New commercial shredder will help give second life to paper waste
When Cambrian Credit Union found out that Inclusion Selkirk’s shredding program was being run with a single small shredder they decided it was something they could help with. In order to keep this aspect of Inclusion’s services up and going more efficiently in the future, they decided to help the local non-profit with an $8000 donation which will allow for the purchase of a much more powerful commercial shredder.
“We have a close relationship with Inclusion Selkirk. Cambrian has been supporting Inclusion with both annual donations and sponsorship programs over the years,” explained Brigitte Burgoyne, director of communications and community engagement at Cambrian Credit Union.
She says that when Cambrian’s Selkirk Branch Regional Manager Craig Giesbrecht found out about the difficulties with the existing shredders they knew they wanted to help.
“We’re happy to be able to support programs that have a direct impact on the community, and those who live and work in the area. That’s where we like to be able to provide support and funding. And so, we’re very pleased to be able to do this with Inclusion this year,” said Burgoyne.
Inclusion Selkirk is an organization that helps to build an inclusive community by providing opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities and their families. One of the ways that they do that is by running programs that employ their clients and teach them job skills.
Their recycling program is a long-standing part of the organization having started in 1997.
“It got started when we were doing recycling for the City of Selkirk. We stopped doing that, but a lot of the schools and businesses still had recycling that they wanted us to pick up. So, we continued,” said Sharon Holmes, director of day services for Inclusion Selkirk.
Inclusion picks up clean dry paper from businesses and organizations. The paper is sorted to remove staples, paperclips and any glossy or soiled paper that cannot be shredded. After sorting, the paper is shredded and then the shredding is loaded into their baler in a specific way that incorporates newspaper and cardboard to create a solid bale.
“We don’t process confidential papers, but we go to different local businesses to collect. We go to Stonewall. We pick up at schools as well [and we also pick up from a business in Winnipeg],” Holmes said.
The paper is picked up for free from these businesses and organizations and the clients at Inclusion are paid for their work. The way that Inclusion is able to support the program is by selling the bales to a company in Winkler that uses them to create insulation.
The recycling program has grown over the years from a place where the smaller paper shredders worked well to a level where they are now going through three to four units a year and finding that they are overheating often which causes work to stop until the shredder cools.
“We have some individuals that like to keep busy. So we’ll be able to give them that opportunity. They’ll be able to do [their work] in a timely manner, and they don’t have to have that downtime,” said Holmes.
Amber Zakaluk, the administration coordinator for Inclusion Selkirk’s day program said it also shows their clients how change can take place in a workplace and how growth takes place.
Record Photos by Katelyn Boulanger
“There are some individuals who the majority of the time they spend doing shredding. You can tell that they get such pride out of that. Seeing the pride that they take in making sure that they’ve removed all those staples, they’ve removed all of the paper clips, that pride you can see get brought into other things that they do in the community because they have that self-confidence from taking that ownership,” said Zakaluk.
Burgoyne says that she’s very impressed with what she learned about the program and Cambrian Credit Union is happy to be able to support it.
“This provides the opportunity for Inclusion clients to have work and continue to have this source of income for Inclusion. I think that’s absolutely something that we want to be able to support and to see Inclusion be able to continue to find these opportunities to fund the important work they’re doing for the Selkirk community,” said Burgoyne.
If businesses in Selkirk or our surrounding area are interested in having their dry, clean recycling picked up to be part of this program they can contact Inclusion Selkirk via the contact information on their website at https://inclusionselkirk.ca/.
Holmes would like to thank Cambrian Credit Union for their generous donations not just to the recycling program but for their continuous support and understanding of the work that Inclusion does.
“We’re very grateful. They’ve been a huge asset to us. We couldn’t say thank you enough,” she said.
