Recyclers in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows have another item they can divert from the waste stream.
Ridge Meadows Recycling Society now accepts children’s car seats for free drop-off at the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot (10092 236th St.).
“Did you know that in B.C. an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 child car seats end up in the landfill each year?” asks BCAA’s website.
This is due to how quickly children grow out of their car seats, that manufacturers assigning an expiry date to each seat, and there is no end-of-life recycling program for these products. Expiry dates on car seats are not required by Transport Canada, but they recommend that manufacturer’s instructions and warnings for each car seat or booster seat model are followed. The result? An ongoing supply of un-reusable children’s car seats.
“Residents have been asking us where to take expired or un-usable children’s car seats for years,” said Alda Nicmans, executive director of Ridge Meadows Recycling Society. “They want to do the right thing, they don’t want to throw them in the landfill, but until now there were not a lot of options, or places to bring them for recycling.”
While there is not yet a provincially-regulated recycling program for children’s car seats, Ridge Meadows Recycling Society has found an industry partner that can take them. The depot is open seven days a week, including most statutory holidays.
“Some parts of the car seat, like the fabric cover and foam cushions, as well as some plastic components, are not recyclable,” Nicmans continued. “However, the metal and some plastic can be recycled and used to create new products. The car seats will be picked up and processed by Davis Trading, who handles our other scrap metal.”
For more information, and sites that also take car seats, see rmrecycling.org.