Contamination in recycling occurs when items that can’t be processed are put into the blue bins.
Not every item that has the recycling logo can be recycled in the Parkland.
City of Dauphin’s Director of Public Works, Bill Brenner, received a report stating the level of contamination the city has in its recycling.
“Our most recent Waste Composition Study done by MMSM (Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba) showed we had about 8.5 per cent contamination in our recycling stream, which I believe is quite good.”
Ottenbreit Sanitation Services has a camera on their truck that can see what is being dumped from each bin at each household to prevent a massive amount of contamination.
Brenner noted the city sees a lot of plastic bags and Styrofoam being put into the bins and those items aren’t recyclable.
To see a list of items that aren’t accepted, you can go to the City of Dauphin’s or Multi-Materials Stewardship Manitoba’s websites.
