Brady 4R Winnipeg Depot is simple, effective

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2016 (3573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Once a year, my husband and I pack up all our household hazardous material items that should not be put in the recycling or garbage bins. In the past we took them to a site on Hekla Avenue, across town from us.

This year, our trip was much shorter. In February, the Brady 4R Winnipeg Depot opened at 1901 Brady Road, just south of the Perimeter Highway. Summer hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The drive to the site is along paved roads. Signage is excellent and directs you to an entry point where staff members greet you and check what you are bringing. All our items were taken immediately into a storage building at this spot. Additionally, there are 17 different collection areas for various items.

All the blue bin recycling items can be taken to the 4R site, as well as leaf and yard waste. Another 15 categories of accepted materials are listed on the website, which can be found at winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/recycle/4rdepots/brady.stm

The accepted materials list is set up under three headings: Material, Examples, Use/Reuse.

For instance, “Other glass” is listed under Material. Under Examples comes the explanation: “Windows without frames, glassware and broken glass” and under Use/Reuse is “Reused for roads and pads at Brady Road Resource Management Facility”.

I anticipated categories such as batteries, electronic waste, and household hazardous waste which includes “cleaners, fluorescent lights, propane tanks, paint, herbicides/pesticides.”

However, I was surprised by categories such as “clean fill” consisting of “soil, sod, clay, and sand” which are reused for cover at the facility. Or, “rubble and masonry” made up of “brick, asphalt, patio stones, gravel, concrete — no rebar.” Then there is “scrap metal” which covers “small appliances, pots, pans, chain link fencing, (barbecues).”

Some of the items listed under large plastics are plastic patio lawn furniture, buckets, and laundry baskets.

A few years ago we had a couple of dehumidifiers that weren’t working. We were told repairs would be costly and not necessarily guaranteed. The only solution was to take them to the Brady Landfill, as it was called then, and navigating the landfill site on mud roads. Memory says we had to pay a small unloading fee.

At the new 4R location, besides small appliances, you also can drop off large appliances such as stoves, fridges, freezers, washers, dryers and dishwashers.  There is no unloading fee.

In fact, anything on the site’s list can be dropped off free of charge, as all items listed can be reused, composted, resold or recycled.

Jeannette Timmerman is a community correspondent for Richmond West.