The trailers at the Richmond recycling depot are getting old and smelly and rodents are getting onto the site, so city council has agreed to spend $1.2 million for upgrades to the Lynas Lane facility.
During opening hours, recycling material is dropped off at the site on average every 53 seconds with 160,000 customers using the facility per year, and these numbers are growing, according to the City of Richmond. Last year, 3,700 tonnes of recyclables were dropped of the Richmond facility.
The $1.2 million in upgrades includes $470,000 for site structures - the tents and trailers - $240,000 for equipment, $132,000 for covered structures, awnings and gates and $197,000 for drainage, water, power and paving. The budget also includes $187,000 for contingency and insurance.
At Monday’s council meeting, Coun. Michael Wolfe suggested that the city also look at more items to recycle, specifically, antifreeze, pharmaceuticals, textiles and residual chemical products.
“I’m just curious if staff have been entertaining expediting a few more of these materials being accepted,” he said. He pointed antifreeze is being dumped down drains because it’s hard to dispose of and unused medications are being flushed down the toilet.
Wolfe also wanted to have a place for disposing textiles instead of the clothing bins after several deaths of people diving into them looking for items.
“Maybe we need a more central location that doesn’t involve a bin they could climb into to have people responsibly dispose of their textiles,” Wolfe said.
The response from staff was they would look to see if these items could be accommodated using the current operating budget.
On the shopping list of equipment needed for the operation of the recycling depot are a small loader to handle yard waste and a forklift to move large, bulky items.
The site improvements are also meant to cut back on traffic congestion between customers and staff and the tents will stop furniture from being waterlogged.
The original building, built in 1993, has had improvements over the years, currently there are problems with rodent infestations and wear and tear.
When the improvements to the depot are done, new items that residents will be able to drop off include tires, car batteries, used motor oil, fire extinguishers and smoke alarms.
