Whitehorse's Raven Recycling still unsure of depot revival
Remark comes after announcement of new government funding
A Whitehorse recycling company says it's too early to say if it will reopen its drop-off station for household recyclables, despite the territorial and municipal governments' recent announcement of funding increases for the city's recyclers.
The announcement came after the territory's two processing centres said they could no longer afford the cost of handling non-refundable items, such as glass, plastics and paper.
One of them, Raven Recycling, closed its drop-off depot last fall.
The company's president, Jacqueline Bedard, said despite the new funding there are still issues to sort out before the company can reopen the drop-off centre.
"What we want to hear is that there's a longer-term plan," she said. "We don't want to mislead the public by opening the public drop-off and implying everything's fine."
One thing local recyclers have been asking for is an increase in the deposit fee on some beverage containers — a fee that has not increased in 22 years.
The Yukon government has said it's working on raising deposits on refundables and establishing fees for other items such as electronics.
Bedard said there's a lot of uncertainty in the recycling industry because of volatile commodity prices.