Winter is here at the Hornby Island Recycling Depot and current opening hours are Friday – Sunday, from 9am – 1pm. The Free Store will be open on the same days from 10am until 12 noon. Please note that we will be closed on Boxing Day, December 26, 2024, for large volume account holders.
We would like to thank the HIRRA membership who voted to approve our 2025 operational budget at the November HIRRA meeting. The budget has now been submitted to the CVRD for their approval and hopefully by May 2025 we will get the final budget approval.
We also want to take the opportunity to thank our volunteers in the Free Store, in the gardens, the recycling committee, our hardworking staff, the HIRRA staff, and the HIRRA executives for all their contributions to making our depot run so smoothly and we wish them all the best during this festive season.
We wanted to share with you the exciting news that after 15 years after the untimely passing of Tempest Grace Gale, the Russian Olive Trees that were planted in memory of Pest just outside the depot garden, are carrying fruit for the first time.
Our Free Store volunteers are noticing a large amount of un-useable items being dropped off at the Free Store that should have been deposited and paid for as waste. These items are costly to discard and increases the island’s tax burden. So, we ask you again that only items in good working order are donated to the Free Store and questionable items are paid for and deposited in the trash.
A note that currently we still do not have any way to divert e-cigarettes and vaping paraphernalia. These items should be brought back to the point of purchase for recycling.
Another reminder that together with TerraCycle we now have “disposable razor” recycling at the Hornby Island Recycling Depot, and you now can recycle your disposable razors at the recycling depot. Look for the special drop off recycling box in the recycling building.
Please remember that all cardboard brought to the recycling centre needs to be dry and should be cut down to pieces smaller than 76cm by 76cm (30 inches by 30 inches), so our staff can easily process the material. It is important that cardboard boxes are not trampled and stomped on, as this increases the workload for our employes. Stomped on and trampled cardboard boxes will need to be un-stomped and un-trampled by staff before they can be processed. This is extremely time-consuming and difficult. Wet cardboard cannot be processed and needs to be disposed of as garbage.
We have started to construct the fencing for the “We Store” repurposing yard and hope to complete it by the new year. Once the fencing is installed, we will be looking for an on-site volunteer crew, so we can collect useful construction and demolition waste for repurposing again.
The regional district’s contractor has completed the addition to the recycling building, however, there are still some final details that need to be addressed before we can move into the new premises, The addition will house electronics and electrical appliances as these items are now classified as medium risk materials and need to be protected from spilling into the environment. Interestingly, this stream is currently one of the fastest growing recycling streams in Canada.
A reminder that when planning to drop off large loads of construction waste, drywall or scrap metal, call ahead to ensure that there is sufficient space in our waste bins for what you are planning to bring.
……See you all up on depot hill.
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