 |
|
|||||
|
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How businesses in Innisfil are answering the call
Thriftopia Thriftopia, located at 1000 Innisfil Beach Road, is the brain-child of Pat Hebert, Tammy Markham and John Hebert. Offering free electronic and computer removal and disposal, Thriftopia is in the business of getting rid of the old electronics most of us have, but do not know what to do with. Offering to pick up free of charge on Mondays, the Thriftopia trio will pick up to addresses located within a half an hour drive from Barrie, or a 30 km radius. For those outside of their area, their services can still be utilized. "We offer free recycling Canada-wide," said Pat. Pairing up with Canada Post, they will take peoples old electronics from across the country. Due to Canada Post restriction, microwaves, monitors, televisions and batteries can not be sent.
"We have a link on our website so that people can donate to help us with the removal and disposal of the goods, along with the cost of running this business," said Pat. He said selling the electronic scrap helps to keep them in business. He is aware people may be concerned with sensitive information that may be on an old hard drive they are getting rid of. "We expose the hard drive to magnets and drill a hole through them before anything else is done," Pat said. Keeping with the theme or re-using, Tammy is looking into tapping into her creative genius and will soon use some of the 'scrap' for making jewelry pieces.
Pat said this business is helping people to rid of their electronic clutter, and their goal is to collect and properly dispose of 10 tons by April of next year. Due to the mercury content, Thriftopia cannot pick up and dispose of televisions, computer monitors, microwaves or fluorescent light bulbs. For more information, go to w or call (705) 828-7162. Pratt Homes Pratt Homes is keen on recycling. Sales manager Doug Trumble says they are trying to recycle as much as they can, keeping designated bins onsite and working with the ReStore, which helps to fund Habitat for Humanity projects. "If a piece comes in, a door or a window, and it's the wrong size, it goes to the ReStore," said Trumble. There are four bins on their site, designated for wood, metal, cardboard and garbage. Maximum Disposal Inc. picks up the bins when they are full, and at their facility, sort through the piles, to ensure the materials go to the proper place for recycling.
"We try to use little paper as we can," said Trumble, who corresponds via email and an online central data base in lieu of a fax machine. The office is also in the habit of recycling their ink cartridges. Brick scraps are also recycled. Varcoe, located along Highway 93, crushes the brick scraps for re-use. "It's the little things that matter," said Trumble. "In the end, they do all add up." Gregor Homes Gregor Homes is also doing their part in the crusade to save the environment. As with Pratt Homes, Gregor is also a builder of Energy Star homes. "Although those who buy an Energy Star home may pay a little more upon purchase, you save more monthly because the homes are so energy efficient," said James Bazely of Gregor Homes. Turning the scrap wood into mulch and remaining metal brought to a dealer, Bazely said the bigger pieces of wood that cannot be used be the builder, but are usable for a household project, for example, are left in a pile for the new homeowners in the area to take. "They can take it to build shelves - it's theirs to reuse and recycle," said Bazely. Leftover concrete, brick and asphalt are taken by Lefarge for aggregate. "As a home builder, we are trying to encourage good environmental practices to those purchasing our homes." Homeowners are not only supplied with a blue and grey box upon their purchase, but they are filled with environmental products - toilet paper made from recycled paper, phosphorus free dish-washer soap, etc. All the 'green' products in the bins are bought locally. Encouraging a greener exterior, Bazely and Outdoor Living Landscapes offer indigenous landscaping for homeowners. "This helps in the reduction of the amount of lawn the homeowner has to cut," he said, "and bring forth an environmentally friendly yard." Poraver Poraver, recently opened on June 20th in Innisfil, is a facility that is the first of its kind in North America. Poraver is an environmentally friendly, lightweight filler or aggregate made from recycled coloured glass that people dispose of in their blue boxes. "There's a great amount of waste in Ontario," said Poraver CEO George Morandin. He said Poraver recycles coloured glass so that it can be used again. The technology was mastered in Germany, where Poraver has been successfully operating for 15 years. Morandin explains that not only will this technology help divert tonnes of glass that is found every year in landfills, but the products made with Poraver has many benefits. "For example, a cubic pound of concrete weights about 135 lbs," he explains. "If you add the Poraver product to that, it will reduce the weight to about 19 lbs. Not only does that give you a product lighter in weight, but more can be shipped and distributed." A lighter product means more can be shipped at once, leaving less trucks on the road and less emissions in the air. Poraver can be used in motor, plasters, filling, adhesives, boards and plastics. The technology behind this state of the art product is this: recycled glass is turned into a range of spheres that are light in weight, versatile and strong. Poraver is resistant to moisture, heat, and fire. "We have a strong, well produced product, convenient for so many uses, and in the end benefits the end user." Morandin said a significant amount of glass is now going to their facility instead of landfill sites. With the Province of Ontario producing about 300,000 tonnes of glass per year, it seems Poraver is taking a step in the right direction. The Innisfil facility is capable of processing up to 80,000 tonnes of mixed, coloured and broken glass per year. What Thriftopia will take - Computer Cases & Towers, Printers, Scanners - Stereos, MP3 Players, Cassette players (remember those?), CDPlayers, iPods, Speakers, Headphones - Wire, cable - Cameras, Digital Cameras, Cellular Phones, PDAs - Batteries, Ink Cartridges - CDs, Audio Tapes, VHS cassettes, DVDs - Video Game consoles, joysticks, controllers - Nearly everything else that has a battery or plugs in.... |
      |
||||
