Tim's bins to gather cups for recycling

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

It's one of the most identifiable pieces of litter on the side of the road but, as part of a new program, Tim Hortons is giving customers another place to put their empty cups — in the recycling bin.

As part of a pilot project for the country, local Tim Hortons outlets will roll out new four-bin collection units for waste. The two highlights of the program, said Dave Arenburg, owner of the local outlets, is that the store will now mirror sorting practices people must follow in their homes and that the cup is now recyclable, fitting in along with the rest of people's paper products.

"One of the questions that keeps coming up is, 'well, they're not recyclable.' Well, the truth is, many things can be recyclable if you find a market for them," said Arenburg. "And, through the good work of Scotia Recycling and Waste Check, we have found a market for the cups."

Dwight Whynot with Scotia Recycling said the biggest challenge with the project will be ensuring the cups not only go in the right stream, but that they end up there in an appropriate condition.

"If they come back half full, if they come back with the plastic top on, if the come back with, you know, a half-eaten donut stuck in them, those are the bigger issues."

Whynot said the company has worked for some time to develop a way to collect the cup and process it with the rest of the paper products they receive. Now, he said, it will be a matter of waiting to see if everyone gets on board and follows suit.

"It's really trying to put the front end process in place (for collection)."

The origin of the project, said Arenburg, stems back to the company's ongoing attempts to improve its environmental footprint. Yarmouth was selected as the test site, he said, in part because Arenburg pushed for it and in part because of the area's strong record in waste management.

"Yarmouth has, in many ways within the province, been a leader in recycling," he said. "So when it came time to test this, it was a bit of a natural to come to an area which is progressive with recycling."

Being able to do away with the litterbug's excuse that their cups are not recyclable is one of the highlights of the project for Arenburg.

"Our cups, for that matter any litter, no one likes to see that," he said. "We need to reach out to our customers to try to work with us and to try to embrace this just like they do in their homes."

Arenburg said he expected a few bugs with the system as it is first installed — bins were put in place on Sunday — but, he said, the system is a positive move.

"There will be issues with it," he said. "But we're trying to communicate as best we can to customers and saying, 'we're trying to do the right thing and we're asking you to do that, (too).'"