Most recycling services across the territory have resumed after having been suspended since March 30.

The Raven Recycling Society facility and many rural recycling and bottle depots are now open during their regular hours.

People are encouraged to contact their local depot to confirm, as some rural depots are still working to reopen as quickly as possible.

Free stores remain closed until further notice but textile recycling is available at all depots.

Neither Raven nor any of the rural depots will accept Styrofoam, as there is no viable market for that product.

Both Raven and the Yukon government are asking people to practise physical distancing at recycling depots and to wash their hands before and after their visit to help ensure the depots stay safe.

People with large loads of recycling are encouraged to call their local depot before dropping it off.

At Raven, people with large loads or people wanting to donate their refundables to a non-profit of their choice should label their bags with their name, contact information and preferred non-profit for donation, if desired. They should leave them outside the front door.

Raven staff will call them to let them know when their refund is ready. All refundables left at the donation bin at Raven will be shared with the Humane Society Yukon.

Raven conducted a survey of 1,300 Whitehorse residents between April 24 and May 4.

It found that 90 per cent of people have been storing their refundables, and 68 per cent of people have been storing their non-refundables.

Approximately 30 per cent of respondents said they had thrown recycling in the garbage, while two per cent said they had burned it.

People who could not store all of their recyclables said they chose which materials to keep and which to throw in the garbage, found ways to reuse things like glass or cartons and tried to reduce.

“Thank you to everyone who stored their recycling over the past two months in an effort to keep these materials out of the landfill and thank you to those who will start recycling again now that services are open,” Community Services Minister John Streicker said Thursday.

“We encourage everyone to practise physical distancing and hand washing at the depots so we can keep them safe and open for everyone.”

Joy Snyder, Raven’s executive director, said the facility’s temporary closure “highlighted the sheer volume of single-use packaging material consumers are forced to deal with.

“Please voice your support for improvements to how we manage materials, such as tipping fees and producer responsibility programs.

“Where you can, make the effort to avoid purchasing single-use items, reducing and reusing before you recycle. The satisfaction of reducing your waste is well worth the effort.”

All rural depots are open or are working to reopen as soon as possible.

“Our municipalities appreciate everyone’s patience and co-operation over the past two months,” said Gord Curran, the new president of the Association of Yukon Communities.

“The closure highlighted the value of this service, and our membership is glad to be back offering it to our communities.

“Please respect the safety of our public works staff and the public by practising social distancing and hand-washing when visiting our recycling centres.”

Through May, Raven Recycling began re-opening their public drop-off and opened their bottle depot for refunds on May 19.

Since June 1, when scrap metal sales opened, all services have resumed.

Tipping fees at Marsh Lake, Mount Lorne, Carcross, Tagish, and Deep Creek will be introduced Aug. 1.