Waste Management opens its new recycling depot today, April 30.
Bins at the depot, located at the firm’s Terrace location on the north side of Keith Ave. beside Superior Propane, got a fresh coat of paint last week and the drive-in location was smoothed out to get it ready to go.
The free-to-use site includes seven bins and will be open dawn until dusk, said Waste Management’s northern B.C. district manager Jay Maybin.
“There’s lots of space for up to three cars at a time,” said Maybin. “It’s easy, it’s all in one spot.”
Three of the bins are dedicated for cardboard, three for mixed use which means paper, plastic and other fibre material, and one bin for metals.
“We really want to try to keep it clean metal,” said Maybin, adding that includes items from tin cans to bed frames. “(But) we don’t want overly large pieces, anything you can carry.”
The drive-in area will be marked by signs directing recyclers where to go, said Maybin.
The Waste Management depot replaces a pilot project operated until this weekend by the city at the old Co-op site.
Material collected there was taken by Geier Waste to Do Your Part Recycling in Thornhill.
The city had tentatively planned to make that depot permanent and at a tentative cost of $70,000 a year.
That’s when Waste Management approached the city offering to open its own depot instead.
To get ready, Waste Management purchased a baler, which is a machine that compacts recyclable materials in preparation for shipping.
Material will be stored at the site until enough has been collected to fill a truck. It will then be taken to recycling facilities in Vancouver.
