This fall, 166 schools across Manitoba participated in the MMSM Bag Up Manitoba program, keeping 1,194,583 plastic bags out of the landfills!  (more…)

Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba Inc. in partnership with the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association and its Recycle Everywhere program launched a new project last week called the Single Family Dwelling Project, or the SFD Project. (more…)

Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba Inc. (MMSM) in partnership with the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) and its Recycle Everywhere program are proud to congratulate Cranberry Portage as the winner of the 2017 Northern and First Nations Community Clean-up. (more…)

Join us on August 16 at Shaw Park to cheer on your Winnipeg Goldeyes! Before the game, we will be on the Goldeyes Promenade collecting plastic bags for our Bag it Forward Program with Winnipeg Harvest. (more…)

Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba Inc. (MMSM) released its 2016 Annual Report today, showcasing the continued growth of Manitoba’s residential recycling programs. The recovery rate increased to 65.4% making Manitoba a leader in residential recycling in the country. (more…)

Test your recycling IQ with the Washroom WatchList. QX 104 and 94.3 The Drive are helping us teach you about recycling in other areas of the home, including the sometimes forgotten washroom. (more…)

The Plastic Bag Grab Challenge has returned for 2017! Learn more here.  (more…)

MMSM is excited to announce that the University of Winnipeg is the newest partner in the Bag it Forward Program. Students and residents in the area can now drop-off their gently used plastic bags at one of six Bag it Forward bins on campus. (more…)

Make your white Christmas “greener” by following some of these environmentally friendly holiday season tips! (more…)

Cartons are recyclable and accepted in your blue bin in Manitoba. They’re made mainly from paper, with a thin layer of polyethylene (plastic) and sometimes aluminum. Milk and milk alternatives, juice, and soup/broth cartons are just some of the products packaged in cartons. You can also find cartons of dry goods like hash browns. They’re all accepted in your blue bin when empty. Recycled cartons are made into new products you use every day such as paper towels, tissues, napkins and writing paper.

What happens to cartons you recycle?

On collection day, recycling trucks throughout the province pick up recyclables and drop them off at a sorting facility. The facilities separate cartons from the mass of other recyclables (and contamination). In Winnipeg, they’re sorted automatically using infrared lights to identify them.

How are cartons recycled?

There are two uses for the materials that make up cartons: consumer products and building materials.

Use 1: Consumer products

Once the cartons are baled, a truck takes them to a paper mill. Cartons go into a hydra pulper – essentially a giant blender – that uses water to help break cartons down into tiny pieces known as pulp. Machines at the mill separate the paper and any plastic and aluminum. Depending on the mill, they use pulp to make paper towel, tissue paper, office paper, or other paper products. The mill can use the residual plastic and aluminum as fuel to power the mill, or they can send it to a manufacturer who can use it to make ceiling tiles or wallboard.

Use 2: Building materials

Instead of a paper mill, cartons can go to a manufacturer that turns cartons into building materials. They shred the cartons, then heat and press the pieces together into large sheets – think of a giant panini press, but for shredded cartons.

About 30 cartons can make a 2×2 foot ceiling tile, while roughly 400 cartons can make a sheet of wallboard.

Please put your cartons in the Blue Bin!

To learn more about carton recycling, visit the Carton Council of Canada.