In Spring of 2012, we will start using our brand-new Education & Events Trailer! Packed full of everything we need for workshops and off-site booths & displays, the trailer also introduces our 6 new “Recycling Characters” and includes a list of items accepted at the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot. Thanks to Farnsworth Design & SpeedPro Signs for making it all happen!
We enjoyed making a presentation about Ridge Meadows Recycling to the Rotary Club of Haney on Wednesday, April 4. Thank you to Carly Ferguson for inviting us and a big thank you to Rotary Club of Haney for all you do for our community and the world!
On Friday, March 9, Ridge Meadows Recycling Society was honoured to receive the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Community Service. Thank you everyone, for your support and thank you to the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce for doing such a good job organizing the awards and recognizing local businesses. Congratulations to all winners & nominees!
“Starting in February the temporary gallery in the Maple Ridge Museum will be co-curating an exhibition alongside the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society. Chronicling from thrift to modern day up-cycling, the exhibition will look at various repurposed tools, extending what the term recycling really means. The exhibit will also display the history of the Ridge Meadows Recycling through various artifacts and photographs.”
“Check out the Looking Back column from the Maple Ridge News, “Thrifty Business”, for more information on recycling and some of the artefacts you’ll see in the exhibit.
On January 30, 2012, BC Premier Christy Clark and MLA Marc Dalton visited the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot to celebrate Ridge Meadows Recycling’s 40th Anniversary. More photos posted on our Facebook page.
In recognition of Waste Reduction Week in Canada, Mason Parkhill, a 4-year-old Maple Ridge resident, will be named Ridge Meadows Recycling Society’s 2011 Recycler of the Year at the Maple Ridge Council Chambers at the regular council meeting on Tuesday, October 11.
Mason’s interest in recycling began with a friendly garbage collector and his garbage truck. This led to his interest in Maple Ridge’s recycling trucks with their unique, multiple compartments and how things get recycled. “From there (Mason) just started asking more and more questions and was really interested in all of it!” says his mother, Amanda. For his fourth birthday, Mason and his friends went on a tour of the Ridge Meadows Recycling Depot, located just off River Road in the Albion Industrial Park. Free tours of the depot are given to local schools and community groups, as well as an annual visit from BCIT Environmental Health students.
With his natural curiosity and the awareness that came from helping sort his family’s recycling each week, plus encouragement from his family and educational books, toys, & games, Mason began applying his knowledge to the world around him and noticed some things weren’t quite right. So he wrote a letter to the Maple Ridge mayor & council: “Hi! My name is Mason Parkhill and I’m four years old. I’m really interested in recycling and garbage. I’ve noticed that most garbage bins at bus stops are full of recyclable materials, mostly pop and water bottles. I would like to see recycle bins attached to all bus stops next to the garbage cans. It would also be a good idea to have recycle bins in schoolyards and parks. I look forward to hearing what you think of my idea. Yours truly, Mason Parkhill (with help from my mom).”
Mason’s awareness of how our actions affect the world around us, his concern about the environment he’ll be growing up in, and he and his family’s commitment to taking action to make the world a better place led Ridge Meadows Recycling Society naming him their 2011 “Recycler of the Year.” Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin agrees. Says Daykin, “It’s really cool that somebody that’s four years old is already environmentally responsible and thinking about what would make his community better.”
Congratulations Mason, and the whole Parkhill family!