Watch the "Saving Little Pieces of Our Earth" video and learn more about how your recycling is sorted and made into new products. In the video, you will see video clips from a sorting facility similar to West Van Materials Recovery Center that show the sorting and processing of paper, plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass and how the materials are made into new products.
"Saving Little Pieces of Our Earth" (Entire Video: 13:27 min)
Part 1: What Happens at a Material Recovery Facility (2:35 min)
Part 2: How Paper Gets Recycled (1:31 min)
Part 3: How Aluminum Gets Recycled (1:30 min)
Part 4: How Plastic Gets Recycled (2:13 min)
Part 5: How Steel Gets Recycled (1:47 min)
Part 6: How Glass Gets Recycled (3:33 min)
Recycling truck drivers collect recyclable materials from curbside
carts and take them to West Van transfer station on Lower River
Road, near Vancouver Lake. Take a photo tour of West Van.
West Van Materials Recovery Center
West Van is actually more than a transfer station, it is a materials
recovery facility or MRF (pronounced 'MERF'), where recyclables
are separated and prepared for shipment. At this local MRF, recyclable
items or materials are sorted, baled (most of the time), and loaded
onto tractor trailer trucks to go to factories or mills for remanufacture.
In Fall 2009, West Van Materials Recovery Center was equipped with a new system for sorting recycled materials. This system processes the mixed recycling collected in the blue cart recycling program.
Close the Loop: Buy Recycled
By purchasing items with recycled content, you can 'close the
loop' and encourage manufacturers to use your recycled materials
in their process. This provides a market for your milk jugs, aluminum,
tin, glass and paper and creates a 'closed system' where raw materials
are needed in lesser quantities and your recyclable materials
are in demand.
