New $77M recycling/waste centre set to open on United Boulevard in Coquitlam

The old place is getting dumped.

This Saturday is slated to be the final day of operations for the Coquitlam Recycling and Waste Centre. The new centre is set to open just down the road on Monday morning.

Located at 995 United Boulevard, the new, bigger location will accept used oil and antifreeze and include a station for drink containers ranging from wine to milk.

“This new facility, serving approximately 200,000 customers per year, will make it easier and more accessible to recycle all kinds of items, and will help us reach our regional goal of an 80-per-cent recycling rate,” stated Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Committee chair Jack Froese in a press release.

Funded through tipping fees, the cost of the new facility is $77.6 million.

The dump will be located on a 6.2-hectare site, more than twice the size of the previous 2.7-hectare station. The new location also features designated lanes for small vehicles and commercial customers, as well as 775 metres of queuing space compared to 120 metres at the old centre. The new station also includes six scales, twice as many as before.

The previous dump was built in 1988 and “was not designed to meet today’s needs,” according to Metro Vancouver media relations officer Jennifer Saltman. Located on leased land, the area is set to be redeveloped as part of the Fraser Mills community, according to a release from Metro Vancouver.

While there’s been a drop in paid recyclables, the centre has seen a roughly 10 percent increase in free recycling from 2018 to 2020, with more than 157,000 customers dropping off 5,702 tonnes of recyclables in 2020.

The amount of garbage dropped off rose in 2019 and dropped slightly the following year, with 188,533 tonnes of trash disposed of at the centre in 2020.