This summer has been a busy one for the Hornby Island Recycling Depot. We were shipping two forty-foot bins of recycling weekly. The ever-expanding scope of recyclables we collect enables us to collect over 50 separate streams. Way more than your average Blue Bin Program in the rest of this beautiful province. Did you know that the Blue Box program does not collect glass, Styro Foam and “crinkly” plastics? It is interesting to hear from patrons that live in other urban centres how much more can be disposed of in an environmentally consciences fashion here at the Hornby Island Recycling Depot. And how convenient our one stop centre is. Visitors are impressed how well we divert electronics, electric appliances, tires, oil, paint, batteries, scrap metal, compostable and many other household hazardous wastes in one single location. In urban and other rural areas, one has to travel all over town to dispose these items at several different participating collection sites. We are told by our visitors how great it is to have the option to deal with their waste Thursdays trough Sundays every week. Most of them have only one weekly pick-up and if something is forgotten that should have been tossed, they have to hold on to that trash for another week. We should all be proud for leading the way in recycling and the collecting of end-of-life products and diverting these streams in an environmentally sound fashion. By the way the shelves of the Free Store are bare as many visitors to the island are enjoying the goods up for offer at the Free Store. As well we were shipping two to four bins of waste weekly of the island. There seems to a be fair amount of construction going on as about 50% of the waste we ship of island is generated by the construction and demolition that is going on the island. All in all, a busy summer.
A great shout out to Alsoon Brine and Barbara Baird of the recycling committee for designing and co-ordinating the logistics of bringing you the “Pocket Ashtrays”. Discarded butts leach toxins into the environment and cause countless wildfires. These pocket ashtrays help prevent wildfires and prevent the leaching of toxins into the environment. They are being distributed for free (a $2.00 donation is suggested but not required) at several locations on the island and as well as at the recycling depot. We would like to also thank Gina-Rae Horvath for the amazing photograph of Tessa Mythos’s artwork and the recycling building that we used for the pocket ashtrays. Thanks’ to the CVRD for building a new backhoe shed and adding additional ventilation to the Recycling Building this summer. As the old shed isn’t structurally sound anymore it will need to be demolished. We had planned a little ribbon cutting ceremony for the new shed, but it seems that summer was just too busy.
We want to thank Pat Hargrave for hosting our annual Volunteer and Staff Summer Party again. Thank you to Bill and Sheryl Fletcher for organizing the details. Fun was had by everyone.
And a tremendous thank you to all the volunteers who spent numerous summer hours sorting at the free store, for no pay whatsoever, making the Free Store possible for all the residents and visitors of Hornby Island. A thank you to the “Recycling Committee” and the “HIRRA” executive for dedicating many volunteer hours to help run our little depot. And a big Thank you to the staff for your commitment.
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