehicle, trailer and floor scale, a baler was purchased. This allowed more material to be packed into the same amount of shipping space, increasing the revenue
per load.
Over the next decade, the FFDEC hired more staff and took on more volunteers at the recycling centre. Residential curbside pickup was piloted and then implemented, and recycling was regularly picked up from local businesses. In 2004, the FFDEC signed a contract with the City of Flin Flon and assumed responsibility for managing the Flin Flon landfill. Today, landfill surplus makes up 11 per cent of the FFDEC’s annual revenue.
In 2007, the recycling centre processed a record 500 tonnes of material. The same year saw the FFDEC in financial struggle. While demand for recycling programs had increased, municipal funding remained mostly static. Residential curbside pickup was no longer financially viable, and it ceased in May of that year. The FFDEC needed emergency funding, which came from the municipalities of Flin Flon and Creighton, to survive to the end of the year.
In 2008, general business recycling pickups ceased, with the option for businesses to pay a pick up fee to have their recycling removed. By 2009, revenue from sale of product had dropped substantially, and the centre processed the lowest amount of material since 1999.
“We came through the crisis in 2009, beating our heads against the wall, thinking, ‘Do people really want this? Why are we bothering?’” said Odegaard, noting the FFDEC was mostly cause-oriented in the beginning, and not operating like a business.
“So we had a public meeting, and council chambers was overflowing. Kids at the high school put all the stuff they would recycle right on the corner of where Queen’s Park is now, put a big sign on it saying ‘this would all go to the landfill without recycling,’ and it was really kind of exciting. It got on board again.”
The following year saw both the City of Flin Flon and Town of Creighton contribute funding per capita to the FFDEC, and residential curbside pickup was reinstated. The amount of materials processed began to rise again, and over the coming years, the FFDEC gained the capacity to recycle new materials – e-waste, dry cell batteries, paint, fluorescent bulbs and hazardous waste.
Today, the FFDEC employs ten staff – four who operate the landfill and six who operate the recycling depot – as well as two volunteers. Its revenue is strong enough to keep some funds in reserves, and it serves an area that is committed to recycling.
“A lot of people weren’t recycling [but they do now]. Our household [recycling] has grown,” said Odegaard, noting the amount of materials collected is on an upswing, despite a dropping population in the area.
“There are a lot of younger people moving in, which is part of it. But it’s becoming accepted
everywhere. It’s part of the overall social change we’re
starting to see.”
Odegaard said the shrinking population makes the future of the recycling centre a bit of a mystery to the FFDEC, but says she hopes to see the recycling program continue to grow.
“The community has been really supportive. Nobody is an island. You can’t do this alone, and I may have been the champion, but a champion can do nothing if they don’t have a team behind them,” she said.
“It’s been a real wonderful ride. It’s been fun. It’s been challenging, but it’s been fun.”
