By Bonnie Whitehead
CLIFFORD – Seniors Centre for Excellence program co-ordinator Helen Edwards welcomed 42 people to the lunch and learn program on March 15 at the community hall in Clifford.
Donna Gingrich prepared a meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cauliflower bake, bean salad and rolls, with cherry pie and peanut butter banana pie for dessert.
Guest speaker Cathy Wiebe, from Wellington Waste Management, discussed the blue box program which started in 1987.
She explained what items were acceptable for the blue boxes and how items are recycled.
One landfill site exists in Wellington County to accept all the waste gathered at six waste facilities. The sites accept paper products and food containers for recycling, tires, hazardous waste, wood and brush, textiles/clothing, scrap metal, electronics, and garbage. Follow the three Rs to reduce, reuse, and recycle, Wiebe urged.
She also urged everyone to reduce waste by buying items with less packaging, repurposing items, such as turning water bottles into bird feeders and loaf pans into organizers.
She asked everyone to sort paper products and food, beverage, and liquid containers into two separate blue boxes. The disposal trucks contain divided hoppers/bins where the papers and plastics are sorted.
Wellington recycles magazines, directories, books, household paper, egg cartons, takeout trays, tubes, rolls, kraft paper, paper bags, newspapers, flyers, and cereal boxes, but not the bags inside that hold the cereal.
They prefer cardboard boxes flattened, bundled, and tied with string and set between two blue boxes. They will accept: drink boxes and cartons, but not disposable cups; plastic bottles, jugs, tubs, but no plastic bags, which get caught in the sorting machine; plastic clamshells, planter pots, planter trays, but no Styrofoam of any kind; all glass bottles, glass jars, but not drinking glasses; and metal cans, foil, and pie plates. Pots and pans can go to the scrap metal pile, light bulbs and fluorescent tubes go to the hazardous waste pile. Single-use plastic containers and utensils, prescription bottles, hangers, gift wrap and tissue paper all need to go in the garbage.
A video illustrated how recycled products are sorted at the material recovery plant and bundled for sale. Pots and pans become car parts, plastics become yarn, and paper becomes facial tissue.
Wiebe handed out helpful hints calendars, pens and magnets to help keep recycling ideas a part of every day. If the waste recycling drivers notice residents recycling items properly and consistently, they could be nominated and rewarded through the Gold Box program. Anyone unsure of what to recycle, may contact Cathy Wiebe at 1-866-899-0248 or cathyw@wellington.ca
The next lunch and learn program will be held April 18 at Knox United Church in Clifford. Call 519-638-1000 to reserve a spot at the table. Lunch is served at noon at a cost of $12; the presentation at 12:30pm is free.
