More than 150 damaged fridges and freezers have been brought to the Central Cariboo Transfer Station in Williams Lake due to the wildfires.
In some of the fire areas, such as Spokin Lake where the power was out for at least nine days and then people were not able to return for another two weeks, food was spoiled and the appliances no longer usable.
“It’s a big waste,” said Tera Grady, the Cariboo Regional District’s supervisor of solid waste management. “We have to remove the ozone depleting substance (ODS) from them. It’s not just freon, different coolants are used these days. We do the removal, then the contents are crushed and put into a metal recycling bin.”
The fridges and freezers are being received at no charge, she added.
Aside from the damaged fridges and freezers, for the most part the transfer station has seen more food waste come in because of food that spoiled when people evacuated.
There has also been concrete brought to the landfill from burned homes that will be crushed later this fall.
During the evacuation order the transfer station was closed, but it was still receiving waste the whole time because of the fire camps, Grady said.
“The management at Central Cariboo Disposal kept working and was just amazing.”
Central Cariboo Disposal also has the contract to run the share shed at the transfer station which has been receiving lots of donations, probably due to evacuees being inspired to clean their properties once they’ve returned home.
Grady said the share shed is for diversion and if it means it is full because the transfer station is accepting more then that’s a good thing.
“We are calling it the share shed for the people by the people and staff there is to spend 20 per cent on the share shed and 80 per cent on recycling,” she said.