Spaghetti dinners and bowling balls: the weird things ending up in Winnipeg recycling bins
All sorts of items that can't be recycled are ending up in blue bins in Winnipeg – things like an entire spaghetti dinner or a bowling ball. It’s a problem the city hopes will stop soon.
Winnipeg resident Owen is careful with every item he drops in his recycling bin.
"You can put in a plastic bottle, but don't leave water in it or liquid in it. Empty it out. Just follow the instructions," he said.
But it seems some Winnipeggers are having a bit of difficulty following the city's recycling guidelines.
At the City of Winnipeg's recycling plant, there is 49,000 metric tonnes of material processed each year. But a percentage of the stuff arriving at the plant shouldn't be.
"We do deal with a bit of contamination, which is items that are not acceptable within our program," said Mark Kinsley, the superintendent of waste diversion at the City of Winnipeg.
Those unacceptable items include a lot of things you might expect - plastic bags, Styrofoam, disposable coffee cups and foil takeout containers.
"So we're always encouraging people to get knowledgeable, get educated with the acceptable list in Winnipeg," Kinsley said.
People shouldn't need any education to know that items like tires, bowling balls, and pizzas aren't supposed to be recycled, but all of these items have been thrown in blue boxes.
"Finish the pizza, and then recycle your box," Kinsley said.
He said in 2019, as many as 4,000 dirty diapers were arriving at the recycling depot each week.
Today, that number has dropped significantly. It is down to about 500 a week on average.
"It's still up there because even one's too much," Kinsley said.
Owen believes, in order to reduce those numbers even further, one thing is critical.
"I guess it's education, education, education," he said.
The city has a full list of what you can and can't recycle on its website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.