Kelowna bottle donation program aims to foster barrier-free employment opportunities

With recycling being at the forefront of many people’s minds, local organization Pathways Abilities Society wants to help you support both the environment and the community.

For the last decade, Pathways has worked closely with Kelowna bottle depots to implement various donation stations as part of their social enterprise initiatives.

These stations have given locals a place to not only recycle, but to help provide barrier-free employment opportunities to individuals with diverse abilities.

Today, locals are able to bring their recyclables to drop-off locations at the BC SPCA Kelowna Branch, as well as the Columbia Bottle Depots on Dease Road and St. Paul Street.

There's also the main donation station at the Columbia Bottle Depot's Kent Road location.

The latter establishment is where you can truly see the benefits of donating come to fruition, because it's where more than 20 Pathways employees, each with diverse abilities, are working hard six days a week.

The unique opportunity provided by the donation station is one that Pathways job coach, Susanne Rados, says does not always come easily to her staff.

“Employment is sometimes taken for granted, but for someone that employment may not come so easily to, it is really an amazing opportunity for equality and for these individuals to feel just like everyone else,” said Rados.

“This is why I am in this field, to support people with diverse abilities in their daily lives, to help them become equal members in the community and to have the same enjoyment everyone else has the opportunity to.”

The crew at the main station work six- to eight-hour shifts where they help to unload, sort and process the loads of recyclables brought in by community members.

“All of the individuals who work here counting and sorting bottles are paid employees,” said Bonnie Fraser, Pathways employment manager.

“All of the product that is brought here is donated by our community and it is all refundable. Once it is processed, that money goes directly into wages,” she added.

While the station is staffed by individuals with diverse abilities, Rados says their experience is “the same as it would be for anyone else in any other workplace.”

“Honestly, our crew is just like any other group of employees and that is what I like about this place, the equality and the barrier-free environment that has been created,” she said. “We are looked at the same way as any other employee would be, we don’t get special treatment and I value that greatly.”

“In the community, people with diverse abilities aren’t always treated equally. Sometimes they are even treated specially which may be kind in nature, but it is not equality — charity is not equality,” added Rados.

For those of you eager to do your part in helping create barrier-free employment opportunities for all, as well as shrink your environmental impact, don’t wait, donate!

Rather than googling the depot nearest you, pay a visit to one of the many Pathways donation stations around town.

Pathways Abilities Society is a non-profit organization providing services to individuals with diverse abilities in the Central Okanagan for over 65 years.

Among the services it provides, Pathways connects local progressive businesses with individuals with diverse abilities, developing customized employment programs that put diverse abilities to work in our community.