ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — While Paradise is offering its residents a recycling dropoff service on Tuesday, it’s not something St. John’s is prepared to offer just yet.
Recycling in both communities — and many others — was suspended in recent weeks as precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 ramped up.
However, some people are running out of space to store their recycling, and do not want to throw it in the trash.
“We had a fairly big demand out there on social media saying, ‘What are we doing with our recycling? It’s building up,’” said Paradise Mayor Dan Bobbett.
“So, we saw that and said, OK, what can we do, but also stay within Department of Health guidelines for distancing?”
The town’s solution is a dropoff at the Double Ice Complex on Tuesday.
It’s a large parking lot, so people can maintain physical distancing while remaining in their vehicles and keeping a safe distance apart as they drive through the cordoned-off lot.
Two waste management trucks will be set up — one for cardboard and paper, and another for containers. Staff will remain inside the trucks while people pull up in their cars, take out their recycling, toss it in the trucks, and drive off, making way for the next vehicle in line.
“This way people can get rid of some of that recycling they’ve got built up in their garage or whatever,” said Bobbett.
He said the Robin Hood Bay landfill is open for the town to drop off the recycling, and it won’t be thrown in the trash.
Bobbett said neighbouring municipalities are likely looking to see how the process goes for Paradise before they consider implementing similar measures.
“We’re monitoring it to see how it does go, and if it’s problematic, then we’ll look at whether we’ll make some changes, or even if we would offer it again later on,” he said.
In St. John’s, Mayor Danny Breen said the city “may do a dropoff at some point,” but right now the focus is on supporting chief medical officer Dr. Janice Fitzgerald’s guidance on encouraging people to stay home as much as possible.
“We believe that people should be staying home, but as soon as we see that we have the possibility of doing a collection like that, or reinstating collection, then we will,” said Breen.
“Remember that Paradise has 14,000 people. St. John’s has 108,000. So, the ability to do something like that is different. But depending how long this goes — and this is kind of a day-by-day thing — we’ll see if we can’t do something as we move forward.”
Currently, St. John’s residents can store their recycling if they have space, otherwise it can be thrown out with their garbage using the automated bins. City crews will not pick up extra bags placed outside of the bins.
Details about the dropoff process in Paradise are available online at paradise.ca/en/live/Garbage-and-Recycling.aspx.
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