Reviews of Columbia Bottle Depots (Scrap Yards)

Jack B

I loved the new technology implemented

Stew Drefko

Quick and friendly. This one is out of my way but I'd rather here then Dt.

Morley Soltys

The place was clean and staff were kind and helpful.

Renee Oliver

Very clean and organized. Roger does a great job and is very helpful and friendly. He even helps to sort.

Dale Allen Berg

New location might look nicer on the inside (if they let you in) but it now creates two stops to complete your recycling - one at the front inside and one at the back in the outdoor bins. But the bigger issue for me is that they close the inside 10-15 mins early every day. I’ve been turned away three consecutive times by a gruff and abrupt employee guarding the door because I showed up between 4:45pm - 5:00pm with my $2 worth of pop cans. I’m not a huge fan of recycling to begin with and dealing with this nonesense is too much now. If a business claims to be open until 5:00pm, in my opinion that means they need to accept customers until that time - even if it means the employees have to work until 5:15pm. I may look for another location, but more than likely I’ll just trash it all now.

Morgan Heft

It was unclean, there was no organization, and no signs to tell you what use or what they except. If you are going there for the first time like me, i suggest not to go you will feel lost.

Kurtis Peskleway

Excellent service

Paula L.P.

Awesome! 1st time with whole truck load of everything from an old move 3 years ago, and the fellow that directed me made it easy!! He's was very helpful. Wish I caught his name. Maybe he can be figured out by shift on Friday 13th at about 3pm till 4pm. Thankyou, I feel unloaded. LOL ???? ????

Keith Middaugh

Sort em, stack em and cash em. Return it!

Bruce Goett

Return It Express is never open. Might as well just return empties to the Liquor Store. Now you stand there loading your empties one at a time into a conveyer belt.

Robert Quesnel

Awesome peoples

cyn rog

I have been going to the Columbia bottle depot for more than a decade, a lot of the employees that work there have worked there for years. They are never rude to me or impatient. They all are very capable and have been trained properly to handle pretty chaotic situations at times it can get really crazy busy in that place. Definitely the busiest I've ever been in. They are eager to help if anyone needs it and have always had a smile on their face(at least I think they do under their mask)|●●●□$□》

Daryl Oberg

It's easy to sort and drop off here

Nevin Styre

Friendly workers

Beverly Collins

I use this location all the time! I've always received good & fast service here!!

Paula Turner

Arrived at the bottle depot today at 4:47 only to be greeted by one of their employees telling me to hurry. In the process of trying to rush to get my recycling in they all went flyin all over the parking lot. After that he decide to offer his assistance which was too late and a little backwards. Offer help first and never tell a customer to rush. Your job is to stay open until 5 not 4:47. Poor customer service and very upsetting to say the least to now having to make another trip there only to be greeted by bad customer service.

mike ford

Easy to use

Aaron Heck

Stopped in today to try the new self service automated system. Was in and out in ten minutes. Just popped each container through the hole in the kiosk (don’t toss it) and it scanned everything just fine. Worked great and saw plenty of staff on hand to help out, and could see others through the window working in the back. Clean location and a good experience.

Patrick Bulmer

Easy to park and manoeuvre around if you and everyone else is driving a Smart Car or Mazda 2. If not, it's a royal pain.

Michael Pack

Friendly staff but I feel like it could be cleaner, it's like there's a permanent layer of sludge coating all surfaces. Definitely bring gloves, hand sanitizer, etc. The line to get in can get a bit rowdy at times too but it helps pass the time.

stoke tonne

Great depot, easy to use and clean facility. Friendly staff.

Ron Eberle

Outstanding !

Barbara Charlton

As good as a bottle depot can be lol Friendly staff

Ross Broughton

workers are mainly friendly, and fast. The carts and counters are usually dirty and cluttered tho. And they don't even recycle your used blue bags. Needs improvement, but the concept is a good one.

Bradley Macaulay

Don't know what people are complaining about, it's a bottle depot. Yes it maybe sticky, crowded and smell like stale beer at times, but what do you expect?. Workers have always been good to me there and they put on a better face than I would. Have always found a parking spot and i'm in and out quickly because I just donate any bottles/cans the require a bunch of sorting because it's not worth my time for $1.15 of juice boxes and $0.35 of water bottles.

