SARCAN recycling centres reopened on Tuesday, June 16 and most are dealing with long line-ups, after being closed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sean Homenick is the Director of Communications and Culture of SARCAN Recycling and is closely monitoring the situation and feels things are going well.
“I’m surprised at how understanding the customers have been,” Homenick stated.
SARCAN operates 73 centres in 65 communities in the province of Saskatchewan. Homenick expects that it will be several weeks, possibly two to three months to clear the backlog and return to normal flow at the depots.
Marsha Goforth, who is the manager at the depot in Redvers, was also experiencing similar feelings on the reopening. “People have been really understanding. Being open to serve the needs of the surrounding community again is absolutely wonderful.”
The SARCAN facility in Redvers is managed and operated by the Redvers Activity Centre.
The recycling centres all across the province are seeing heavy traffic and line-ups, with some wait times over an hour and longer. SARCAN has made some provisions to help with the backlog.
One action the customer can take advantage of to recycle, is the “line skipping service”, which is called Drop and Go. This allows a patron to create an online account, print tags at the depot for their recyclables and then receive payment by cheque or PayPal.
Another way to speed up the process for those taking recyclables to the depot in person is to make sure all caps are removed, sort the recyclables into cans, plastic containers and glass bottles. This makes it much easier for the workers to process each customer and will greatly reduce the time waiting in line.
