Bottle returns to the St. Albert Bottle Refund Centre in Riel Business Park are faster and easier thanks to new innovative equipment.
The $300,000 machine sorts, counts and crushes bottles and cans in record time, meaning less labour for workers and less waiting for customers.
“The purpose of this machine is to save us time, transportation and hard work,” said owner Albert Yassin. “Before, we used to count all these by hand and mind, now the machine counts them and crushes them.”
The machine, designed in Denmark and manufactured in Denmark and Toronto, is one of only a handful in use in Canada.
“This business is evolving little by little, and we are the pioneers in getting this machinery,” he said.
It will be used to sort, count and crush roughly 90 per cent of the items being returned, excluding juice boxes and milk jugs.
Prior to having this equipment installed, workers were required to sort bottles and cans into four categories – a step many customers assisted with by sorting before approaching the return window.
This will no longer have to be done, as the machine senses the type of material and will use air injections to force the can or bottle into the correct section for crushing and bagging.
“We will be faster to take and process [returns] and my guys will be free to service customers,” Yassin said.
Earlier in the week, he said a customer returned more than 15,000 cans and bottles.
“It used to take me, with the old machine, six to seven hours to go through the sorter and with hands and minds counting, it used to take me two to three days with two to three people counting,” he said.
Sorting, counting and crushing the bottles and cans with the new equipment took less than two hours.
The equipment will also save the business money, since the machine compacts the materials, which means less trips to the south side of Edmonton to recycle the materials.
St. Albert Bottle Refund Centre used to make eight trips and now does just three per week, which means huge savings on gas, Yassin said, adding each trip can cost up to $300 for fuel.
Despite the process becoming less labour intensive, Yassin said no employees will be let go. He and his business partner and brother, Bill, are instead looking to lessen their workload.
“We’ve been at this for 28 years. We’re getting up there in age and if it lays us off a bit, we’re happy,” he said. “Our staff has served us well over the years and we will keep them.”
He said the pair usually works seven days a week but will now be able to relax and spend more time with family.
Yassin began researching the machine roughly two years ago after seeing an online video. After evaluating the business’ volume, he said it was a must-have addition to the business.
“We are slowly finding the benefit of all of this,” he said, “but overall … this is great.”
