SARCAN Recycling will reopen to public next month

There is light at the end of the tunnel for Saskatchewan residents who have growing piles of bottles and cans taking up space at home, with SARCAN set to reopen to the public in June. 

The provincial government announced Thursday the recycling service will open to the general public on June 15.

Commercial and bulk customers can access the service by appointment as of June 8, which is the start date for Phase 3 of the Saskatchewan Re-Open Plan.

On Wednesday, before the opening date was announced, SARCAN director of collections Sean Collins said the service is making changes to prepare.  

"We're looking at all kinds of things from operational changes to allow for proper physical distancing, determining maximum capacity within each depot … looking at engineered solutions, things like barriers," said Collins.

The recycling service, which provides refunds for bottles and cans, operates in 63 communities across the province.  

Collins said training plans for staff and enhanced cleaning protocols are among the measures taking place behind the scenes. 

He said SARCAN started making changes to prepare for reopening shortly after the depots were shut down in March due to COVID-19.

"We knew this was a temporary closure, we didn't know how long it would be but we didn't want to be in a situation where we were able to open and had not done the necessary planning," he said. 

Collins said he knows there are customers who are wondering when they will be able to recycle. 

"It's a nice thing to know that people are anxious and eager to recycle and people visit us for all sorts of reasons," he said.

"For some it's the environmental impact they know they're making when they recycle, for other customers there's an economic incentive to return containers." 

Some community groups have been offering to take recyclables off people's hands during the SARCAN closure. 

Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation has been running a bottle drive to take people's cans and bottles. 

Executive director Jan Shadick said she thinks many people have been relieved to have a place to take the items. 

"We had one family that went around their neighbourhood and said 'Hey we're collecting bottles for Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation' and the people were like 'Oh thank you!' and just overwhelmingly happy to get rid of all these excess bottles and cans," she said.

Shadick said the bottles and cans collected could garner as much as $1,000 when she is finally able to take them to SARCAN. 

"That will hopefully get us through about one month's worth of mealworms," said Shadick. 

"It's for all the many, many, many songbirds and waterfowl that we get in." 

Once SARCAN is open again, Shadick said people will be able to donate their recyclables to Living Sky through a "drop and go" program at the recycling centre. 

Pastor Keith Pankratz said a bottle drive is helping the Pleasant Hill Mennonite Church raise money for its annual children's vacation bible school program. 

"Normally we do in-house meals or those kinds of fundraising dinners," said Pankratz. 

"Obviously we aren't able to gather, we haven't been able to do those sorts of things, so this is sort of a simple way where individuals can come by … and just drop those things off."

He said the day camp is usually attended by about 110 children and he hopes it can still be held later this year or, if not, at a later date.

"There's many people with full garages it seems," he said. 

"We're hopeful that that will contribute significantly to our children's ministry for the summer."