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Express and Go bottle depot opens at Penticton Wholesale Club

No more sorting through recyclables at contactless centre
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Penticton MLA Dan Ashton toured the new recycling service at the Wholesale Club in Penticton on opening day Aug. 17. (Contributed)

Recycling just got a whole lot easier in Penticton.

Local residents can now drop off refundable beverage containers at a new Return-It Express & GO recycling station at Wholesale Club Penticton, 200 Carmi Ave.

Customers who use the service will have to sign up for an online account, print a label at the station, place their empties in a plastic bag and enter a unique password before the unit electronically sorts through the returns. At this depot, you don’t need to sort.

According to Encorp, the entire process of returning empties takes about one minute.

The business is unstaffed, contactless and cashless.

“The new Express & GO station will support a dynamic change in how we recycle materials into new resources in our communities and create strong jobs for Penticton,” said Penticton MLA Dan Ashton, who visited the new Penticton location Aug. 17.

People can now drop off their unsorted, pre-bagged beverage containers and receive their deposit refunds via Interac e-Transfer or cheque.

Among Return-It’s more than 170 collection sites operating province-wide, there are now 11 locations in B.C., including one that just opened at the Buy-Low Foods in Keremeos.

“Our collective awareness of the importance of recycling has never been higher. British Columbians, in particular, continue to show an exceptional level of commitment to diverting materials away from landfills, and making responsible recycling their priority,” said Cindy Coutts, president and CEO of Return-It.

The city of Penticton does not allow glass, cans or plastic bottles in their recycling program.

When this bottle depot was approved by council for a three-year lease, there was some worry from Sentes about its visible location along Main Street.

Security cameras and dedicated parking spaces are included in the location.

READ MORE: ‘Contactless’ bottle depot gets approval despite concerns from Penticton council

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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