Cecelia Stappler

We went the to deposit all the bottles

James Bothe

Pretty great. Walked in with my dead fan. The girl grabbed it, and I walked out. 10/10, would recycle a broken fan again.

Kim McLeod

Love the staff ❤️ very professional and friendly ????

Derek Morin

Usually ok just don't try going around closing time, they have no time for you 20 minutes before "close"

S “a” L

The staff are very friendly and helpful but you need to look out at times it's very busy and they do recycling too and you can recycle electronic.

Tina Ferguson

The staff was great. I only wish they would wash the plastic bottle trays. The germs on these would be crazy

Peter Koning

Friendly... and fast if you go out of peak times. Last time I was there I got a scratch money gift card lol

Richard W.

Great place to recycle. In the parking lot in the back side, there is a book drop off and a clothes drop off for charity. Very handy.

Karin Siemens

I really appreciate the updated system where you place your returns into an automated machine that then gives you your payout. Great job guys!!

Allen Sawka

They have a new system for counting , you put the the cans or bottles in the machine and it counts it faster

Syilxsmokinbraidz

Usually rude for sure, get there half an hour before closing you get told you have five minutes. They have no time for you.

MainCommand

An honest review. The reason I give this bottle depot a one star review is because a couple individuals that work there I believe are honest and will give you a fair price for your bottles and cans. I have been ripped of numerous times going there to get a refund for my bottles and cans. Sometimes I bring in large amounts other times just a handful. When they short me they do it right in front of me and pretend and act as if nothing, is wrong and that there giving me a fair return. There was even a couple of instances in the past where I counted out my change for 10 dollars and was ripped off by ten cents. So now I have to count my spare change in front of them or go to a bank to get change. I also don't bring in everything at once, but a bit at a time so I don't get shorted as much. In my opinion if possible avoid going to this bottle depot. I don't think the other ones are much different, so far I haven't had too many issues with the other two but then again, I usually only go to this one to do my returns. Just give people an honest fair return for there bottles and cans mistakes can happen but there too frequent to be a mere coincidence. I work hard for my bottles and cans I collect them on the side of the road and often in thorny bushes I try to do my part to recycle. It's just disheartening to get shorted and ripped off 95% of the time when I go to refund the cans and plastic bottles I have collected. I understand you can't give out a few extra cents as an incentive to recycle but please don't rip people off. Thanks for hearing out and listening to what I have to say. I would like to thank anyone who actually took the time to read this. I felt like I needed to get this off my chest.

Mike Walker

Was happy to see the return it express location here... I registered online, had my decals mailed to me, drove 45 minutes through Friday traffic to drop the labeled bags off, only to be told return it express was at capacity and they were unable to accept my bags ????

Apollo Agua

Automation ruins everything. I crush my cans to save space at home. Even the slightest dent in will cause the machine to not accept the can.

hippy hyena2

Quick service, nice new carts!!!

yves beliveau

It was fun....pretty clean , considering its a bottle depot ....but the big difference is the staff...i mean their really happy to help you...service is pretty fast ...they should get a raise lol ????

Jesse Tregilges

-1 stars if I could. Good going Columbia Bottle depot. Horrible now. They put in automated sorting machines and they slow everything down. The lines were so long.

Sheralyn hope

Awkward system here. The site should have more info about where to go and how it works as we sorted bottles ahead of time not realizing it wasn't necessary to do so. Giving the bad review mainly because it was unclear where to go when first arriving. We had a big bag and wanted to return as we could use that money for things we need and they had people working at a donation side coming up trying to take it from us. I tried to ask about where to go etc and it seems they didn't want to really listen and were just trying to take it from us. We need it for ourselves as we are disabled..I'm all for people donating but communication is key and the people working at the donation place were rude and didn't want to listen. They didn't direct us to the side where we could return it ourselves, we figured it out for ourselves when looking but the workers were not helpful at all and seemed mad that we weren't giving donations.

