Hard-to-Recycle Items

Although we don’t always do it perfectly, recycling has become a well entrenched part of our daily lives. Some items that are not accepted in your curbside collection should not, however, end up on a landfill site either. Many organizations recycle items to give them a second lease of life or to manage them responsibly.
 

Batteries don’t go in the recycling bin, but they are even less welcome on a landfill site! However, they can be disposed of at marked drop-off points provided by companies, stores and certain organizations.

Why is it important to recycle batteries?
 
Batteries may contain metals such as lead and mercury that are potentially harmful to the environment. When they are recycled, these metals can be used to make new products.

In Quebec, 94% of batteries end up in landfill, representing close to 4,000 tonnes of heavy metals each year. This needs to change!

Collection points

CDs and DVDs are not currently accepted in curbside collection. But there are options if you want to get rid of them!

If they are still good (we mean the CDs rather than the artists!), give them a second lease of life. Donate them to the Salvation Army, Renaissance or another community organization that collect items.

If they contain outdated information, are scratched or just have to go, here are a few sites you may find helpful:

Montreal area

Quebec City

Elsewhere

Although not welcome in your recycling bin, corks are 100% recyclable. Their completely natural fibres can be used to make insulation or decorative objects.

Why recycle?

Found mainly in France, Spain and Portugal, plantations of cork oak trees—whose bark has long been used to seal wine bottles—create unique ecosystems for rare plants and animals while also helping to slow down desertification.

Finding a balance between selling cork and preserving cork oak forests helps to ensure sustainable development of this ecosystem, and recycling is a major contributor. This has the added advantage of not releasing the CO₂ contained in the cork while it remains on the tree.

How do you recycle cork?

To recycle cork properly, you need to bring it to a collection point. It will then be sent to a company to reuse in making various products:

• All Vinexpert affiliated stores (Quebec’s Eastern Townships region)
• La Piazzeta restaurants (Quebec)
• La Maison de la Bière (Saint-Georges de Beauce, Quebec)
• Restaurants participating in the Put a Cork in It program (Vancouver)
• All Whole Food outlets (Canada and United States).

You can also enquire at local restaurants or specialized stores, as some may also do it. And feel free to use corks in your creative projects—you’ll find plenty of original and clever ideas in places like Pinterest.
 

Did you know?

Cork also represents the most environmentally friendly solution when it comes to sealing wine bottles—at least, that’s what Price Waterhouse Coopers concluded after analyzing the life cycles of cork, plastic and aluminum. The CO₂ emissions generated by an aluminum bottle cap are 24 times greater than a cork; plastic generates 10 times more than cork.

This huge discrepancy is due in large part to the fact that a cork oak tree can have its bark stripped and harvested up to 16 times in its lifetime.