Reduce, reuse and recycle
Victoria County to open new reuse centre at solid waste facility
Victoria County residents will have a facility where they can drop off their reusable items for someone else’s benefit.
The county will open a new reuse centre on Saturday at its solid waste facility on Big Baddeck Road in Baddeck, the first of its kind for the county.
The centre will feature items that have been thrown away or donated but are in proper working condition and can still provide a service to residents.
“It takes this stuff out of our waste stream and we don’t have to put it on a truck and send it to Guysborough,” said Victoria County Warden Bruce Morrison.
“I think the other aspect is that whoever takes something they can reuse it themselves — there are two positives that come out of having this.”
The reuse centre, a similar size to a backyard garage, features a cement floor and some shelves. The facility is unheated and has pull-up and walk-in doors. The building was constructed during the winter months and for the time being will operate as a pilot project, opening only Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
The reuse initiative was driven by residents.
“Some people have seen items at the solid waste facilities in north and south that they felt they could have used or somebody else could have used, and that’s sort of how the idea came up,” said Morrison.
Victoria County doesn’t allow salvaging on its properties. The new facility will allow a safe place for people to purchase items for a small fee.
“There are liability issues
around (salvaging), should somebody go in and take something off our wagons or become injured by salvaging, we felt that it was hard to control,” said Morrison. “This will eliminate salvaging and there’s already zero tolerance for salvaging.”
By not having to ship these items out of the county, the municipality expects to save money, however Morrison couldn’t confirm how much money might be saved.
“It’s going to take us probably six to nine months to determine what the reduction is and once we figure that out then we will be able to put a cost-saving on it,” said Morrison. “We will determine how much less by weight and by volume that we’re shipping out, so we will have to go through the process first.”
Morrison expects the reuse centre will at first be based on donations, however municipal staff will search for usable items from its solid waste facility.
“We will be very selective as to what we can take out (of the garbage) and people will have the option to drop things off that they think can be reusable,” said Morrison. “It will be the staff’s decision to determine whether
or not it’s of value or is reusable.”
Officials couldn’t confirm the cost of the building construction or if it will be a seasonal operation. However, Morrison noted the centre will have one employee.
Jocelyn Bethune, spokesperson for the county’s public works department, confirmed items currently in the facility include hockey gear, Christmas decorations, an antique sofa, desk and office chair.
Depending on the success of the Baddeck facility, the municipality isn’t ruling out the possibility of opening other reuse centres in Neils Harbour and Dingwall.
“If there is a demand for it and we can take some of these items out of our waste stream, then we will definitely look at having one in other facilities,” said Morrison.