Don't toss that plastic — Thunder Bay plans to expand its list of recyclables
CBC
You can start saving up your yogurt containers, as Thunder Bay could accept nearly all types of recyclable plastic for curbside recycling by next May.
The northwestern Ontario city's council will look over a proposal from administration to accept the material — known as plastics 3 through 7, which include materials like containers, lids and plastic bags — next year.
The numbers refer to a code label used on plastics to easily say what that material is made of.
The desire to be able to recycle all plastics has been a longstanding issue, since the city underwent a public waste consultation in 2014.
"We've got the infrastructure in place and we can collect it," said Jason Sherband, the manager of solid waste and recycling services with the City of Thunder Bay.
Last year, the city started taking more No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, and this would expand on that, Sherband said.
"The big thing now is we have the ability to be able to process that material, and we have markets for it," he said, noting infrastructure upgrades are now complete to allow for sorting.
At a time when Canada is vastly expanding its child-care system, and just eight months after a major E. coli outbreak in Calgary child-care centres, an Alberta Health Services analysis shows the province is lagging in its rate of daycare inspections, falling far short of its guideline of at least two inspections per year at each of the province's licensed daycare centres.