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QC recycling depot closed for now

By Mariah McCooey--Reduce and re-use, because it may be a while before you can recycle again-at least at the south end.
The Queen Charlotte recycling depot is "closed 'til further notice," as you will have noticed if you loaded up your truck last Wednesday or Saturday to dump your cardboard, paper and tin cans.
The problem is twofold, said Tim Deschamp, Superintendent of Waste Management at the regional district in Prince Rupert. "What the problem is - we currently have two staff on holidays, and the recycling truck is broken down." The ten-year-old truck has been a "mechanic's nightmare," he said. It was first taken to a shop in Masset, where they were unable to locate the problem. Then it was shipped to Rupert. The truck saw another mechanic there, who was again unable to locate the problem, and now, after a 'high-tech' diagnostic, they have finally discovered that the culprit is the "injection module". But this third mechanic is "just swamped" right now, said Mr. Deschamp. However, he said he hopes they will receive word on the truck's status by next week.
"This is the first time for a major breakdown," he said, "and we hope it will be back soonÂ… it's unfortunate, definitely an inconvenience for people at the south end of the island."
Meanwhile, stores that go through a lot of cardboard-such as Meegan's in Queen Charlotte-are finding different ways to deal with the backlog. Since they didn't have anywhere to store the heaps of cardboard, they burnt a whole bunch, according to a store spokesperson.
In Masset, (where there is no depot) you can still drop off your recycling in the blue recycle dumpsters, where staff are transferring the material to Port using passenger vans, said Mr. Deschamp. In Sandspit, you can also drop things off in the blue bins, which will be emptied (for the time being) by those same vans. Port residents are unaffected by the breakdown, since they live near the main centre of recycling.
Usually, the recycling is collected, bundled, and brought to Port Clements, where it then gets loaded into a trailer. Once the trailer is full, it goes over on the ferry to Prince Rupert. This usually happens about six times a year, said Mr. Deschamp, and a full load is about 18 metric tonnes. That means that islanders recycle over 100 tonnes of material every year! Keep up the good work.