It finally looks like Vancouver's oldest bottle depot, United We Can, will be moving to a new location -- reportedly in an industrial area, far from it's present location on Hastings Street, in the heart of the Downtown Eastside.
According to a recent article in The Vancouver Sun newspaper, The not-for-profit depot, which has been a fixture on East Hastings for more than a decade, is expected to move to a 21,000 sq. ft. warehouse at 455 Industrial Ave. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver.
If the proposed move goes ahead it will end years of uncertainty. The city has made no secret of it's desire to see United We Can move out of the Downtown Eastside, and take it's binner customers with it. The sticking point has always been where. The move, if it actually goes ahead, would not happen before Jan 1, 2014, the start date of a proposed 10 year lease, which City council will be considering next week.
United We Can (UWC) was founded in 1995 by and for binners. It was Vancouver's first bottle depot, and is still one of the city's busiest, serving hundreds of binners every day. Aside from it's fundamental commitment to be a force for positive change, by using it's business to create opportunities, and employment for binners, it is also singular for being the only depot in the downtown core which pays full deposit on all containers. In fact, the next full deposit depot is well over three kilometres away, on the other side of False Creek, in East Vancouver. Most depots in Vancouver-proper, hold back two, or three cents off the return value of beer cans, and refillable beer bottles.
Do the maps in Google and Bing always disagree this much?
I was a little fuzzy on how this proposed location related to two existing Return-It depots, so I searched the address, first in Google Maps, and then in Bing Maps, both times using the same search string: vancouver bc 455 Industrial Ave -- big difference in the results between the two mapping engines:
[caption id="attachment_2575" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Google Maps puts the location on 1st Avenue, which is certainly not Industrial Avenue.[/caption][caption id="attachment_2576" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Bing Maps appears to nail it. I'm surprised there could be such a large discrepancy.[/caption]Hub, hub, hooray?
The Sun article has the City of Vancouver saying the move of United We Can to Industrial Avenue will create a "recycling hub," meaning there would be three Encorp Return-It bottle depots within a very small area. Boy, I really don't think they like us binners!
From left to right: Go Green, proposed location of United We Can, and Regional Recycling.
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Not entirely related I was out buying groceries and whatnot this evening (I'm enjoying the *whatnot* right now) and I walked past a small sushi place with a liquor license. They had a large chalkboard with a sign on it informing "freelance" bottle collectors that particular bit of turf was taken by a paid contractor. Once again I regret not having a camera in my pocket like every other citizen of the first world apparently does.
Virtually the entire world. In the first world the cameras have the extra ability to make phone calls. You're missing out on the joy of watching live video of yourself watching live ... 'Tis related -- United We Can aggressively goes after restaurant and condo contracts -- all the bottle depots do, along with a slew of other companies. Commercialization of bottle collecting has been going on here for a while.
Are you acquainted with a certain Gibson W. Esq?
Yes. Love the Sprawl, and Bridge trilogies, and The Difference Engine with Bruce Sterling. I think William Gibson still lives here in Vancouver, though I haven't seen him for quite a while.