SARCAN paying out $1.8M weekly since reopening
Rush to recycle a pleasant surprise for organization’s collectors, broad public
Sean Homenick never expected people to be so excited about recycling.
When SARCAN Recycling reopened its doors to the public last month, its depots were inundated with customers. And they have continued to be inundated every day they’ve been since. “I look at things like restaurants and bars in my neighbourhood that are kind of slow and that’s what we were expecting — that people weren’t going to be in a rush, especially to do something like recycle. And it’s been quite the opposite,” Homenick said. “People have been really, really excited.”
In normal years, SARCAN’S busiest days are after long weekends, when the organization can see as many as 2.7 million containers turned in to its locations across Saskatchewan in a single day.
Since reopening to the public on June 15, it has averaged 2.5 million containers returned daily, with some days hitting 2.7 million.
“It’s kind of like having our busiest day of the year going on 14 or 16 days in a row,” Homenick said.
The busiest location is the Saskatoon depot on Broadway Avenue.
Here are some of the other numbers SARCAN is reporting.
$1.8
million: The average SARCAN has paid out each week for container returns. Homenick said some individual returns have amounted to between $2,000 and $5,000. “We’ve had a few really huge bottle drives that were very successful, people going door-todoor during our closure,” Homenick said.
4
hours: The length of time some people have said they’ve waited in line to drop off containers. Homenick says it’s more common to hear of people waiting two hours. Waits are long not only because of the high volume of customers, but because only one employee can work in a drop-off chute at any time to abide by distancing requirements. 2
metres: The space customers are required to keep between each other. Homenick says depots have staff who enforce physical distancing in lineups. It tends to be easy because the bulging bags and boxes of empties act as natural barriers. “People have generally been really, really good,” Homenick said. 100
per cent: The capacity SARCAN is operating at. Since depots reopened, drop-and-go options have been temporarily suspended at some locations because there has been no space to put more containers and not enough people to process the empties (when this happens, SARCAN will post an update on its website and Facebook page). Homenick said SARCAN is in the process of hiring more staff so it can better deal with the deluge of customers and containers.