Recycling in Alberta Peter Millman The Recycling Council of Alberta held its annual conference in Calgary this fall. Topics covered included composting, with special attention given to TransAlta Utilities' plans for a regional co-composting facility in Edmonton; problems with plastics recycling; recycling in the building construction and demolition industries; effective use of the Internet; environmental management systems; tire and oil recycling; and blue box pilfering. Tires Ever wonder what the $4 tire tax is used for? Conference goers got a first-hand look when they visited the ReTech facility in Vulcan, Alberta. ReTech produces crumb rubber. Tires are mechanically shredded and separated into their base components. 60% of a tire can be converted to crumb rubber; of the remainder 20% is steel and 20% is polyester fibre. The steel is sent to a foundry, the polyester component is sent back to tire manufacturers for reinforcing new tires, and the crumb rubber is used to manufacture a variety of products from speed bumps to mats for horse trailers and cowstalls. Most of the crumb rubber produced by ReTech is sent to the US. GPSL Manufacturing shares the Vulcan site with ReTech and is able to use 8,000 pounds of crumb per day in the manufacture of a variety of products. ReTech receives nothing for truck tires, but does receive $1.74 for every 13.2 pounds of crumb produced from passenger tires. The remainder of the tire tax covers transportation and administrative costs. Approximately one million tires per year are converted to crumb rubber, while another million are shipped to North Dakota to fuel cement kilns. Tires are no longer incinerated in this province because of process problems encountered at the Lafarge and Inland cement kilns. The two million tires recycled, or incinerated in the US annually account for all of Alberta's tires. The Tire Recycling Management Board (TRMB) is hoping to increase the number of tires that are crumbed, to reduce the eight-million-tire backlog in the province. It speculates that, as the backlog decreases, demand for waste tires will rise and the tax will be phased out along with the TRMB. Oil At the conference, the government reported on Alberta's status of used oil management. Approximately one billion litres of lubricating oils are sold in Canada each year. Of that, 250 million litres go unaccounted for at the recycling end. Used oil may contain heavy metals, and thus represents a potential environmental problem. However, it can also be re-refined into a usable lubricant. The Alberta Used Oil Management Association has run a pilot project in Central Alberta for the past two years. The association is composed of oil producers, recyclers, automotive dealers, health units and environmental groups. Collection points-located at bottle depots-included containers for used oil, oil filters and plastic oil containers. All the collected items are recycled. The programme is targeted at small generators of waste oil, such as `do-it-yourself' oil changers and farmers. The programme is likely to be extended beyond central Alberta in the spring of 1996. Bluebox Pilfering Another interesting topic was the problem of pilfering from blue boxes. Four people were charged in related incidents in Edmonton this summer. City police traced stolen material from one of the criminals through a recycling broker. The cash paid out to this person amounted to over $4,000 in 2 weeks. The City of Edmonton is estimating they will lose over $1 million due to this new phenomenon. Courts are encouraging municipalities to deal with the problems with strictly enforced by-laws and heavy fines that outweigh the high profits to be gained from this activity.

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