Return-It launches clothing donation pilot across Lower Mainland
Posted February 22, 2019 2:56 pm.
Last Updated February 22, 2019 7:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – You drop your bottles, cans and electronics off at some Return-It locations, so why not your clothes?
Starting March 1, 13 Return-it locations will begin accepting clothing donations as part of a pilot project.
Despite the announcement coming just a few months after a man died inside a donation bin in West Vancouver, Encorp Pacific CEO Allen Langdon says the timing is actually a coincidence.
“The instance for us doing the pilot wasn’t that situation,” Langdon explains. “We were already well into the planning stage at that point. For us, it was just more, ‘is this an opportunity to give residents another option in terms of when they’re bringing other materials down to our depots to now include textiles as well?'”
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He says everything that’s collected will either go to thrift stores or will be turned into rags.
“Every year, the average adult throws out about 81 pounds of clothing and other textiles,” read a release from Return-It. “In Metro Vancouver alone, 40,000 tonnes of textiles go to the landfill every year making up approximately 5 per cent of the region’s municipal solid waste.
The pilot is expected to last three months, after which Langdon says they will reassess based on the reaction from residents and it worked out for depots.
Participating locations:
- Coquitlam Return-It, Coquitlam
- Edmonds Return-It, Burnaby
- Lougheed Return-It, Coquitlam
- Kensington Return-It, Burnaby
- North Shore Return-It, North Vancouver
- White Rock Return-It
- Fleetwood Return-It, Surrey
- Langley Return-It, Langley
- Ironwood Return-It, Richmond
- Go Green Return-It, Vancouver
- Yaletown Express Return-It, Vancouver
- Panorama Return-It, Surrey
- Ladner Return-It Depot, Ladner
