By Bryn Levy

Saskatoon recycling depot digging out from Christmas cardboard dump

Jan 2, 2013 | 3:08 PM

City recycling depots are coping with the aftermath of the Christmas season, with some of them piled high with cardboard boxes and paper from presents.

City resident Nancy Thowen was shocked at the state of the recycling drop-off behind the Avalon Shopping Centre. She found the bins overflowing, and the ground littered with cardboard and cans.

“My feeling is that I understand that the city maybe is not able to pick it up and it's a busy time of year for recycling, but I think that people have a personal responsibility as well. When they come, they see that the bins are full and overflowing, why would you throw (your recycling) on the ground?” she said, as she packed her recyclables back into her car to return another day.

The City of Saskatoon picks material up at the sites daily, but has trouble keeping up at this time of year, said Ken Gryschuk, manager with Cosmopolitan Industries, which operates the recycling depots.

He says cardboard is the biggest obstacle to keeping the sites presentable.

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“Part of the issue is that we have so much cardboard and the pickups are done once a day, it just overwhelms what's possible to do without additional pickups.”

Brenda Wallace, manager of Environmental Services with the City of Saskatoon, is asking people to be patient when they find the bins overflowing.

She asks that if possible, people come back another day.

The biggest thing people can do to help is to cut their cardboard boxes down and flatten them, reducing the volume of space they take up in the bins, said both Wallace and Gryschuk.

By next weekend, Wallace said she expects volumes at the sites to return to normal.

Down the road, Wallace says new city recycling programs, including curbside pickup launched today, will also relieve the pressure on the depots.

“Certainly we know that close on the heels of launching this residential recycling program, we hope by 2014 to also have a program for multi-unit dwellings and so that will definitely significantly reduce the use of our recycling depots.”

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