Waste Paper Products Initiative

The Waste Paper Product Initiative was created in 2009 to provide financial assistance to NWT-based municipalities, organizations, businesses, and individuals to develop innovative, alternative end of life uses for significant volumes of paper-based materials recovered or diverted from the waste stream. The environmental and economic benefits of recycling decrease when bulky materials must be shipped long distances for recycling. Often, more energy is used to get materials to recycling markets than is saved by the actual recycling process. Many remote or sparsely populated jurisdictions face similar problems. Around the world, innovative end-uses for paper-based materials are being developed to reuse materials and recycle in local markets.

Some communities collect paper-based materials for shipment to southern Canada for recycling.  Current methods of transportation are energy-intensive and expensive.

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 cycle of Waste Paper Product Initiative funding is closed, however ENR is still interested in finding local opportunities to address waste paper-based products, and is always open to suggestions and new ideas.  If you have a project or idea to divert waste paper products from the waste stream, we would like to hear from you!  Please send your suggestions to:

Waste Paper Products Initiative
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Box 1320
Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Fax: 867 873 0221 Email: nwtrecycle@gov.nt.ca

For more information on paper and cardboard recycling visit: