Operated by a local non-profit association formed in 1992, the centre oversees recycling for the City of Brooks and County of Newell which includes Duchess, Rosemary, Tilley, Patricia, Rolling Hills, Scandia, Gem and Lake Newell Resort.

Recycling refers to the process of collecting used materials usually considered as 'waste' and reprocessing them. In this process these used materials are sorted and processed for use as 'raw materials' for the production of new products. Recycling varies from 'reuse' in the sense that while reuse just means using old products repeatedly, recycling means using the core elements of an old product as raw material to manufacture new goods.

The recycling process involves three stages. In the first stage the old products are collected and processed, where they are sorted, cleaned and made ready for recycling or manufacturing new products. The second stage involves the manufacturing of new products from the raw material obtained by the processing of the old products. Finally, the process ends with the purchasing of recycled goods by the consumers. The more people step forward to buy recycled products, the better the success of the recycling process can be ensured.