RADISSON, Sask. – Walter Kyliuk says he got his first big jolt soon after he was elected mayor of Radisson a year ago.
“I discovered we were spending upwards of $7,500 a year disposing of our cardboard and newsprint,” he said. “Not only did I discover we were spending this money getting rid of it, but … the company that was hauling it away for us, was baling it at the other end and selling it.”
Kyliuk said he could not justify paying $7,500 per year to have cardboard and newsprint hauled away.
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“Cardboard is just like puffed wheat. It’s so light, there’s no weight to it.”
This realization prompted the town to get serious about recycling, but Radisson resident Darryl Amey said the real catalyst occurred four years ago when the landfill closed.
“When we lost our local landfill was when we really started recognizing the costs of disposing of our wastes,” Amey said.
“Anything that we can do to reduce that waste stream is money in our pockets. It’s not necessarily giving us dollars on the black side of the balance sheet, but at least it’s dollars that are not coming off the other side.”
Kyliuk said his project got a boost while he was attending a spring conference on waste management in Saskatoon. There he met Rick Paterson, superintendent of municipal ted, had an opportunity to visit their facilities several times and we made an agreement to purchase their used baler for a very fair and reasonable price,” said Kyliuk.
In July, Agrium told the town it wanted to get rid of two old fertilizer buildings.
“It was at this time that it fell into our lap that we could utilize these buildings. Once we informed them that we could utilize these buildings for this purpose, they became very enthused that we could recycle their buildings to recycle the paper.”
The town paid for start-up costs using a $5,000 gift from Agrium and $5,000 it earned from selling a donated building. The town’s goal of a recycling facility was underway.
“This all came together very nicely and we poured the pads and footing and we arranged for movers to move the buildings,” Kyliuk said.
He said the town has spent $30,000 to build the facility, including moving the two buildings, pouring the concrete pads, buying Outlook’s hydraulic baler and doing electrical and heating work.
A bale of paper sells for $110 per tonne, which Kyliuk said is the highest it’s been for many years.
“We could actually make a reasonable return on our efforts.”
The machine is called a vertical down struck, hydraulic baler, which will compress paper to 2,100 p.s.i. Bales are 900 to 1,600 pounds, depending on paper density. A bale of cardboard weighs 900 lb.
Bales are stored in the same building until there are enough to make a semi-truck load.
Kyliuk said the project is evolving from cardboard and newsprint to plastic jugs and metal cans.
“Every time we can take a ton of material out of our waste stream, that’s a ton that we don’t have to pay to have hauled to a landfill somewhere,” Amey said.
“I think that’s the kind of information that people in the community can relate to.”
Word of mouth is spreading to neighbouring communities.
“I think it’s great to see communities working together to solve problems,” said Borden, Sask., mayor Dave Buckingham.
Borden collects and delivers paper to Radisson for free.
“Radisson will package it and it will be profitable for them and eliminate a huge expense for us,” Buckingham said.
Borden is also a collection point for the Rural Municipality of Great Bend, which surrounds both towns.
Amey said the project has helped residents recognize that managing and disposing waste is becoming more expensive.
“As soon as people are having to sort their waste materials and they know there’s a recycling program going on in the community, then they start being much more aware of the waste products that they are generating and they can start making some changes in that,” he said.
“People are changing their attitudes and we’re becoming very aware that we just don’t have a bush anymore where we can put stuff away, out of sight. We have to look after the waste we generate and it’s not a difficult thing to do.”
Kyliuk said Radisson models its recycling program after Saskatchewan communities such as Outlook, Ituna and Biggar, and expects it eventually will become a model for other communities.
“I think this will provide some ideas for other communities so that they don’t have to rely on (waste disposal companies) to dispose of their cardboard and their newsprint and their cans and their jugs.”
Added Amey: “Anytime we can provide a service for ourselves, that’s resources and money that we keep in our community. That’s where we can get some strength to keep our communities alive is by doing things for ourselves.”
