SPORTS ‘the 'Flo' wears a difterent jersey/8A WEDNESDAY Tha February 1, 1995 Vol, 5 - No. 11. RON NORMAN | A Castlegar firm that has proved there is money to be made in garbage is taking it a step further and branching out into the recy- cling business. Ace Recycling begins a comprehensive commercial cardboard recycling program today in the Castlegar and Trail areas. Ace is a not new name in the West Koote- nay. Ace Disposal, which is another part of the same company as Ace paryid haar is ible for resid garbage pickup in Castlegar pant Trail. Owners Dean Kattler and Dennis Riske say they began the recycling program because they saw a niche to be filled. “There was no one there,” says Kattler. “This was an opportunity that we saw to do it properly.” And Kattler says there is an “excellent market” for cardboard. Recycled cardboard presently fetches about $200 Cdn per met- ric tonne. ing for cared ENTERTAINMENT but not stirred —, at Selkirk College was low key/3A > Castlegar Sun DUCKY Weather 3A ‘The weekly newspaper with a daily commitment’ 75 Cents + G.S.T. Dean Kattler and Dennis Riske show how their new truck will pick up recycling containers. Ace Disposal is branching-out into the recycling business with a commercial recycled cardboard program in Castlegar and Trail. Ace moves into recycling Kattler says the recycled cardboard mar- ket has exploded in the last few years as consumers have demanded more recy- clable products. He points as proof to the price for recy- cled cardboard. Three years ago recycled cardboard was going for $35 a tonne. Then it started to climb until last summer it reached $300 a tonne, before settling back to its current price. Several U.S. mills that are on the draw- ing board will require a steady supply of recycled cardboard, says Kattler, ensuring the demand. Ace's recycling program is aimed at com- mercial businesses, which generate the most cardboard. Kattler says the system is simple: large green metal contaiWrs are placed. at the rear of businesses, making it easy for businesses to recycle their cardboard. Kattler says Ace ordered 40 bins to get the program up and running by Feb. 1, but the demand has far outstripped the supply. “I already have more people wanting the containers than I have containers,” he told SUN STAFF PHOTO Ron Norman The Castlegar Sun in an interview. He figures to havé “80 to 100 containers by the time we're finished.” That will include businesses in Trail as well as Castlegar. Kattler says his system is user-friendly because business people just have to step out their back door to deposit the cardboard. He said that providing a pickup service is the only way to go because the average business person doesn’t have time to bundle the card- board and haul it to a central location. “This is a system that is being used in most major centers in North America,” Kat- tler says, including Vancouver and Calgary, along with Kelowna. The containers themselves are not the usual garbage containers. “One of the differences is the lids are locked permanently,” says Kattler. That keeps the cardboard clean and dry and prevents people from throwing in other garbage to contaminate the cardboard. The lock releases automatically when the specially-designed truck inverts the bin and See RECYCLING 2A DOUKHOBOR HISTORICAL SOCIETY Museum gets $210, 000 RON NORMAN _ “viable” tourist attraction. age the restaurant. Ball field meeting Sun Editor The Kootenay Doukhobor His- torical Society will receive $210,000 to upgrade its museum across from the Castlegar Airport. The funding is part of the fed- eral/provincial Infrastructure Works Program and was announced last week by Ross- land-Trail MLA Ed Conroy. The money will be used to ren- ovate and re-open the restaurant adjacent to the museum so that it can once again provide authentic Doukhobor food. In addition, the museum will upgrade its water system and replace a barn that was destroyed by fire in 1976. Conroy said the restaurant improvements are necessary to ensure that'the museurh remains a He pointed out that the number of bus tours to the museum dropped substantially after the restaurant closed because tours like to stop at places which have a food component. However, when the society went to re-open the restaurant, it found it had to meet stricter government health and safety standards. “This (grant) will assist in that,” Conroy said, adding that the museum is “an overall tourist benefit to our area.” Society president John Fostey said the restaurant should be open in April “We're going to cater to the public and it's going to be Rus- sian cuisine,” he said in an inter- view. with The Castlegar Sun He added-that the society still needs to find someone to man- Fostey agreed with Conroy that the restaurant closure had an impact on the number of tourists visiting the museum. “Last year it was just under 6,000 (visitors),” he said, “and the majority of them were inquir- ing about Russian food.” As well, Fostey said the soci- ety is gearing up to host