Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Síða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Síða 3
Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 2. september 1994 • 3 All About Recyclirag___ Small Towns, Calves and Pigs ... By Joan Eyolfson Cadham With new regulations to con- trol burning at landfill sites and discussions about cen- tralized landfill sites near major cen- tres which would require trucking garbage long distances, small-town Saskatchewan is facing a challenge around garbage. The major part of small-town Saskatchewan garbage is paper and cardboard, glass and cans. More small towns are instituting recycling programs to catch the reusable items before they hit the dump, to save the landfill sites and to cut down hauling costs. Meanwhile, some Saskatchewan farmers have found the perfect bed- ding material — shredded paper. Shredded newsprint is more absorbent, decomposes more thor- oughly than straw when used as bed- ding, and is far easier to handle than large round bales, say Larry and Yolanda Gislason, among several Foam Lake farmers who have switched to paper. Gislason uses the bedding for his 40 cows during calving time, during weaning, and when he has to bring in a sick calf. He gets his shredded paper from local businesses. He heard about shredded paper bedding from a dairy farmer in Manitoba and became an absolute and vocal con- vert to paper. It lasts longer than straw but by fall it has entirely decomposed and disappeared, he said. Most small towns have businesses and institutions that must legally shred paper — the hospital, the phar- macy, the credit union and banks all produce masses of shredded paper. Gislason said he also takes the long strips that are the by-product of form feed computer print outs but he has to shred by hand the long strips so that the calves don’t get tangled in them. ^AMILYl FUNERAL COUNSELLORS Chris Gislason and his environmentally sound bedding material. Gislason preached the idea of shredded paper to Ron Kostiuk, administrator for the Rural Mun- icipality of Foam Lake, and won another convert. Ron’s father, Leonard Kostiuk, is a mixed farmer with a ten sow opera- tion near Leross. Ron, who takes paper up to Leross 30 bags at a time, about a week’s worth of paper, says the pigs love it. “Pigs are curious animals,” he said. “They play with the paper. They have a ball with it. They tear it up and make nests. They carry it around in their mouths.” He didn’t say whether the pigs had taught them- selves to read. However, like Gislason, he did say that paper is definitely cleaner and more absorbent than straw. It is, he says, also much easier to store — the Kostiuks keep a week’s supply in the bam so that it is dry — and easier to work with. It forks up really well and bags of paper in the barn do not attract rats. “When I break open a square bale, I lose what I don’t use immediately,” Ron said. “When I need more paper, I just open an orange garbage bag and throw a little more into the pen.” Kostiuks are supplied by the town office and the credit union in Foam Lake. The pigs have no problem with long strips. Gislason keeps one stall stacked with boxes and bags of shredded paper. He compares the handling of an orange plastic bag filled with shredded paper with handling a 800 to 900 pound round straw bale. Paper wins easily. Because he is so pleased with the results, Gislason is contemplating buying a chipper and shredding his own newsprint. He explained that paper is rolled into a tight bundle so that it looks like a branch and it is fed through the chipper, a simple process. Both Gislason and Kostiuk sug- gest towns give away bags of shred- ded paper to any farmer who will try it. Farmers won’t pay for it until they try it, they say, but a farmer. who has seen the advantages of shredded paper for bedding won’t mind even- tually paying enough to cover the cost of collecting and handling the material. Choices.. BOOK LAUNCH September 9, 1994 8 p.m. Everyone Welcome Consider Cremation, A simple act, done with dignity, our way. Phone anytime 949-2200 MyCompass Points North Memoirs of Geiri Johnson

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