With the festive season upon us, the City would like to remind residents that glass items including empty wine and beer bottles, jars and sauce containers cannot be placed in your home recycling carts.
“Throwing glass bottles into your curbside recycling can cause the entire load in the collection truck to become contaminated,” says Madison Poultney, Sustainability Coordinator. “This is because glass shatters in the process of being unloaded at the material recovery facility and becomes very difficult to sort other items within the same load. It also becomes a safety hazard for staff as they are trying to sort through the recyclables.”
A recent RecycleBC audit of Penticton households revealed that the amount of glass found in recycling carts has increased to 4.1 per cent from 2.1 per cent during the same time period last year. The City’s Recycling Ambassadors also spotted glass frequently within residential carts while conducting their audits this summer. The best way to help prevent the hazards and contamination from recycling glass at home is to instead take it to the following locations. J&C Bottle Depot Drop off your wine and beer bottles, plus other beverage containers, for a refund under the Return-In program. They also accept non-refundable glass jars and containers for recycling. Located at 200 Rosetown Ave., with more details at return-it.ca or Ph: 250-492-5144. Return-It Express & GO in Penticton
This station offers a quick and convenient option for recycling your refundable beverage containers including cans, juice boxes, milk jugs and bottles. Simply pre-bag your items in a clear bag, print your label on site and drop them off – without the need for counting or sorting. Located at 200 Carmi Ave., with more details at return-it.ca/express/penticton.
Campbell Mountain Landfill The landfill has a bin right at the front entrance where non-deposit glass bottles, sauce containers and jars can be recycled. Located at 1765 Reservoir Rd., with more information at rdos.bc.ca/campbell-mountain or Ph: 250-490-4129.
Penticton’s goal is to lower the community’s recycling contamination rate from 13.3 per cent to 10 per cent or lower by the end of this year. For more information about recycling, or for more tips about what goes where, visit penticton.ca/recycling.