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Many binners used to have to steal shopping carts. Now, for $5, they can rent this one

Click to play video: 'Vancouver cart share program for binners unveils prototype'
Vancouver cart share program for binners unveils prototype
WATCH: Vancouver's cart share program for people who scavenge recyclables from dumpsters has unveiled its 'prototype' new cart. Nadia Stewart has the story – Feb 1, 2018

Binning ain’t easy — just ask the people who do it.

Some of them manage by using grocery store shopping carts, others might hitch a trailer to a bike.

WATCH: Binners recycle coffee cups in Downtown Vancouver

Click to play video: 'Binners recycle coffee cups in Downtown Vancouver'
Binners recycle coffee cups in Downtown Vancouver

But now, Vancouver-based non-profit The Binners’ Project has given them a new option: rent a caged cart from them for $5, and keep it for 12 hours at a time.

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For binners like Davin Boutang, it’s a game changer.

“It affects you mentally when you feel like you’re not valued in society.”

Binners’ Project cofounder Anne Godefroi said these carts are quieter, and they have more capacity.

It’s an alternative to loud shopping carts that contribute to a stigma around this line of work.

READ MORE: First car-sharing, now cart-sharing: homeless advocates push for shopping cart rentals for binners

“The cart will again give them the material they need to do this job,” she said.

And the program, which is the first of its kind in Canada, could help binners expand their clientele — a number of them have established contracts with businesses.

“I think [the cart] will help the Binners’ Project and the binners expand their partnerships and their contracts,” Godefroi said.
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Up to 40 more carts are expected to hit Vancouver’s streets by next January.

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