Dawson City's new recycling facility is open for business

It's been a long time in the works, but the new recyclingfacility for Dawson City, Yukon,is officially open.

The facility had a 'soft' opening in February, but there were a few logistical things to work out before it formally opened the doors.

"I like to ensure things are operating effectively before we pull out all of the stops," JonathanHowe, the town's public works superintendent,told CBC News. "Now we are pretty much at the point where we can say we're almost running at full capacity."

Located just outside of town, the facility is equipped with large balers, forkliftsand equipment essential to making the sorting process much easier for staffand the public.

Howe said the building will eventually house a 'glass crushing facility,' something he said will be used to upcycle the glass rather than discard it in the landfill.

He also said the facility was designed to accommodate a curbside pickup program, whichmembers of the public have been asking for.

"We still need to do some cost analysis on that," he said, "and see if we can actually make it an effective program for the City of Dawson.

"That's partially council, and partially administration to crunch some numbers, see what we can do [and] what we can't do, and make it effective both from a public perspective and a City of Dawson perspective."

The building itself cost $2.5 million. An additional $250,000 is budgeted for annual operational costs.

There are currently three staff members at the facility, but Howe said that number will go up to handle the large volume of material.

"I was just out there," he said. "There was probably close to a thousand cubic feet of cardboard that they were wrestling with and managed to get it crunched in our new bailer. So this is something that really excites me. What we see now is that thousand cubic feet per week is no longer entering the landfill."

Howe said people can bring their sorted recyclables to the facility from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday.

"In the grand scheme of things we're talking 20, 30, 50 years down the road we're going to see an expansion of the life of the landfill and that will be massive. We're talking multi-million dollar savings," he said.

"The thing about these projects is it's an organic situation in terms of a feedback loop where we receive information from the community. Improve our directives. And then keep working, and that never ever stops.We're always trying to improve."