Revised - The Raven Recycling Society has a new “soft” deadline for the City of Whitehorse.

Heather Ashthorn, the executive director of Raven ReCentre, discussed the latest update on recycling with the Star on Tuesday.

In early 2023, as it had in other years, the organization put the city on notice that it would stop offering most of its recycling services on Dec. 31 of that year unless council took steps to create a system for the city.

The society was no longer able to viably offer its drop-off depot to city residents under current conditions, Ashthorn said last year.

Over the course of several years, the society had told the city it was considering ending its services, without much action.

The society’s operations at depot in the industrial area is paid by both the city and the Yukon government for recycling services under a contract.

That is continuing for the moment, but it’s not an indefinite reprieve, Ashthorn said.

She told the Star she realized making changes at a government level can be a lengthy process, but the society also has limited patience.

In this case, that patience will run out this summer if the organization isn’t happy with the progress being made.

“We’re waiting for the city to continue to work on this,” she said. “We know it won’t be an incredibly fast process.”

Ashthorn said she’s keeping a close eye on the city’s budget deliberations, which are expected to gear up in February.

“We’ve given them lots of warning,” she emphasized. “We’re done offering a free program.

“I don’t think that’s Raven’s role anymore.”

Ashthorn said she is proud of what the organization has accomplished, even if it is time for a change.

“I think it’s rare for a non-profit to accomplish what we have.”

She is expecting to see either the process contracted out for recycling collection, or the city to create its own system.

That’s the minimum acceptable standard to Raven.

The organization, Ashthorn said, isn’t interested in bidding on the process itself.

Its current vision had the society moving in a different direction, one devoted to re-purposing and re-use rather than recycling.

That would involve things like diverting mattresses and other items from the landfill.

“We’re trying to find our role under the new regulations,” Ashthorn said.

The city launched a request for information to explore the feasibility of a curbside recycling program late in 2023. It received a handful of proposals whose details have not yet been made public.

The city has already stated a pickup system would involve a cost to users and would exclude country residential areas.

Based on the best available information, estimates show a curbside recycling program could cost the city approximately $960,000 in capital costs for the purchase of recycling containers from the South.

The annual operating expense for the collection and processing of non- refundable recyclables is estimated at $2.2 million.

“The unexpected closure of the city’s largest free recycling drop-off has forced the city to find a viable alternative to support the continuation of diversion and recycling in our city,” said Mayor Laura Cabott.

The territory’s primary recycling processor calls its decision a way “to ensure a more comprehensive collection service in Whitehorse, in concert with the new EPR regulations.

“Raven has done as much as it can to provide access to recycling. Raven Recycling Society is now stepping aside, thereby enabling government to take the lead on collection services.”

P & M Recycling, which has a facility in the downtown area, advised the Star in 2023 it would end its recyclables drop-off service if Raven did the same with its bins.

Whitehorse is one of the last Canadian cities without a city-wide blue box program.