Ridge Meadows Recycling Society will relax their limit of seven cars at their recycling depot on 236 Street in Maple Ridge starting July 1.
The depot will open up all 14 of their parking spots as of Canada Day but they will still have a few guidelines in place to ensure visitors and the staff stay safe.
READ MORE: Styrofoam will once again be accepted at the Maple Ridge Recycling Depot
Community engagement manager for the depot, Leanne Koehn said they will be keeping an eye on recyclers as the province moves into Phase 3 of their restart plan.
“We’re going to be relaxing it again while making sure people can stay physically distanced at the depot,” she said. “Anybody coming to the depot should still stay two metres apart from other customers and our floor staff.”
With car limits in place, it was easier for them to manage safety factors, so it will be up to customers to show some responsibility.
“It’s about half capacity right now,” Koehn said, “So if we open up all the parking stalls, we’re hoping there aren’t going to be too many people to be able to keep the distance measures in place.”
Koehn said they are also asking all depot visitors to wear a mask or face covering when dropping off their recycling.
All staff are required to wear a mask when at work, and they hope the public will return the favour.
“We’re an essential service so we haven’t stopped working at all,” Koehn said. “The employees here have been troopers.”
She added the masks which people are using are not recyclable.
“We did some messaging reminding people not to put any face masks or tissues or anything that could be directly contaminated into their recycling.
“We had some calls of people asking why their recycling was left behind and we’d ask, ‘Were there tissues or paper towels in it? Because we’re not touching that.’”
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
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