THE SARCAN RECYCLING PROGRAM

By Alma Copeland, Home Economist

TEAM Resources

The SARCAN recycling program in our Canadian province that gives employment to people of all abilities, protects the environment and contributes to the economy. Just what happens to items brought to their collection centres?

Aluminum cans

Aluminum cans are sent to Anheuser-Busch Recycling in the United States where they are melted down and made into another aluminum can. They are the one recyclable that keeps coming back as the same product. Aluminum retains its properties throughout the process. No matter how many times a can is used, it will keep coming back as another can.

SARCAN tells us that the process for recycling aluminum cans is incredibly efficient. If you dropped off an aluminum can at a SARCAN Recycling depot today, it could be processed and back on the store shelf as a new can filled with a beverage in as little as 60 days.

Making a new can from recycled aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to make a can from primary aluminum. Over 60% of the content of a typical aluminum can today is recycled material.

Over half of the total containers recycled by SARCAN are aluminum and almost 80% of their salvage revenues come from aluminum sales.

Over 90% of the 115 million cans of beverage consumed annually in Saskatchewan are recycled by SARCAN.

Tin cans

Tin cans are sent to Evraz Regina Steel, the former IPSCO Foundry. There they are melted down and used in the steel manufacturing process for pipe and rebar.

Plastic beverage containers

Plastic pop bottles are shipped to processors in Canada and the United States. The empty plastic containers are washed and chipped into plastic flakes. The plastic flakes can further be processed into plastic fluff for the maufacturing of fiber products or melted into sheet plastic for many mounded products and packaging.

An amazing array of everyday products are made from plastic pop containers, including polyester carpet, the fiber fill in winter jackets and sleeping bags, pillows, greenhouse trays, the plastic scoop provided with our laundry detergent, polyester fleece and T-shirts.

Last year SARCAN recycled over 50 million plastic pop bottles!

Juice boxes and cartons/non-dairy cartons

Juice boxes and cartons are sent to specialized pulp mills in Canada and the United States where they are hydra-pulped. Here a process separates paper fibers from the cartons. The material that is not fiber is called residual. The residual is composed of polyethylene and smaller amount of aluminum foil. There are some markets for the residual material, with more development work being done. The paper fibers are made into napkins and high-grade paper, as the recycled pulp is highly desirable, clean and bright.

Milk Jugs and Other Plastic

Milk jugs can become non-food containers, pick-up truck bed liners or flowerpots.

Other plastic bottles are sorted by type and sold to various brokers. They in turn broker some of the plastic to international recyclers. Some of this plastic is used in the manufacture of plastic building materials.

Clear Glass

Potters Industries has been accepting all of the clear glass that is crushed by SARCAN for over 10 years. Potters Industries in Moose Jaw grinds the glass and melts it into beads. The beads are screened and used for reflective highway paint and for sandblasting media.

Coloured Glass

Coloured glass is sold to Vitreous Environmental Group. They clean and crush it for use in fibreglass insulation.

Milk Cartons

Milk cartons are composed mostly of paper. Once shipped to the recyclers, the cartons are placed in a machine called a hydrapulper, which uses water to break up the cartons. The paper fibers are separated from any plastic and foil and are then used directly to make products like office paper. It can also be recycled into such items as paper tissue and napkins.

Paper

Paper, and some cardboard, is shipped to UFR, Urban Forest Recyclers, in Swift Current and made into egg cartons.

Cardboard

At the present time cardboard is baled and stored, waiting for prices to improve. SARCAN tells us that the price for recycled cardboard is improving, so hopefully in the near future there will be a market for it.

Paint

After paint is shipped from the depot to one of two processing plants, it is again shipped to a hazardous waste management company called Envirotec Services in Saskatoon. Envirotec takes the collected paint and sorts it into large drums. Aerosol containers are safely depressurized of gases and the contents drained of the paint. Envirotec ships the paint off for further processing.

• Oil-based paint is shipped to a facility that separates the oil components of the paint. It is then purified and used as an alternative fuel source.
• Latex-based paint: Good quality latex paint is repackaged and shipped to third-world countries to paint buildings and other facilities. Lower quality latex paint is used as an additive in the manufacturing of cement.
• Metal paint cans are crushed and submitted for smelter at Evraz (formerly IPSCO), in Regina.
• Plastic, recovered from plastic pails, aerosol caps etc., is shipped to X-Potential and recycled into plastic lumber.

Electronics

All electronics are broken down into component materials. Steel, plastic, aluminum, copper, unleaded glass and cords are melted down and remanufactured into their base materials. Disk drives are shredded and processed back into component metals. Batteries go through a process that separates the metal housing from the chemicals inside and both are manufactured back into batteries. Laptop screens, after mercury-based bulbs are removed, are recycled into base material. Leaded glass, like what is found in glass fronted monitors and televisions, is crushed and sent to a lead smelter to recover the lead housed inside. Circuit boards are shredded and their precious metals separated and purified.

For more information regarding SARCAN Recycling, visit their website at www.sarcan.sk.ca/.