The City of Winnipeg is reminding residents what can, and cannot, be recycled as a busy holiday season approaches.
Winnipeg recycles more than 50,000 tonnes of materials each year, and December is an extra busy month. Numbers show a six per cent increase in recycling from November to December, which means depots are packed with things that do — and don’t — belong every Christmas season.
While many have heard it before, the City wants to be sure residents know what goes into their blue bin and what goes into the black.
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Most know plastic bags and aluminium foil don’t belong in the blue bins, but the city said many are still tossing disposable coffee cups, used paper towels and tissues, as well as fabrics incorrectly in with their recycling.
Over the holidays, hundreds of blue bins also contain wrapping paper: something Winnipeg Waste Diversion’s Mark Kingsley said is a big problem.
“[Garbage in recycling bins] gets to the plant and it does have to be pulled out and separated… it takes time.”
The last recorded level of recycling contamination in Winnipeg, which examines items that are incorrectly binned, was over 13 per cent.
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Kingsley said the city would love to get that number down in 2018.
The city has posted holiday hours for waste and recycling on their website.