Broken Recycle Bin? No Problem.

There are many things I like about Markham, and its recycling depots are one of them.

My family's blue bin often goes missing and a new one (in a different shade of blue) usually turns up at our driveway after a recycling pick-up day. The ones that appear at our driveway are beaten up and old, but they're usually still in a usable condition. Usually.

One afternoon, we found a new recycling bin sitting on our driveway and it had a large crack in it. It didn't look like it could handle the mass amount of newspaper we weekly dispose of, but we used it anyway. My father didn't want to buy a new recycling bin, because it didn't seem worth the $8 to buy a new one with the guarantee that it will go missing. That recycling bin stayed with us for weeks.

How does a broken recycling bin relate to the recycling depots in Markham? Well. My family and I have these monthly trips to the depot where we dispose of styrofoam, batteries, and large cardboard boxes. We knew that the depot sold blue bins and after a few weeks with the cracked bin, my father decided that it was time to buy a new one. He walked up to one of the workers and jokingly asked if he could trade in his broken bin for a new one. Surprisingly, the worker answered yes. The worker kindly gave us instructions on how to receive a new blue bin. We had to bring in the cracked bin, fill in a paper with our address, sign the paper, and --woo hoo!-- here's your new blue bin. My father immediately drove home and back to the recycling depot.

I later searched the Town of Markham's website for information on their blue bin swap, and it's there under Blue Box Recycling. So if you live in Markham and have a broken or cracked Markham recycle bin, bring it to the nearest recycling depot and trade it in for a new one.