Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission

Recycle Program

We have a complete recycle program at the Westlock Regional Waste facility, ie landfill.  We handle the regular recycle materials, paper (separate office paper please), tin cans, cardboard, plastic (no film please), NOT GLASS.  In addition to Paints, Used oil and containers, Tires, Electronics (if it has a cord or battery we recycle it), and Metal.  So please let staff know EVERYTHING you have in your load and try to sort it.

Our goal is to keep as much material out of the landfill as possible and this can only happen with your help and cooperation.  Once waste hits the landfill we do not go through it, it is landfilled and there for life.  We have outlets in Alberta, not sent over sees, for our plastic products, Paper and cardboard goes to facilities in Canada and US.  Paints goes to a place in Calgary, electronics in Edmonton, and so on, we monitor where our products go, and take pride in what we do in the recycle area for a small region.

We do have the capacity to charge you, the resident, directly at double landfilling fees if we find that you are abusing the system and not recycling.  For an example, in the spring we average over 250 people on site a day, if each person throws just one cardboard box into the landfill, that is 250 cardboard boxes, that takes up a minimum of about 1 cubic meter of landfill space that costs us about $100 in lost air space in the landfill.  So if you have 5 or 6, that adds up a lot faster.  This also goes for paper, and plastic.

We are often asked about Glass, why we do not recycle it.  Here is the main reason, SAFETY.  Our staff have to handle the recycle by hand, broken glass is not safe due to sharp edges, food waste and contamination in the glass.  Second is the cost to ship it and get it to a recycler is huge, close to $60 or $70 per tonne.

Now, that said... I am looking at an option where we can take that glass and mix it in with our concrete, I just have to figure out a safe way for staff to handle it and take it to the concrete pile in an efficient and low cost process.  We will keep you posted.  Just an FYI, when we did take glass, it was landfilled, and the total space taken up in the landfill was minimal, but still did have an impact to landfill space.

Our goal is to recycle and divert at least 60% of waste we take in away from the landfill, currently we are only at about 35%, commercial is the main focus now as their level of recycle in their loads is significant.  We do have options if businesses bring in their recycle separately for a reduced cost to encourage recycling, more and more businesses are doing this each year.

Yes Recycling works, if done right and managed appropriately.  Does it make money, no not really, we are happy when we break even, but the savings in in the landfill space we are not taking up, which is costly.  So PLEASE RECYCLE.. thank you.

Recycle Centre Guidelines