Fall has arrived and things have slowed down here at the Hornby Island Recycling Depot. We are now open Fridays – Sunday, from 9am – 1pm. The Free Store will be open on the same days from 10am until 12 noon.
The popularity of the Free Store continues to increase, and it was extremely busy this summer. Often it was difficult for patrons doing their recycling and drop off their garbage to find parking. It was tricky at times to maneuver your car through our yard because there were so many visitors to the Free Store.
We have been busy working on our 2025 operational budget and will be presenting it to the HIRRA executive this month. Once approved by the HIRRA executive it will be presented to the HIRRA membership in November. Upon approval by the membership the budget will be submitted to the CVRD for their approval and hopefully by May 2025 we will get the final budget approval.
Another note from our Free Store volunteers is that we 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 that increases the island’s tax burden. So, we ask 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 reminder that currently we 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.
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.
We want to ensure that everyone knows 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 then need to be un-stomped and un-trampled by staff before they can be processed. This is extremely time-consuming and difficult.
We are currently working on installing fencing for our “We Store” repurposing construction waste material yard. Unfortunately, we discovered some dangerous trees hanging over into the “We Store” repurposing yard area, that will need to be removed before we can proceed with the fence installation. Once the fencing is installed, we will also be looking for an on-site volunteer crew, so we can collect useful construction and demolition waste for repurposing again.
Now that the traffic levels on the ferries are returning to more predictable levels, we are hoping that our regional district’s contractor will complete the addition to the recycling building, which will house electronics and electrical appliances, soon. These items are now classified as medium risk materials and are representing the fastest growing recycling stream in Canada.
When planning to drop off large loads of construction waste or scrap metal, call ahead to ensure that there is sufficient space in our waste bins for what you are planning to bring.
A reminder, when wanting to drop off drywall, to call ahead to confirm our drywall bin is on the island and that there is room for what you want to drop. Also make sure you have filled out the required paperwork available at http://hirra.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Dry-Wall-Waste-Disposal-Application-March-2017.pdf.
Lastly, we want to take the opportunity to recognize and thank our hardworking staff, at the Recycling Depot for all they do to divert recycling from the waste stream, the HIRRA office, our volunteers in the Free Store, in the gardens, the recycling committee, and the HIRRA executive for all their contributions to making our depot run so smoothly.
……See you all up on depot hill.
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