19 Dec

On average it takes about 60 days to completely recycle a beverage can, refill it and get back on the shelves, that’s a pretty impressive stat but when you consider that making new cans from recycled aluminum uses 95 percent less energy, it becomes a no-brainer. There is a 5 step process to aluminum can recycling and it starts with you – and also Island Return It recycling depots. Step 1 Sorting and Counting Step 1 is where it all begins. When you bring in your empty pop cans for recycling the staff at Island Return It count your cans after they've been sorted into separate categories i.e. pop or beer. Next we count the cans and refund you the appropriate amount of money according to how many you have returned. Step 2 Shredding. When aluminum cans arrive at the processing facility they get baled. A bale of cans can consist of as many as 1,154 cans to...

00:22 / Industry News / Recycle Me
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14 Nov

At Island Return It Recycling Centres we believe in community and giving back. We know that the folks that we serve in our communities (Victoria, Duncan, Saltspring & Campbell River) also feel strongly about specific organizations, whether they want to help raise funds for schools, sports teams, shelters, food banks, hospitals or private citizens in need, we want to help them do it! Afterall, recycling isn’t just a business for us, it’s a lifestyle and we love being active members of our communities. That’s why we offer a unique fundraising opportunity that takes a long term approach to collecting donations. Setting up an account for your favourite charity or organization has never been easier and can be done in a matter of minutes. Step 1 Call or visit your local Island Return It location and tell us you would like to set up a charitable account. Step 2 Decide on one or two people who...

22:56 / Community / Local
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14 Nov

It can be an unpleasant part of the job, but the fact is Recycling Depots attract wasps. The thing that many people don’t realize though, is that if we all work together to ensure that our recyclables are rinsed and cleaned we can drastically reduce the amount of buzzy visitors we get. The majority of wasps that you see in a bottle depot actually arrive with the recyclables. They are attracted to your sweet smelling cans and bottles and will often unknowingly hitch a ride to our depot when you bring your refundables back. Once here and away from their hives they don’t live long but there are plenty of opportunities to sting someone. Since our staff is often working around wasps, we polled them on their best sting avoidance techniques and this is what advice they had to offer: The Advice 1-      Do not wave your arms around in an attempt to...

22:55 / Community
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14 Nov

People often ask us what they should do to safely dispose of household batteries. Our answer is always: Bring them to us, but don’t stop at AAs, we also collect batteries for products like hearing aids, medical devices, laptops, mobile and cordless phones, cameras, radios, gaming devices, camcorders, smoke detectors, flash lights and other electronic devices. What about Lead Acid Batteries? Then there are the big batteries. We’ll take your lead acid batteries too and ensure that they are properly recycled. These batteries are from products such as cars and trucks, motorcycles, golf carts, boats and RVs. Heck, we’ll even take an old forklift battery off your hands for you. When we collect consumer batteries we send them to a recycling facility in BC where they are processed into reusable metals and materials. No part of the battery ever makes it to a landfill, instead they are turned into new batteries, stainless steel...

22:54 / Recycle Me
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14 Nov

Upon first glance it doesn’t make any sense does it? We never take your money, in fact we are usually giving out refunds for empty beverage containers. We sell cases of wine and beer bottles for less than the cost of a bottle of wine and we save huge bags of empty egg cartons and give those to local chicken farmers for a $1 a bag. Never mind the thousands of dollars we donate to community organizations, charities and local sports teams every year. How are we still in business? I’m so glad you asked! It works like this: Our depots are funded by product stewardships. A stewardship is an environmental management strategy that operates under the principal that whomever is creating, producing, selling or using a product should be responsible for minimizing that product’s impact on the environment. This is usually manufacturers and producers (i.e. Pepsi and Coca-Cola) or Consumers (this...

22:53 / Industry News
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