Delayed opening for Norris Arm North recycling centre

A new facility aims to change the way people in central Newfoundland recycle, but various interruptions mean there's a delay on when it can start processing.

Construction has been ongoing at the Central Newfoundland Waste Management site in Norris Arm North, and there's still work to be done before workers can sort through recycling.

Manager Ed Evans said the building will process recycling from Buchans, Terra Nova, Fogo Island, and all points in between once it's up and running.

Evans said they hoped the Material Recovery Facility would be fully operational by now, but the $20-million project has had a few delays — including a workplace accident that shut the site down for six weeks and an especially harsh winter.

"We had the building put up, the insulation was put up, but unfortunately the ground inside this 47,000-square foot building didn't thaw out, so we lost probably two or three weeks there," said Evans.

About 50,000 tonnes of waste from across central Newfoundland end up at the landfill, and Evans estimates the new recycling plant will divert 15 per cent of that.

"We're following a provincial waste management strategy that requires us to reduce the materials going into the landfills by 50 per cent, and that has to be done by 2020," he said.

Evans added before any change is made to how people throw out their garbage, there will be an education campaign to get people to rethink how they get rid of trash at home.

"The marketing, the education piece will begin before the end of this year to let our citizens know what materials they're going to have to put into this special blue bag."

Evans said he hopes to have the sorting facility up and running by March 2015, and to install a composting system for central Newfoundland.