If you've been saving your bottles and cans over the past ten weeks so you can take them for a refund at SARCAN, your wait will soon be over. They'll reopen on Monday, June 15th.

Visitors to SARCAN's recycling depots will notice some important changes to their recycling experience the next time they visit, as some new measures have been implemented to protect their staff and customers.

"We're pretty excited to be accepting your beverage containers, paint and electronics at our Weyburn location, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday we are closed over noon hour," said Sean Homenick, Manager of Communications and Culture with SARCAN Recycling Headquarters in Saskatoon. "It's been two and a half months while we work on adapting our collection depots to serve the public during COVID-19."

He said the first change you might notice is the staff member who will serve as a recycling guide.

"The recycling guide will walk you through our safety measures. So, the first being that phsyical distancing is really important. We've mapped out our depots so we have between six and 10 feet between you and your fellow customers and then our employees, you'll notice things like our enhanced cleaning of our already super-clean recycling depots, physical barriers that further separate you from our employees at the chute so you'll see a lot of different safety measures that we've got in place," he noted.

Homenick said anyone who wants to have a quick and safe visit the recycling depot next week should take a few moments to learn more about those measures at sarcan.ca

"You will also be able to have the same conversations, it'll just be through a little plexiglass this time," he said.

Another option SARCAN is encouraging recyclers to use is the SARCAN Drop & Go service.

"It's an automated system that allows you to create an online account, tag your bags at the depot with your individual barcode, drop them off and walk out," Homenick explained. "So a very quick, low-contact visit to SARCAN, and then we'll pay you electronically or come back and pick up a cheque."

"If you have a really large order, we might help you to create a bulk drop off, where you drop it off at the back of our depot, we'll count it once you leave and we'll pay you by cheque as well," he added.

He said if you don't want to visit the recycling depot, but you still want to recycle responsibly, there are a few local organizations who will accept the containers as part of an ongoing fundraiser. Read about how you can use your refundables to support the Weyburn Humane Society HERE. Read more about how you can use your refundables this weekend to support the WCS Class of 2020 HERE.