The Recorder
MINDEMOYA—For 16 years, the company Drain-All has been collecting hazardous waste in Mindemoya and Little Current for Central Manitoulin and other Island municipalities and transporting it for recycling and disposal.
The items collected are numerous and include solvents, aerosol containers, needles and syringes, fluorescent lighting tubes, barbecue lighter fluid, latex- and oil-based paints, batteries, gasoline and waste oil, insecticides, herbicides, pool chemicals and electronic waste.
There were 166 vehicles counted at this year’s collection in Mindemoya where volunteers, including Central Manitoulin treasurer/deputy clerk Denise Deforge, Ward 3 Councillor Al Tribinevicius, and administrative assistant Tina Davidson, along with Bruce Mercer (Billings Township municipal employee), Sharon Jackson (Billings councillor) Wade Kearns (Central Manitoulin volunteer), and Central Manitoulin employees James Taylor and Wayne Middaugh helped separate the items and ready them for transport to Ottawa, where Drain-All is based.
The company’s household hazardous waste co-ordinator Steve Tebworth spoke with the Recorder and explained that almost all the items collected are 100 percent recyclable. The exceptions are pharmaceuticals, which are incinerated, and needles, which are autoclaved.
Hazardous waste collection is just one service of the company. Drain-All also provides plumbing, industrial, environmental, emergency response services as well as precision evacuation and high-pressure water blasting. Drain-All services Ontario as far north as Wawa and western Quebec.
The Central Manitoulin and Little Current collection of household hazardous waste is held annually.
