As a Regional Government on north central Vancouver Island -- we provide recycling services through a system of unstaffed multi material drop-off depots. WE have been doing so for nearly 8 years, servicing a population of around 85,000 with about 30 bins (some newspaper only) distributed throughout 4 municipalities and 8 rural areas. The depots are located primarily on private property, placed deliberately where people shop at malls and grocery stores. The programme is very successful with high use which continues even after two municipalities instituted curbside blue bag recycling accepting the same materials except glass. This collection contract ends Oct 31 and I'm looking for input from similar programme coordinators, particularly dealing with the following issues: -cleanliness (or lack of) at the individual sites -- some very bad and some pretty good. it is the responsibility of the contractor to do this, but they can't be there 24/7. Users have become accustomed to the reality that if they leave garbage and non-recyclables at our depots they will "go away" -- which they do. We "lost" one site because of litter and mess in an area with too few recycling opportunities. In another case we pay someone keep the sites clean because they are even more remote on an island. (unfortunately, due to political constraints it is NOT possible to close that site). We tried a rather extensive anti littering campaign with posters on the bins and large pieces in the local papers and on the radio, but it hasn't made a bit of difference. --bin configuration. How do others configure the bins or does each commodity have a separate bin?
thanks
Echo Hiebert
Waste Reduction Coordinator
Regional District of Comox-Strathcona
600 Comox Rd, Courtenay, B.C. V9N 3P6
334-6025 1-800-331-6007
[email protected]
Assistance with Unstaffed Recycling Depots Contract Issues
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We operate a very similar program around the Saint John region in New Brunswick which also includes a number of different municipalities with both rural and urban areas. We have made pretty good strides in counteracting the litter and illegal dumping issues that we face: 1. Hired a full time employee with the sole responsibility of cleaning and collecting garbage from the depots. 2. Keep close contact with the landlords and request that they call us if they see a problem so we can get in to clean it up right away. 3. Avoid locations with Salvation Army or community drop offs for used items, unfortunately these collection depots tend to collect many unwanted and unusable items and the problem is exacerbated when placed with the recycling bins. 4. We also ask residents to call our highly publicized 'hotline' if they see garbage at the depots. We have come to accept that litter and illegal dumping is a part of our recycling depot program. By keeping them as clean and neat as possible we hope to deter the idea that this is a spot to dump. These proactive measures are helping, but we still have the regulars who continue to dump at our sites. In the past we have also run into resistance with relocating the bins to other areas due to the litter issue, but things have improved with this current approach. Each commodity has a separate bin, and all sites offer the same types. At the more popular sites (in the suburbs) we have more containers than the more rural sites. Every depot is serviced a minimum of once /day. Our contamination levels are very low and our numbers continue to grow every year by 10%.
Brenda MacCallum
Public Education Officer / Agent d'information du public
Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission /
Commission de gestion des dchets solides de Fundy
Tel/Tl: 506 738 1214
email/courriel: [email protected]
www.fundyrecycles.com