Waste Paper Products Initiative

The Waste Paper Products Initiative is now closed.  Watch for announcements and application forms in Spring 2011 for the third-year of financial assistance.

This three-year initiative provides financial assistance to NWT-based municipalities, organizations, businesses and individuals to initiate and develop alternative ways to reuse paper and cardboard destined for landfills.  Paper-based materials include, but are not limited to, white paper, brown paper, coloured paper, boxboard, corrugated cardboard, magazines, catalogues, newspapers, egg cartons, etc.

Some communities collect paper-based materials for shipment to southern Canada for recycling.  Current methods of transportation are energy-intensive and expensive.  The environmental and economic benefits of recycling decrease when these bulky materials are shipped over long distances.  Often, more energy is used to get materials to recycling markets than is saved by the actual recycling process.

Waste paper and cardboard have been used to manufacture products like: cellulose insulation; fuel bricks and pellets; packing materials; hydromulch; moulded pulp products; wallboard; and animal bedding.  Many paper or cardboard products can also be composted.  Currently, waste paper and cardboard not shipped out for recycling is sent to landfills and, in some cases, is burned.  There is potential for this waste to be reused as raw materials right here in the NWT.

The Waste Paper Products Initiative is the result of consultations in 2008 with NWT residents to determine waste products to recover and recycle in addition to beverage containers.  Products under review during the consultation process included paper products, milk containers, e-waste, lead acid batteries, plastic grocery bags, fuel drums and tires.  Residents identified paper and cardboard as the number one waste item for recovery or recycling.

As a result, ENR is looking for ways to reuse or recycle waste paper and cardboard right here in the North.

Funding Guidlines/Application Form

For more information on paper and cardboard recycling visit: