End of Life Vehicle Recycling in the Island Lakes
Location: Garden Hill First Nation, St. Theresa Point First Nation and Wasagamack First Nation
Project Partners: Garden Hill First Nation, St. Theresa Point First Nation, Wasagamack First Nation, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, Producer Responsibility Organizations in Manitoba, and Indigenous Services Canada
Project Partners: Garden Hill First Nation, St. Theresa Point First Nation, Wasagamack First Nation, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, Producer Responsibility Organizations in Manitoba, and Indigenous Services Canada
Project Description
Sustainable Waste Management in Indigenous communities in the north is an ongoing concern and challenging especially to those who reside in the Island Lakes region. Due to the Island Lakes being only accessible by winter roads or by air they are faced with challenge of removing harmful and hazardous waste out of the Island Lakes and south to Winnipeg, MB. One of these sources of hazardous waste comes from what are known as “End-of-Life Vehicles.” An End of Life Vehicle is a car, truck, or other automobile that is no longer usable. These contain toxic elements such as antifreeze, Freon, oil, gasoline, and mercury. These elements must be removed before the vehicle can be crushed and stored for shipping. This process is called decommissioning. The decommissioning of an End of Life Vehicle is carried out by trained workers in designated spaces meant for the safe handling of hazardous materials and the operation of heavy equipment.
The First Nations of Garden Hill, St. Theresa Point and Wasagamack partnered with the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, with funding from Indigenous Services Canada, to collect, depollute and ship out End of Life Vehicles. Each First Nation had thousands of legacy End of Life Vehicles in their communities that were posing environmental and human health threats. In 2018 each First Nation started to remove End of Life Vehicles from community spaces and place them in designated decommissioning sites. At the same time, staff were being hired and trained to safely handle, depollute, decommission and crush End of Life Vehicles. The crushed End of Life Vehicles were stored until the winter when they could be shipped south to metal recycling facilities on transport trucks over the winter roads.
Each First Nation received training and support from the Producer Responsibility Organizations in Manitoba. The Producer Responsibility Organizations instructed the staff how to safely store stewarded materials, such as lead-acid batteries, tires and oil. Then in 2019 and 2020 the Producer Responsibility Organizations collaborated to support the backhaul of stewarded items out of the Island Lakes. The stewarded items were hauled out of the community on transport trucks that were otherwise returning to Winnipeg empty.
The removal of End of Life Vehicles in the Island Lakes has resulted in the significant reduction of legacy End of Life Vehicles in community spaces, increased jobs in the community, and a safer environment.
Sustainable Waste Management in Indigenous communities in the north is an ongoing concern and challenging especially to those who reside in the Island Lakes region. Due to the Island Lakes being only accessible by winter roads or by air they are faced with challenge of removing harmful and hazardous waste out of the Island Lakes and south to Winnipeg, MB. One of these sources of hazardous waste comes from what are known as “End-of-Life Vehicles.” An End of Life Vehicle is a car, truck, or other automobile that is no longer usable. These contain toxic elements such as antifreeze, Freon, oil, gasoline, and mercury. These elements must be removed before the vehicle can be crushed and stored for shipping. This process is called decommissioning. The decommissioning of an End of Life Vehicle is carried out by trained workers in designated spaces meant for the safe handling of hazardous materials and the operation of heavy equipment.
The First Nations of Garden Hill, St. Theresa Point and Wasagamack partnered with the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, with funding from Indigenous Services Canada, to collect, depollute and ship out End of Life Vehicles. Each First Nation had thousands of legacy End of Life Vehicles in their communities that were posing environmental and human health threats. In 2018 each First Nation started to remove End of Life Vehicles from community spaces and place them in designated decommissioning sites. At the same time, staff were being hired and trained to safely handle, depollute, decommission and crush End of Life Vehicles. The crushed End of Life Vehicles were stored until the winter when they could be shipped south to metal recycling facilities on transport trucks over the winter roads.
Each First Nation received training and support from the Producer Responsibility Organizations in Manitoba. The Producer Responsibility Organizations instructed the staff how to safely store stewarded materials, such as lead-acid batteries, tires and oil. Then in 2019 and 2020 the Producer Responsibility Organizations collaborated to support the backhaul of stewarded items out of the Island Lakes. The stewarded items were hauled out of the community on transport trucks that were otherwise returning to Winnipeg empty.
The removal of End of Life Vehicles in the Island Lakes has resulted in the significant reduction of legacy End of Life Vehicles in community spaces, increased jobs in the community, and a safer environment.
Project Results
- Build capacity through safety, heavy equipment, and project management training
- Collect, decommission, depollute and crush End of Life Vehicles
- Remove, safely store, and ship out stewarded materials
- Develop partnerships
- Thousands of End of Life Vehicles collected, decommissioned, depolluted and crushed
- The removal of crushed End of Life Vehicles from the Island Lakes to Winnipeg over the winter roads during 2018, 2019 and 2020
- Forty-eight Island Lake community members trained across 16 different training programs including programs such as First Aid, Landfill Basics, WHMIS, TDG and Heavy Equipment Operator Certification.
- The safe storage and removal of thousands of tires, hundreds of lead-acid batteries, hundreds of liters of used oil, and other hazardous materials such as paint and fluorescent lightbulbs.