Turning trash into cash

The current building at Foothills Recycling & Salvage is too small to house all of the refurbished items.

A group in Okotoks is refurbishing items disposed of at a local landfill and reselling them to help out charities in the area.

The Foothills Recycling & Salvage Society was formed 16 years ago and started with a handful of volunteers and a tent.

The group is recycling usable items and turning them into cash to assist charities in the MD of Foothills.

The gently used items are all for sale at very reasonable prices.

The salvage centre is self sustaining and typically offers free items to new Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet.

They have kept thousands of kilograms of items out of the dump.

“It means that all of this stuff that can get sold, that can get used, that can get saved is going to have a better opportunity to get back into the community, so I mean it's great,” said Candice Depass, Assistant Manager.

The society received a $500,000 grant that will see them in a new building so they can house the inventory that currently sits out front.

A ground breaking ceremony for the 14,000 square foot facility will take place August 30th and they expect to host a grand opening of the new centre sometime this October.

For more information, visit the Foothills Salvage & Recycling Society website.