A new recycling baler at the Raven Recycling depot will save the company a lot of money and gives Whitehorse residents new ways to earn some as well.

The large scale recycling baler can compress material into more dense packages, further condensing the amount of material being sent out to be recycled.

'Depending on the item being condensed, we can get them up to one-third smaller than we could with the old baler, so the transportation costs are less,' said Raven Recycling administrator Lewis Rifkind. Material condensed with the old baler would fill five trucks, whereas the new baler will fill only one.

'We'll save a bit of money that way.'

The new baler came with a $120,000 price tag, but that was paid for in large part by outside funding.

'The Yukon government's Community Development Fund and the Waste Reduction and Recycling Initiative stepped up to contribute,' said Rifkind. The development fund contributed $75,000 and the recycling initiative contributed $17,000, with Raven covering the remainder.

The baler is essentially 'a conveyor belt leading to, imagine a big hammer, and it crushes the material coming off the conveyor belt into a bale,' said Rifkind.

The new baler also works faster, so more material gets condensed every day.

The recycling plant was accepting scrap metals before, principally from small contractors. The metal waste went into old skidoo containers, which held about one-third less material. Rifkind said now that the new baler is up and running, he wants homeowners to bring in their scrap metal as well.

This means in addition to can and bottle refunds, Whitehorse residents can also earn more money by turning in metal waste, including barbecues, lawn mowers, copper piping, gun casings and brass statues or ornaments, said Rifkind.

Whitehorse recycling demands were beginning to exceed what the Raven Recycling Depot could handle, so the new baler was, 'definitely needed,' said Rifkind.

For more information about what materials can be recycled, and what Raven Recycling will pay per pound, visit the depot's website, www.ravenrecycling.org.