Cleanup Event at Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN) and Community of Atlin

Introduction

In many rural and remote areas, communities have their large appliance recycling needs best met by holding collection events as needed. This is the case for the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN), located in Atlin, BC. Atlin is a small remote community of approximately 400 people in northwestern British Columbia, Canada on the eastern shore of Atlin Lake.

MARR had previously helped Taku River Tlingit First Nation with their large appliances clean up back in 2019. In May 2023, they contacted MARR again, as their community had around 100 large appliance units that they wanted to dispose of correctly. During the conversation with Taku River Tlingit First Nation, MARR found out that the nearby community of Atlin also had many large appliances dumped at their landfill.

Above (2): TRTFN Landfill before cleanup in 2023

Above: Atlin Landfill before cleanup in 2023

Taking action

Once this was brought to our attention, MARR immediately contacted ABC Recycling (a metal recycling company) to check if they would be able to assist with hauling and collecting items, as these sites were located 1250 km from the closest recycling center. In addition to the distance, the road from the sites crossed the BC-Yukon border three times, adding to the logistical difficulties. ABC Recycling agreed to help remove these large appliances from the landfills and transport them to proper disposal facilities.

At the same time, MARR started looking for an ODS removal company to remove freon gases from the appliances before transportation by ABC Recycling. The closest company was in Yukon. In early June 2023, we received confirmation that All Yukon Refrigeration, located in Whitehorse, Yukon (180 km from Atlin) could perform ODS removal on August 31, 2023.

After the ODS removal was scheduled, however, MARR faced several major problems. Firstly, MARR learned that the cleanup wouldn’t be possible at the Taku River Tlingit First Nation dump due to the site being too small for the trailer to load the appliances, as well as the lack of proper equipment on site. As a result, MARR reached out to the community of Atlin to help Taku River Tlingit First Nation move their appliances to the Atlin Landfill.

Once this was complete, MARR scheduled the first load to be picked up by ABC Recycling in early September 2023. However, the team faced a second major challenge. There was a logistical delay, as Highway 37 was closed in both directions due to the Little Blue River Wildfire. As a result, the pickup was postponed for several weeks. The first load was finally picked up on September 20, 2023.

One month later, right in time before the snowy season would have made this endeavour even more challenging, three full truckloads in total were successfully hauled by ABC Recycling to remove the pileup of large appliances from Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the community of Atlin. There were an estimated 206 units collected.

Aftermath

The Atlin community was thankful for MARR’s leadership in this project and mentioned that “the ACID (Atlin Community Improvement District) thanks you for making the removal of the white goods from our landfill possible.”

The MARR team is happy to have been able to assist Taku River Tlingit First Nation and Atlin with their large appliances safe disposal project and looks forward to being able to continue this work across the province. MARR would like to thank ABC Recycling and All Yukon Refrigeration for their partnership on this project.

Above: TRTFN site after cleanup