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KFN in second year of recycling initiative

K'atlodeeche First Nation (KFN) is just finishing off the second year of a recycling project.

Peter Redvers, the director of lands, resources and negotiations with KFN, said the second year was an implementation phase with a particular focus on addressing waste from the various facilities on the Hay River Reserve – the band office, community complex, school, daycare centre, group home, Ehdah Cho Store and Dene Cultural Institute.

A recycling initiative by K'atlodeeche First Nation involves a number of facilities on the Hay River Reserve, along with the involvement of the Northern Farm Training Institute (NFTI). On March 28, Kim Rapati, left, operations manager with NFTI, picked up a large bag of cardboard to be recycled from, left to right, Clifford Fabian, manager in training at Ehdeh Cho Store; Lee Fabian, supervisor and back stock person at the store; and Terence Bushie, back stock person. Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"We thought that for this year we would try and set up not just a plan, but actually begin to implement a waste reduction and recycling program for those facilities," he said. "So that's what we've been working on."

The initiative is called the KFN Waste Management Project, which has been funded by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

The first year of the initiative involved an analysis of the waste flow on the reserve by Ecology North.

"And then on the basis of that waste analysis, as well as some meetings with managers of facilities as well as a community meeting, we developed a bit of a waste management plan for the community," said Redvers.

KFN contracted the Northern Farm Training Institute (NFTI) to help establish the recycling system, which is right now focused on cardboard, boxboard and paper, along with pop and water bottles and composting organic material.

"They've been working with us for the last number of months to put into place a fairly structured kind of recycling," said Redvers of NFTI.

NFTI has been setting up recycling collection bins at the seven facilities.

"We thought dealing with the facilities, given that we have quite a number of them on the reserve, would be a good place to start because it's much easier to get it set up," said Redvers. "We have managers that have bought into the notion. We know we can get that happening."

Residents of the reserve can also bring cardboard to the collection bin located at the Ehdah Cho Store.

Kim Rapati, the operations manager with NFTI, said the implementation of the recycling project has been going well.

"We've been collecting two full bulk bags every week from Ehdeh Cho Store," she noted, adding the workers at the store fill the bags with cardboard and they are picked up by NFTI.

The first collection box was set up at the beginning of March at the band office.

Rapati said all seven facilities will have their own backyard composters, plus improvements are being made to collecting beverage containers.

The NFTI representative noted cardboard and organics are the biggest components of a landfill.

"You can make a huge impact just by working on organics diversion, and cardboard and paper products," she said.

Rapati explained that the cardboard is recycled at NFTI's farm campus.

"What we do with the cardboard is shred it into long, thin pieces, and we call it northern hay," she said. "We use that in our pigpen all winter. They use it like hay. So it's bedding for them. And then it gets composted. It's great stuff for absorbing moisture and then it breaks down into soil."

Rapati said the cardboard from the reserve really helps NFTI.

"Because without this type of northern hay we have to use our hay that we purchased from down south, which is quite a big cost," she said. "So this is a really cool example to show how a partnership with a community and a local farm can not only reduce waste in the community's landfill, but also help the farm reduce their own costs and create soil, which is something that all northern community farms need."

Redvers said KFN will be seeking additional funding for a third year of the project to start dealing a little more with household waste.