| A major recycling depot in the southwest will soon be forced to close due to redevelopment of Currie Barracks, and the owner says the closure will likely mean many more recyclables ending up in the landfill. A.P. Bottle Depot has leased a warehouse at the Currie Barracks since 2006. Prior to this, the depot was at the ATCO Industrial Park, but it had to move due to redevelopment at that site. The depot’s lease with Canada Lands, the Crown corporation that owns the former military land, expires at the end of June.
Co-owner Peter Moon says he runs a profitable business serving an estimated clientele of 100,000 people. Moon has been trying to find another location in the southwest without success. "This is the absolute last place we can go. There’s no other place to go. Worst-case scenario, we could be out of business in a couple of months," he says.
The depot had been taking household recyclables, including plastics, until April. Moon says he needed to buy some new equipment to deal with the recyclables but decided it wouldn’t be a good investment because his lease is running out. The City of Calgary currently doesn’t accept plastics at its community depots. Moon owns land in Bowness and had been hoping to move the bottle depot there, but he says a bottle depot isn’t allowed under the Bowness Area Redevelopment Plan.
Moon says Calgary is currently under serviced when it comes to bottle depots and needs at least six more to adequately keep up with demand. The southwest is the area most in need of more bottle depots, he adds. "We think it’s vital to stay in this area," he says. "Our customers tell us we need to be here."
Jason London, compliance manager of the Beverage Container Management Board, which oversees bottle depots in the province, says his organization is hoping to add three more bottle depots in Calgary in the near future to meet demand. London says it is a concern that A.P. Bottle Depot is closing because it will put additional pressure on other depots. London says it can be difficult for bottle depot owners to find locations for their depots because Calgary’s land- use bylaws are "quite strict." Recycling rates have gone down in Alberta between 2002 and 2006 to 74.16 from 80.7 per cent.
Moon says he understands Canada Lands wants to redevelop on the Currie Barracks site, but he says the city should try and help A.P. Bottle Depot find an alternative location. "We just want to be somewhere (in the southwest)," he says, adding that, with the depot gone, more recyclables will likely end up thrown into the garbage.
Mark McCullough, general manager of Canada Lands, a Crown corporation that owns the former military land at Currie Barracks, says redevelopment plans for the site have already been approved by city council. However, city council has yet to give approval for specific development and building permits before the project can proceed. The new neighbourhood will consist of 3,100 housing units, 18,000 square metres of retail and 27,000 square metres of office space.
McCullough says all tenants leasing space at Currie Barracks have known about redevelopment plans. McCullough says Canada Lands is currently in negotiations with the Calgary Farmers’ Market to determine whether it will stay at the site. However, he says a bottle depot isn’t compatible with Canada Lands’s vision for the site. "We just don’t think it’s an appropriate use," says McCullough.
No one from the City of Calgary could be reached for comment by press time. |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.