The city of St. Albert could be getting a re-use centre sometime in the future.
At Tuesday's (July 4) council meeting, Councillor Sheena Hughes introduced a motion to bring about a report investigating the costs, potential location, and timeline to establish a 'Take it or Leave it' type of facility.
At the moment, St. Albertans don't have a way to properly dispose of items that could potentially be reused by others.
"We had a take it or leave it event once a year which has been discontinued and we don't have anything of this nature," said Hughes. "The only option you have is to give items to Goodwill or Value Village but a lot of the items [for this type of facility] wouldn't be accepted."
The idea came to Hughes after being on a tour of Strathcona County's HodgePodge Lodge, which has been a huge success and a hit with the county residents.
"After seeing this I thought 'we need to bring this to St. Albert'," said Hughes. "I thought that it was an amazing facility, and it would definitely be something the community would embrace."
"If we really want to walk the talk of trying to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills, this is an obvious way to do it."
While the HodgePodge Lodge is an extension of a bigger recycling centre for Strathcona County, whatever the city of St. Albert builds will have to be set up a bit different.
"We don't have that kind of space capacity," said Hughes. "So we will have to try to figure out how to make it work for St. Albert.
Since being presented, Hughes says she has heard plenty of support for the idea from residents.
"I have heard from some residents after I put forward the motion," said Hughes. "They are looking forward to seeing it become a reality."
Work will get underway in producing a report that outlines the details of bringing such a facility to the city.
That report is expected to be presented to city council in April of 2024.