If your looking to free up some room in your house, bring your dusty old treadmill to the Salvation Army Thrift Store in View Royal.
The shop doubles as a ElectroRecycle depot, collecting an assortment of appliances and electronics such as vacuums, microwaves and stereos.
Starting July 1, the store will also be accepting exercise equipment, sewing machines and power tools.
“Anything with a power cord, plug or battery are included in the program,” said Jordan Best spokesperson for ElectroRecycle.
All items can be dropped of free of charge during business hours. Also starting July 1, any new purchases of these items will have a recycling levy added to the bill to cover the cost of recycling.
All the collected items will be taken apart and sorted into groups such as plastic, glass and metal. The fee pays for transporting and disassembling the items. Metals are melted down and used to create new products, while plastics and glass are sorted and sold or reused in various manufacturing processes.
The program was introduced by the Canadian Electrical Stewardship Association. It was launched in October 2011 under the former name Unplugged. This is the first program of this kind in Canada.
Across the province there are more than 100 ElectroRecycle drop-off locations. The Salvation Army thrift store in View Royal, 307 Island Highway, is the only West Shore location.
For more information on the program, go to www.electrorecycle.ca
charla@goldstreamgazette.com
Did you know?
Over the past year alone, British Columbians have diverted nearly 20,000 metric tonnes of electronics, 40,000 tonnes of tires and more than a billion non-alcohol beverage containers from landfills.