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4 Generations Of Recycling

Four Generations Of Recycling

From Horse-Drawn Buggies To Innovative Technology Solutions.

Regional Recycling is a family business, with its fourth generation now working in the company. Though the name has changed, recycling has been in his family since the early 1900s. Recycling is one of the country’s oldest professions, called scrapping back in the day. We still see it now with industrious locals who collect empties and scrap metal to earn money.

Leon Lotzkar

Founder, Leon Lotzkar, immigrated from Bulgaria at the turn of the century and got to work building a life for his family. In those days, recycling was not a word often used but regularly executed. Recycling looked different at that time. It was the process of fixing and reusing household items and the growing practice of resmelting metals.

Metals were a booming industry throughout the first half of the 1900s. Due to WW1 and WW2, demands had never been higher, and technology was rapidly advancing. This is where Leon saw an opportunity. He joined his brother’s business, Pacific Junk, and eventually took it over and rebranded it as Pacific Metals. At that time, they picked up materials using only a horse and buggy.

In the early days of Pacific Metals, they collected any types of scraps they could. While metal was a priority, they’d even collect items like bones and scraps. As the years went on, they refined their business to focus on materials that could be locally processed and were in high demand.

Metals were a booming industry in the 1900s

Adaptation. This has been the ongoing practice for the Lotzkar recycling businesses. As the years went on, they added paper and plastic recycling to their business, and today the range is still growing.

8 Recycling Locations in BC

The Lotzkar recycling business is now known as Regional Recycling. With 8 locations across BC, they are one of BC’s leaders of recycling. Not just by size but, again, by adaptation. When the team saw the public’s needs and desires changing, they came up with solutions to fit. They can now recycle a wide range of appliances, electronics, building materials, paper products, empties, and, of course, scrap metals. You can find the complete list of materials here.

Innovation has not only focused on the processing of materials. It has shifted to convenience for its customers. As a result, three new services have been added to Regional Recycling’s roster.

Fast Drop We Sort It You Get Paid
FastDrop gives customers the ability to drop off their bags of unsorted empties and be out of the depot in minutes. They can either open a free account and receive their full deposit via e-transfer or pick up their cash next time they’re in the depot.
Depozip.ca recycle your empties from home and get paid
Depozip launched in early June 2021 and is comparable to services like Doordash or Uber. With just a few clicks, customers book a time for their empties to be picked up from their homes and earn 7 cents per recyclable beverage container.

Quikcount less sorting faster cash

Quikcount

Our latest innovation is Quikcount. Located in our Vancouver, Richmond, and Abbotsford locations, this machine can count hundreds of cans per minute!

Earn cash from your bottle return in only minutes. Recycling has come a long way over the last 120 years and likely won’t stop changing. What won’t change is Regional Recycling’s commitment to its community. Learn about how we give back to the community every month with our Charity of the Month program here.

For the latest updates and more information about FastDrop, Depozip.

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