ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Garry Richards can often be found walking through Georgetown in St. John’s with an overflowing shopping cart filled with black, blue and clear recycling bags, some tied to the sides, making his way toward the Green Depot on O’Leary Avenue.
It’s a long way to go — more than five kilometres — but the 67-year-old says he’ll do it until he’s 90, if he has any say in the matter.
“My running days are gone, but I can still walk,” Richards said.
With the Green Depots shut down for seven weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Richards turned to doing odd jobs like mowing people’s lawns.
“I do all that stuff,” he said.
But now, since the depots began reopening on May 13, if it’s not a Sunday or a holiday, he’ll be on the road, Richards said recently outside the O'Leary Avenue location before grabbing another bag from his cart to bring into the depot.
“Our regular day of counting used to be about 120,000 containers a day We’re consistently counting 175,000 (to) 180,000 units a day now. We’ve really made a big dent into that pent-up demand. We’re making a lot of progress.” — Mike Wadden, Ever Green Recycling
When the depots began reopening, they had to deal with pent-up demand for their services, says Mike Wadden, president and CEO of Ever Green Recycling.
“It’s been extremely challenging … but we’re overcoming it,” Wadden said.
Despite a 10-bag limit, as well as a limit on the number of staff and customers allowed in the building due to social distancing restrictions, the depots have been processing bottles at a rate much higher than usual, Wadden said.
“Our regular day of counting used to be about 120,000 containers a day,” he said. “We’re consistently counting 175,000 (to) 180,000 units a day now. We’ve really made a big dent into that pent-up demand. We’re making a lot of progress.”
Use of their Xpress service, where customers who have an account drop off their recyclables and claim the refund later, has significantly gone up.
“There’s sometimes lineups for Xpress, too … but overall you can get served in 10 to 15 seconds,” he said.
And the solar-powered, repurposed shipping containers, found on the side of the Blackmarsh Road and Elizabeth Avenue locations, which allow customers to drop off their bottles at any time, are hard to keep empty.
“We’re always trying to improve the experience for the customer,” Wadden said. “This is … still a project that we’re inventing, so not all the bugs are out of there, but a good deal of the bugs are.”
Wadden is looking into the possibility of getting more of those containers, as well as the possibility of extending hours to deal with the demand for recycling services.
Pat Power was third in the lineup at the Blackmarsh Road depot when The Telegram arrived.
Power said the new restrictions are inconvenient at times, but not unreasonable.
“I came by a couple of times before … and they were blocked. I couldn’t do it,” he said.
While he stood in line, a man walked over and offered Power an extra couple of wine bottles, which he accepted.
One woman at the Elizabeth Avenue depot, who did not want to be named, saw an opportunity where others saw frustration because of the lineups.
“A lot of people are giving away (recyclables),” she said. “It’s time-consuming but there’s money in it.”
She still works, but decided to do this for extra money.
“I had met a lot of people here that do the curb and, you know, they have the carts and that, very nice people and you don’t want to step on any toes,” she said. “The way I look at it, (people) come down and drop (recyclables) off and I share it. Whoever’s here I say, ‘Do you want this (or) do you want that?’ We all share it and we all get along. I got to meet a lot of nice people.”
Aside from the bit of money she makes, she says she is happy people are still recycling, despite the inconveniences.
“If people can get out and do it, do it,” she said. “Because you don’t want to see it in the dump.”
Twitter: @AndrewLWaterman
