À quand une facilité de ce genre à Québec?
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| Curtis Wright, summer student worker, place a spray can of paint on a shelf at the Household Chemical Waste Depot and Reuse Centre in Windsor at EC Row and Central Saturday August 12, 2006. All kinds of paints are brought by citizen and anyone can take them for free. (Photo Windsor Star – Francis Vachon) |
Sharon Hill, Windsor Star.
The lineup of cars at the Windsor recycling centre Saturday contradicts the notion we’re lousy recyclers.
« I don’t believe that. All my neighbours all recycle. I see the lineups here all the time, » said South Windsor’s Rick Dominato, as he dropped off some old fencing and cardboard at the centre off E.C. Row and Central Avenue.
Dominato said local residents were slighted in a garbage audit that said Windsor and Essex County placed last out of seven Ontario municipalities when it came to recycling. He said he sees full boxes out at the road in neighbourhoods, he uses three recycle boxes himself and has reduced his garbage to one bag every two weeks for his family of three.
The lineups make the recycling centre a busy spot, especially on Saturdays and Mondays, said Tom Hedgeman, who works in the Household Chemical Waste Depot and Reuse Centre in Windsor.
« Nobody works on Monday because they’re all here, » he joked.
Outside the depot for the household products, the centre takes and recycles cardboard, metal, glass, old appliances and old electronic equipment from televisions to computers. Even the flowers at the side of the drop-off bins have been scavenged from the yard waste piles.
Inside the depot, people can drop off and take from shelves of paint, stains, varnishes, car care, household cleaning and lawn care products, and even cologne and nail polish. It also accepts other items such as batteries, gasoline, printer cartridges and propane tanks.
Last year 181 tonnes of household chemical waste was dropped off.
« Everything’s recyclable, » said the former landfill worker. « The less I can put in the ground, the happier I am. »
Carol Montello, a 48-year-old from Cottam, said she’s saved hundreds of dollars by picking up free cans of paint at the depot.
She’s painted her house and rental properties and was picking up paint for a previous tenant Saturday. She’s a dedicated recycler and also gives items away through freecycle.com.
« A lot of people don’t have money to put into paint, » she said while looking for a buttery cream colour. « You’re getting a benefit from it and you’re saving the environment. »
