8 Q&A about Recycling in Digby Co. – Mar 2019

You try to recycle as much as possible, but haven’t you encountered a question like “Can I put this plastic cap in the recycle bin???”

I have called the Waste Check and asked about 8 things regarding the Digby recycling material collection.

*Please noted regulation differs place to place, and often it changes as time goes. Keep updating yourself!

1. Can I put the paper material with the staples and plastic tapes on?

Can I put those in the paper bin…

  • Cardboard box with packing tapes on
  • Envelops and cards with plastic stickers on
  • Documents and magazines bind with staples

The answer is YES.

No need to remove non-paper packing/binding material from the paper material.

2. Should I crush the plastic milk jug?

The answer is NO, preferably.

They appreciate if you keep the jug as is so their crushing and binding process goes more efficiently.

3. Do you collect styrofoam?

The answer is YES NO!

They now used to collect styrofoam in Digby county, but now it goes to garbage (at the date of September 2019).

4. Do you recycle plastic that doesn’t have the triangle mark with a number?

If the package has the number in triangle, usually it’s safe to put in the recycle bin.
But how about the ones that don’t have any mark?

The answer is YES.

As far as it’s plastic, it can go to the bin… however, keep reading the rest.

5. Can I put plastic wrappers and films in the bin?

The answer is NO.

  • Plastic that covers the vegetables (e.g. cucumber)
  • Candy wrapper
  • Cling wrap (Saran wrap)
  • Other small pieces that comes from packaging

6. How about the bottle caps?

The answer is YES.

Here is a tip.
They appreciate if you collect the caps in a container or ziploc bag. When it becomes full, you put it into the bin.
They sort out the material by size, and your putting small ones together helps their sorting.

7. Plastic cutlery?

The answer is NO.

This is one of the items commonly mistaken. DO NOT put your plastic, disposal cutlery into the recycle bin.

8. How clean the material should be??

The answer is reasonably clean.

The bottom line is ALL material going into the recycle bin have to be clean. So, how much is clean enough??

The guideline is no organic material that can cause mold and spoiling left, and/or non-collective material such as dirt, paint, animal waste, etc, shouldn’t be mixed with it.

Here are some examples of the No-No’s:

  • Soiled cardboard boxes (e.g. pizza box) – put it into the green/compost bin
  • Soiled (unwashed) containers
  • Newspaper that was used for puppy training

These are fine to put in:

  • Washed styrofoam tray with the remaining bits of glued pad you couldn’t remove (no styrofoam goes to recycle bin in Digby Co.)
  • Washed bottle that has a small spot here and there you couldn’t clean completely

You should keep in mind there are people sorting the material manually at the facility.
You don’t want to send anything hazardous such as perishable bits and sharp pieces of glass or metal.

If you have any question…

Contact Waste Check.
Website: www.westecheck.ca
Digby & Yarmouth – 902-742-1312 or tall free 1-800-569-0039.

And at last…
REDUCE and REUSE before recycling.

2 thoughts on “8 Q&A about Recycling in Digby Co. – Mar 2019”

  1. This is extremely helpful. Thank-you for taking the time to explain and illustrate. I always wondered about the cutlery and bottle caps.

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