**Reminder of Special Recycling Pickup for residents with FRIDAY pickup ONLY on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. Please set out your recycling boxes & bags by 7:00am**
Welcome anyone new to this newsletter list! We hope you enjoy the updates on Maple Ridge recycling programs, changes to pickup schedules, and learning what's new in our community!
2020 was nothing like anyone expected. While it started out business as usual, everything changed mid-March as the Covid-19 pandemic threw everyone's plans out the window and plunged us into months of unknown.
While we cancelled our Earth Day plans and the rest of our Repair Cafes, curbside recycling pickup and keeping the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot running were designated essential services. Events & education went online, and we rolled out a number of videos focusing on items accepted at the Depot and deep dives into each of the curbside boxes & bags. Virtual Depot Tours and visits to classrooms on Zoom filled the rest of the year as we all worked to flatten the curve.
With vaccines rolling out in the near future, 2021 will be a year to emerge, recover, and perhaps make the world a little bit better than it was before.
Huge thank you's to all our volunteers and supporters - especially our amazing Board of Directors who adeptly navigated the uncertainty that was 2020.
In this newsletter...
Christmas & holiday recycling messages!
A look back on 2020...
This month, the Volunteer Spotlight falls on Bill!
Upcoming community events...
Got Friday Recycling Pickup? Special pickup just for you on Sunday, December 27!
Mark your calendar if you have FRIDAY recycling pickup - NO pickup on Christmas Day or New Year's Day, but there will be an extra, special pickup in your area on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. We're predicting the trucks will finish routes quicker than usual, so set everything out by 7:00am to ensure it's not missed!
Looking Back on 2020...
COVID-19
Thank you for your understanding & patience this year as we navigated safely providing essential services during a pandemic. Stay safe, stay calm, stay kind...
Celebrate Earth Day 2020
Photo Contest Winners
Photo Contest Winners (in order): Amber Moreno (Child), Bonita Shao (Youth), Evan Biles (Youth), Linda Killerich (Adult/Overall Winner)
RMRS VIDEOS!!
As we couldn't see anyone at events this year, we created a lot of videos and online content to give Covid-19 updates, highlight our Supported Work program, showcase items we accept for recycling at the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot, capture the Household Hazardous Waste Day event, and do deep dives into curbside recycling box & bag "Dos" & "Don'ts" - all videos are posted on Ridge Meadows Recycling's YouTube Channel or you can click on the images below to watch the video...enjoy!
LAST Committee Community Inclusion Online Dance Party - October 28, 2020
The pandemic didn't stop the Life After School Transition Committee from celebrating Community Inclusion Month! Spandy Andy had everyone dancing and grooving as we celebrated alone...together!
RMRS Volunteer Spotlight - Meet Bill!
The Maple Ridge Repair Cafes are on hold for now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can still celebrate our awesome volunteers!!!
Although his background is in machinery, Bill considers himself “a little bit of a jack-of-all-trades.” In high school, he took a lot of shop classes, then joined his father to work as an apprentice machinist at the “largest machine shop in B.C,” where his grandfather had also worked.
Realizing he didn’t want to work there for the rest of his life, Bill followed up on an ad he saw in the paper looking for Industrial Education teachers. This led to a career teaching metalwork & woodwork as well as other shop classes. Now retired, he has a basic shop at home, allowing him to do his own home maintenance and help his son out with things for his store.
Bill first heard about Repair Cafes while he was a Board Member of Ridge Meadows Recycling Society. “I thought, ‘that’s something I can volunteer for,’” Bill recalls, “I was unsure as to what to expect, but at [the Volunteer Orientation], I saw 2 or 3 other people I knew, and there was another retired shop teacher, and I knew their skill level, so I was able to relax and realized, ‘OK, this will be good.’”
Bill appreciates that volunteering for Repair Cafes is not onerous – “All I do is show up on the day & do the work – at this point I like being a worker bee.” He is most comfortable with carpentry repairs, but can also do basic electrical work – “rewiring a lamp is pretty straightforward, but coffeemakers – anything with a printed circuit board is a higher level – we are lucky to have people good with electrical repair as those are common.”
A memorable fix of Bill’s was at the Maple Ridge Seniors’ Activity Centre when he worked with another fixer on a magnifying lamp that clamps to a table or desk. After fixing it, the owner asked him to come and install it in her apartment, which was in the same building. “She sat down, turned it on, pulled over her needlepoint, and started to cry,” Bill shares, “She said, ‘This brings my life back.’ It only took us 15 minutes to fix, but was a significant part of her life.”
Now, Bill’s grandson also helps out at the Repair Cafes. “I sensed early on that he liked working with me, so I started saving up small jobs for him to do. He was keen, now he’s in Grade 12 and taking a lot of shop classes. He also got a summer job in a machine shop…” Bill really enjoys the time he spends with his grandson at the Cafes – “I’m lucky we have the same interests, that we have this chance to do something together that we both enjoy. It’s very valuable to me.”
Upcoming Community Events...
Maple Ridge Community Leaders Forum - Thursday, December 10, 7-9pm
In case you missed it...
Reminder that we do NOT pick up recycling on stat holidays and your recycling pickup day does NOT change. Simply set out as much recycling as you need to the following week and it will be picked up. If you have too much to wait, you can always bring it to the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot - located at 10092 - 236th Street and open 363 days a year!
If you have never been to the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot or are wondering what items are accepted there for FREE recycling drop-off, THIS is the video for you! The Maple Ridge Recycling Depot is located at 10092 - 236th Street, Maple Ridge. For more information, visit our website.
Maple Ridge's First Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day in 30 Years is a Success!
Over 150 vehicles brought in over 7,000kg of hazardous material to our September 19 Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day. Terrapure Environmental was on site to make sure all the material collected was safely disposed...
Hey Kids! Can YOU Recycle It Right?
Have you played our online game lately? (Warning - though simple, the game can definitely become addictive!!)
Learn how to Recycle It Right!
Ridge Meadows Recycling Society is a community-based, non-profit organization, advocating zero waste, operating responsible waste reduction services and providing environmental education.
We employ people with developmental disabilities assisting their integration into the community.
Vision: A waste free, socially responsible community
While we cancelled our Earth Day plans and the rest of our Repair Cafes, curbside recycling pickup and keeping the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot running were designated essential services. Events & education went online, and we rolled out a number of videos focusing on items accepted at the Depot and deep dives into each of the curbside boxes & bags. Virtual Depot Tours and visits to classrooms on Zoom filled the rest of the year as we all worked to flatten the curve.
With vaccines rolling out in the near future, 2021 will be a year to emerge, recover, and perhaps make the world a little bit better than it was before.
Although his background is in machinery, Bill considers himself “a little bit of a jack-of-all-trades.” In high school, he took a lot of shop classes, then joined his father to work as an apprentice machinist at the “largest machine shop in B.C,” where his grandfather had also worked.
Bill appreciates that volunteering for Repair Cafes is not onerous – “All I do is show up on the day & do the work – at this point I like being a worker bee.” He is most comfortable with carpentry repairs, but can also do basic electrical work – “rewiring a lamp is pretty straightforward, but coffeemakers – anything with a printed circuit board is a higher level – we are lucky to have people good with electrical repair as those are common.”
Now, Bill’s grandson also helps out at the Repair Cafes. “I sensed early on that he liked working with me, so I started saving up small jobs for him to do. He was keen, now he’s in Grade 12 and taking a lot of shop classes. He also got a summer job in a machine shop…” Bill really enjoys the time he spends with his grandson at the Cafes – “I’m lucky we have the same interests, that we have this chance to do something together that we both enjoy. It’s very valuable to me.”
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