Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Polls tell us that our environment is the primary concern of Canadians these days and here in the NWT, we are striving to do our best to deal with this. In the last Assembly, Mr. Speaker, we did. We passed legislation to create a recycling program and mechanism in the NWT. After a bit of a slow start, Mr. Speaker, this has been declared a runaway success. We now have 26 licensed recycling depots. A bit of information that I have is that in about a five-month period, we recycle enough aluminium cans to build two 737 jets. How's that for trivia? Sixty-two percent of containers are in the recycling stream. That's almost seven million containers, Mr. Speaker.
We have built up a surplus in this environmental fund, in the recycling deposit fund that as of last March was almost three-quarters of a million dollars, Mr. Speaker.
I think the area we would all like to explore is where are we going to go next. Recyclable containers are a good start. There are many, many other things that we use and dispose of in our society in a very wasteful manner. Some of these things are, for instance, building materials, tires, vehicles, metals. The one that should be very much at the front of our concern is what's called e-waste, Mr. Speaker. These are the computers, television sets, electronic gadgets that we love so much in our society but we are so quick to dispose of when they get obsolete or when they break down.
Mr. Speaker, the average older style television set or computer monitor can contain up to five pounds of lead plus other heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and chromium. Where we are going to take our recycling initiative next, Mr. Speaker, should be in this area. Thank you.
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