a presti- gious exhibition of Russian artifacts in the summer of 1997. The_exhibit left Ottawa carlier this month for a two-year tour of the country before arriving in Castlegar where it will be housed permanently “There's over 1,000 exhibits,” Fostey said. “We're a little bit excited about that.” 2 He-said the museum has been working closely with the Museum of Man in Ottawa on the exhibit scheduled SUN STAFF ————— Castlegar council will be taking the controversial proposal for a fourth ball field at Kinnaird Park to a public meeting. Councillor Brenda Binnie said that a firm date for the meeting hasn't been set, but it will likely be held some- time around the middie or end of February. “All the concerns can be aired at that time,” Binnie told council at its Jan. 24 meeting. 1 Binnie pointed out that she and city hall have received a number of tele- phone calls from residents See BALL FIELD 2A Arrow Lakes Road given green light But only for ' interim upgrade" RON NORMAN Sun Editor Castlegar council has given the green light to repair Arrow Lakes Road, but the work. will only be an interim measure. Council agreed at its Jan. 24 meeting to spend some $350,000 to upgrade Arrow Lakes Road from the new Castlegar-Robson Bridge to the entrance to the Pope and Talbot sawmill. The improvements to the five- ki stretch, to be compl this summer, will involve resur- facing the existing pavement, some road repair, and grading and gravelling the shoulders. However, it will not include widening the road and installa- tion of cycling lanes on either side, or much-needed reconstruc- tion of the road base The work is about one-tenth the estimated $3.5 million cost that engineers said would be required to give the road a com- plete upgrade. Still, a Kelowna engineering firm says the road will be “acceptable” for “several years” “We think that a select combi- nation of road repair, overlay, drainage work and chip sealing over the five-kilometer length will provide you with a good road product that will gain you several years of acceptable road life,” said W.H. Jenkins, an engi- neer with McElhanney Consult- ing Services Ltd. In an accompanying report, Jenkins calls the project an “interim upgrade” that will meet the needs of the “immedi- ate future.” But Councillor Bob Pakula said he had “some concerns” about the interim upgrade Pakula said he can't agree to spending money on the road Bob Pakula . some concerns unless the work is going to be done right “If we're,not going to do a decent job, I don’t think we should do it.” He said the road should be widened and cycling lanes added. But O°Connor asked Pakula if he is in fayor of undertaking a paving referendum. “Will you be willing to go to the citizens for $3.5 million?” Pakula reiterated that he want- Sed to see the job done properly. Councillor Doug Green, the chair of the works and services committee, argued that the city doesn’t have the money to do a complete upgrade on the road. “There isn't sufficient funds, but there is sufficient funds to do this quite adequately.” Green also said the work had to be done “right away” and added that it should “last quite a long time.” “That's five kilometers of road,” Green said. O'Connor indicated the city will be using a new resurfacing procedure and suggested Pakula See ARROW LAKES 2a Local company wins school bid JEFF GABERT Sun staff The official tenders for the construction of the new Twin Rivers Elementary School were opened Thursday and Nu-Tech Construction of Castlegar had the low bid at $4,544,408 Nine construction companies bid on the project Of the nine firms, three were from Castlegar, four from Kelow- na/Penticton and one each from mi Revelstoke and Alberta. Ithough the low bid came from a Castlegar firm, Castlegar school district secretary-treasur- er John Dasher pointed out that the high bid was also a Castle gar tender That bid came from Bill Berg Construction and rang in at $5, 107,000. Dasher was surprised the high bid came from Castlegar but he said that overall the board was pleased to be able to choose a local company “Of course this is what the board's expectations were from the Start, because it will create work for local people,” said Dasher. He said work is slated to begin on the new school as soon as pos- sible and expects to see crews out at the school site by mid-February. The first phase of construction calls for the demolition of four classrooms on the present school's west side. Four portable classrooms have been set up to accommodate those classes and the rest of the school will also remain in operation until the final stages of construction. The new school will be con- structed in front of the present school on what is now the school playground and will face 7th Avenue Completion is scheduled for March 30, 1996 The remaining portion of the old school will then be demol- ished over the summer of 1996 and students will move into the new school in September. Have your say on social programs—7 p.m. tonight at the Fireside Inn