Two more Montreal-area communities are making it easier to recycle personal protective equipment. Authorities in the cities of Vaudreuil-Dorion and Pointe-Claire have set up boxes at various locations where people can drop off the items. Officials in both cities say it's about time. "I have noticed masks lying in the street and like the volume just went up, right," Judith Largy-Nadeau, Vaudreuil-Dorion's environmental advisor noted. "People using them and just disposing of them wherever they can. We thought this would be a good opportunity to send them somewhere else where they can be reused instead." In that city, only disposable masks are being collected for now whereas, in Pointe-Claire, residents can drop off masks, safety glasses and earplugs.

Pointe-Claire and Vaudreuil-Dorion are now offering bins in municipal buildings to collect used masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pointe-Claire has set up recycling bins for disposable personal safety equipment that would otherwise end up in household waste. Disposable masks, earplugs and protective eyewear can be dropped off in the designated bins placed inside city hall, the aquatic centre and Bob-Birnie Arena, which are located between St-Jean Blvd. and Maywood Ave., corner of Douglas-Shand Ave. Vaudreuil-Dorion announced it is collecting single-use masks in bins placed at city hall (2555 Dutrisac St.), the municipal library (51 Jeannotte St.) and the Centre Multisports (3093 Boulevard de la Gare).The city said this initiative aims to prevent disposable masks from being tossed in the environment and from being sent to landfills. The materials are being recovered by TerraCycle, a company that transforms them into raw materials that can then used to make new products.

Two more Montreal-area communities are making it easier to recycle personal protective equipment. Authorities in the cities of Vaudreuil-Dorion and Pointe-Claire have set up boxes at various locations where people can drop off the items. Officials in both cities say it’s about time. “I have noticed masks lying in the street and like the volume just went up, right,” Judith Largy-Nadeau, Vaudreuil-Dorion’s environmental advisor noted. “People using them and just disposing of them wherever they can. We thought this would be a good opportunity to send them somewhere else where they can be reused instead.”