Student ambassadors educate on the do’s and don’ts of recycling

The Recycling Ambassadors are back on the job to make sure residents are putting the right things in their recycling cart.

The student program, now heading into its third season, is run by the Regional District of Central Okanagan.

The ambassadors randomly check what’s under the blue lid and inside curbside recycling carts as part of the efforts to combat recycling contamination.

Engineering Manager Travis Kendel said their ambassadors will be reaching out to residents through direct education and curbside cart checks.

“Most residents are doing a pretty good job including only what’s acceptable to put in the carts. But recycling audits show there are still a significant number of unacceptable items going into our recycling stream, especially plastic bags and other plastic films, and that’s a big problem,” Kendel said.

Reference guide sticker (Submitted photo/RDCO)

In addition to cart checks, the students will also be placing a handy reference guide sticker right on the carts to highlight what goes in and what stays out. Kendel said, when in doubt, don’t toss it in is an important thing to keep in mind, as placing the wrong materials in your cart, things that do not belong or should be recycled at a depot, leads to a contaminated recycling stream.

“Plastic bags, garbage, books, food waste, garden hoses, electronics, scrap metals, clothing, even yard waste — items that have never been accepted in our curbside recycling program — are still showing up and contaminating the recycling stream,” Kendel explained.

“If we don’t significantly reduce and eliminate these unacceptable products from our recycling loads, we face financial penalties from Recycle BC. We need to do a better job and that requires continuous education and monitoring.”

The Recycling Ambassadors will have a quick look at the contents in recycling carts, and if they find items that don’t belong they’ll leave information explaining what went wrong. In some cases, if there is significant contamination, carts won’t be picked up until the offending material is removed.

Here are some of the items ambassadors will be looking for:

• Garbage
  • Garden hoses, landscape edging and tarps
  • Paper towels and tissues
  • Non-packaging plastics such as toys, Tupperware type containers, laundry baskets
• Items recyclable at depots and other locations (but not in the cart)
  • Plastic bags including bagged recyclables
  • Styrofoam
  • Glass
  • Soft plastics such as cling wrap, bubble wrap, chip and snack bags, zipper bags
  • Electronics and small appliances
  • Textiles such as clothes, fabric and pillows
  • Soft cover novels and hard cover books and textbooks
• Hazardous waste
  • Hazards such as syringes, propane tanks, oil jugs

In 2019 the Regional District inspected over 12,500 recycling carts and sent approximately 2,500 letters to residents when the wrong materials were found in the recycling, garbage and yard waste carts – to help encourage future compliance.

To find out more about what to recycle in your curbside cart or at a depot, visit rdco.com/recycle, download the free Recycle Coach App, or call the Regional Waste Reduction Office at 250-469-6250.