Your recycled items go to a local materials recovery facility (MRF) where the materials are separated by product type.

Aluminum cans are recycled into new cans. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours!

Plastic bottles are recycled into new detergent bottles, buckets, flowerpots and roll-out carts, like those used here in Strathcona County.

Paper is recycled into other paper products, such as boxboard, cardboard, pulp, roofing felt, and recycled paper. Each tonne of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 1,440 litres of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 26,500 litres of water.

To reduce contamination Glass and Styrofoam are no longer collected in the blue bags, but if you bring them to Broadview they will still be recycled. Glass is broken up and used for sandblasting, while Styrofoam is melted down into dense blocks and remade into a variety of new items, like faux marble and wood products, or crown moulding.

Little changes make a big difference.