The facility also has programs on the road

The facility also has programs on the road in our communities, including the household hazardous waste mobile unit for paints, solvents, thinners and the like. All the staff are trained with how to pack these hazardous chemicals and transport them to the facility where they are stored until Atlantic Industrial comes to pick them up. “Some of it gets recycled and some of it gets stabilized,” says Avery.

The Hazardous Waste storage area also contains barrels of engine oil that will be recycled and buckets of cooking oil which is used in biofuels and animal feed. Propane canisters, and automotive batteries are also collected and shipped off for refurbishment or recycling.

The drop-off point, just past the new office building for the facility, is as far as members of the public can go at the Waste-management site. There are large, clearly marked bins for the separation of garbage in the drop-off shed. To the side of the shed is a little garage with a unique purpose; it’s a reuse center. Avery explains, “If someone comes in with something that is still good, that could be of use to someone else, we ask them to put it there. Then people can come in and help themselves to whatever they want. It’s just another way of recycling.”
Just past the drop-off shed is the compost area where as many as 30 to 50 bald eagles can be seen vying for a place at the table on any given day. Under a large tarp is a mound of garden-ready compost. “We sell that on a regular basis. Right now it is going like hotcakes. We don’t have a problem getting rid of it. Most of our organics come from the Town of Antigonish; they have a green box program, and businesses around Guysborough and Port Hawkesbury. We get some fish waste from plants around here as well.”

The compost facility has two main pieces of machinery: a mixer and a screener. Other then these two machines the compost goes through several cycles of curing both inside and outside before it is garden-ready.

Next up on the tour is the diverted materials area. “This doesn’t go to the landfill, we find other uses for it,” says Avery. With the tire-recycling p rogram, tires are chipped in Halifax and reused as an aggregate.”
There’s also a clean wood and brush pile. “We chip that up and use it over in the compost facility for a bulking agent.” Construction and demolition debris is used for cover on the landfill and in some cases it is sent to NewPage for pulp fill.