According to Neil Hastie, president and chief executive officer of Encorp Pacific, the current infrastructure in 亚洲天堂 Lake cannot support any expanded recycling initiatives on offer to locals.

He said Encorp is now working with the owners of the 亚洲天堂 Lake Return It Bottle Depot on Hwy. 16 to look for a larger location that will be able to accommodate returned bottles and milk containers they already accept, as well as electronics.

"It will be a building in town or very close to town. People will not drive too far to recycle so this is a consideration."

Currently electronics recycling is only available to locals during one day scheduled electronics drop off events. Hastie said the drop off events are just a temporary fix until infrastructure challenges are met in communities like 亚洲天堂 Lake.

He provided the update to directors during a Regional District of Bulkley Nechako board meeting last week and said there is no timeline for a new 亚洲天堂 Lake location, but he added that discussions are currently underway with the owners, and that the new site would need to be sourced within three years.

"The bottle depot in 亚洲天堂 Lake is already very cramped, there is not much room in the building. The bottle depot in Vanderhoof is also looking at a new location."

Hastie said bottle depots are privately owned, but licensed by Encorp to collect recyclables.

"We pay them a fee to collect the recyclables and we send a truck to come and pick it all up."

He said that beverage container recycling in the Bulkley Valley is above the provincial average with 640,000 kilograms of recycled containers being collected in 2010.

That equates to 254 cans and bottles per person in the Bulkley Valley annually.

The provincial average is 227 cans and bottles per person.

He said that despite the figures, recycling across the province was down last year and he attributed the decrease to the economic sump.

"Beverages are not immune to the recession. There were five per cent less beverages sold province wide.

Local recycling efforts avoided 900 metric tonnes of C02 greenhouse gas emissions being released into the environment last year. "It is the equivalent of taking 250 cars of the road or providing energy for 400 homes."

Provincial recycling efforts equate to removing 39,000 cars off the road or energy for 63,000 homes.

"We have a very high rate of success." Approximately 89 per cent [by weight] of all beverage containers sold in B.C. are returned for recycling.

From Oct. 1, 2011 small appliances will also be taken in at depots that already accept electronics.

"Anything with a cord or a battery will be able to be recycled by 2012."

This service will not be available in 亚洲天堂 Lake until a new location is sourced, but will be available in Fraser Lake and Smithers from October.

Hastie said B.C. is touted as a leader in recycling with Western Europe coming a close second. "Recycling reduces garbage going to landfill, reduces municipal waste management costs and recaptures resources. Everything we collect is made into something else."

Aluminum is the most valuable commodity collected by Encorp. Baled cans are sent to a re-melt facility and are turned into sheet stock ready to be made into new cans.

Plastics such as PET and HDPE are sent to separate facilities to be pelletized and sold on the open market. End products include containers, strapping material and fibres.

Polycoat boxes such as juice boxes and milk cartons are sold to Asian markets and the high quality paper fibre that is recovered is used to make cardboard boxes and tissue paper.

Hastie said bottle depots are profitable businesses. "We have never had one fail since opening in 1994. They are not necessarily a road to wealth, but they are all profitable."