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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The founder of Yellowknife Recycling Services is hoping the business's recent closure will turn out to be a good thing.

"Before I (came) along businesses didn't have a recycling program like that and houses didn't have a blue box program. And so, they didn't know what they were missing - now they do," said Clayton Morrell, who started the business in 2003 out of frustration over the city's non-existent recycling pick-up services.

Founder and former owner of Yellowknife Recycling Services Clayton Morrell in 2006. The company was, until recently, the only curbside pick-up service in the city. - NNSL file photo

Morrell sold Yellowknife's only curbside recycling pick-up business in late 2006 to pursue a career in the Canadian Navy. Its two most recent owners, Ben Nind and Jeff Pitre, folded the company last week.

"If the business had to die for the city to wake up, good," Morrell stated.

"If that's what it takes ... I would have sacrificed my business," he added.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem echoed a similar sentiment.

The business's "shutting down creates an opportunity for either someone else to pick it up or the city to look at it more seriously, sooner," he said.

Van Tighem added curbside pick-up is a convenience that could encourage increased recycling in the city - something Yellowknife needs to "really look at."

The city produces 9,000 tonnes of waste in a year, according to a study commissioned by the city in 2007. About 3,300 tonnes of it is paper products - which are potentially recyclable.

However, it's no sure thing the city will come to the rescue of Yellowknife recyclers.

"Right now we're still studying the possibilities of ever doing a curbside recycling program, but there's no plans in place to actually start up such a service," said Dennis Kefalas, director of public works.

"Council will probably be wanting to discuss that in greater detail sometime in the future," he added.

There have been no city council meetings since the announcement of the closure.

One of the things the city will have to look at is how much it would cost them, and residents, if it were to implement curbside and pick-up services, said Kefalas.

In 2006, the city suggested a $6 fee, in addition to what's charged for garbage pick-up, for recycling pick-up services. At that time 52 per cent of residents who responded to a survey said they'd be willing to pay such a fee.

"We'd have to revisit the numbers to see how much it actually costs to provide such a service," said Kefalas.

The city does not provide any waste services to commercial users. As of last year, those services are negotiated directly between contractor Kavanaugh Bros. and the commercial users.

Kefalas also said he had noticed a significant drop in the volume of recyclables Yellowknife Recycling dropped off at the solid waste management facility since Morrell left.

"We found in the past when the original owner had it, he was quite busy and provided quite a diligent service, because he was coming in three or four times a week with loads of recyclables.

"But the person who has it now has essentially dropped off to where we're getting a load once every two weeks," he said.

Indeed, many of Morrell's former business and government clients, such as of DeBeers Canada's Yellowknife offices, Environment Canada and Municipal and Community Affairs, stopped using the service since he sold it.

While the most-recent owners declined to comment, Morrell said he had signed up about 200 clients during the course of his ownership. This number could be misleading, he noted, considering one record can include a household or a business.

Morrell guessed the business served about 1,000 individuals in the 200 contracts.

"Neighbours would see my blue boxes with my logos on them and want what the Jones' had," he said.

Now that the service is gone Yellowknifers will still be able to recycle, but anyone who subscribed to the pick-up service will have to drop their goods off at one of the sites around the city, or at the solid waste management facility.