Yellowknife man set to cash in collecting city's empties

Dean Willis wants your empties.

The 62-year-old from Yellowknife has amassed quite the collection over the past two months.

He's been going to the city's recycling bins around three or four times a day, digging through with his trash picker, searching for his next can, bottle, or even better — milk carton. Those are worth a quarter.

"People are drinking a lot," he said. "It seems like they're drinking more now."

The bottle depot in Yellowknife has been closed since business restrictions came into effect in the Northwest Territories in March. According to the territorial government's "Emerging Wisely" plan, bottle depots are allowed to open under the first phase, which is currently happening, but the one in Yellowknife hasn't done so yet. 

That means people's refundable recyclables continue to pile up.

"It's only because of the COVID-19 that we've been able to get all these because people are not storing them, they're just throwing them out because they've got nowhere to put them," Willis said.

Willis has given up collecting glass bottles. They're heavy, and he hasn't got the room. He already has a storage shed pack full of them, plus three dozen or so black garbage bags of plastic bottles, jugs and cans.

"It's probably over $1,000," he guesses.

His friend is letting him store everything on his property, for now. That is, until the city's bottle depot reopens. 

"When COVID-19 is over, we're going to cash them all in."