Program keeps toxic chemicals out of landfills by recycling appliances left behind after forest fires
Program keeps toxic chemicals out of landfills by recycling appliances left behind after forest fires
27 October 2018
Published by https://www.cbc.ca/
CANADA – When forest fires threatened the northern Manitoba First Nations of Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi last summer, people had to get out fast — leaving behind their homes, possessions, and even the food in their fridges and freezers.
When they returned home, they came back to find those appliances full of rotting food.
But those appliances can’t just be cleaned out — they have to be thrown out, along with all the toxic chemicals and plastics that come with them.
Fortunately, a new program — run by the Manitoba Ozone Protection Industry Association in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada — is teaching residents there how to safely recover these chemicals so they don’t end up in the landfill.
“There’s a very positive environmental outcome to decommissioning and re-purpose these fridges,” said Mark Miller, executive director of the association, noting appliances have chemicals in them that can be extremely harmful to the environment is not disposed of safely.
Disposing of a refrigerator improperly, for example, could release three tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or the equivalent for driving 17,000 kilometres in one year, Miller said.
Fortunately, up to 96 per cent of these appliances can be recycled, he said, including the metals, plastics, glass, and even the wiring.
The chemicals that can’t be recycled have to be sent away to a plant in the U.S. to be incinerated, while the refrigerator foam must be sent to a plant in Quebec, said Miller.
A certification class and hands-on site demonstration training at Pauingassi First Nation was held this week with seven participants, who all passed the course.
With files from Radio Noon.