Alexander Barger

Hate going to this place always takes way too long in line. I wish there was a place in Kelowna you could just drop the bottles and they count for you doesn't matter if they take a cut.

Jonah Peters

it's a depot!

alzathoth

wear a mask or be discriminated against. the staff refuse to listen. some people are medically exempt, but they refuse to listen. MASKholes.

Hurricane John

Like the new machines staff are ok

The Lil Cottage Educational Daycare Lakou Photo

Excellent staff

Patrick Perry

Where are 20 cents for glass bottles most 10cents glass bottles why

Erin Surinak

Great place! They pay more than the west Kelowna bottle depot

Timtwoface (Timtwoface)

A large facility with decent parking and plenty of space indoors, even during Covid-19 times.

Angelica Huff

Very nice staff

Donna Eilers

I was so disappointed in the cleanup of this facility....bags, boxes, all over the floors.... and I found the place very dirty.....take notes from Grand Forts...

Sig Sigler

My first time with self recycling. A cool experience but the registers were down. A great location that I will go back to again.

Katherine G

Had to empty the bags and recount the empties the guys there is a dick!

Gerry Blanchette

Fast efficient service. Good Covid protocols

Devon Nakatsu

Wow, in return for my bottles they gave me cash money. I am very impressed.

Tyler “KingOfPolice” Michaloski

It tastes like a bottle depot.

Steph Scragg

The new location is very clean and much more pleasant than the previous location. However I do very much miss being able to one-stop miscellaneous recycle & bottle refunds in one hit, as the outside recycling containers are now nowhere to be found. Not really sure where else I can take all the things those containers used to take. EDIT: I was being blind, the outside recycling containers are around the side, much to my delight :)

AL B

LOVE THE EXPRESS DROP

Ash G

Standard bottle depot.

Liam Turner

Always friendly people only thing is sometimes the number of carts is low but other that that it is great

P Murph

I enjoyed this bottle depot!

Hayden Klassen

Absoloute joke. A bunch of idiots throwing bottles at eachother, rude snappy responses from staff for simple questions and their count is skimming their hands over a full box and guessing. I go out of my way to not go here.

Kira Mac

Great!

Branden Bigras

Went to use the express dropoff and it was broken. Told by staff to go to one of the other locations to use this service. When I went to the dease Rd. location they told me they don't do that. Big waste of my time and I am upset about being mislead by staff as well as the poor management that allowed it.

Mildred Morrison

Lots of people but you can go fast

Karen Gray

Very slow before you could drop off 10 flats of cans and more bottles Now you stand in line waiting for your turn to put each bottle and can into a small hole one at a time do not understand

Rick Bekkering

These guys are great, work hard for minimum wage I'm sure. If you can't get along with these people your probably a A--S____

Drew McGillivray

Tried to drop off some bottles using Express Return It today (Saturday) at 3:15 but they had a sign out that said it was closed. Stop quoting hours that you're open if you're not going to actually be open those hours.

Bart Beekmans

I put my cans in flats bottlles in bags at home this makes my visit short and easy .

Godon Maxime

My house now is clean and I got go keep up with locals homeless gossip 10/10 would do again

Andy McDonald

I recently used the bottle depot on Breden Rd. First time I used the new automated system. I was not impressed with the layout. A few items were not accepted due to the size of the opening. I got my receipt but the machine for redeeming cash was not working so had to line up again. In the meantime the line up for assistance was almost out the door. Had to bring some stuff back home.

Mike Bakajic

The staff here are awesome. They all deserve a raise in pay! So professional and friendly!!!

Kev Harding

Awsome..fast efficient...great improvement

Tracy Alston

Clean, well laid out, lots of parking and friendly staff

LARRY ROY

We had 2 12 packs of pop and he said 23 okay let one slide we counted out 24 flats of beer cans and again 23 oh another 23 and again but wait this time for a full counted box 20 .....hmmm okay I feel that either they have issues that don't allow them to say the number 24 or that the staff get a cut of what they rip the people off of .we are asked and encouraged to recycle okay let's do it but why do it if you get ripped off ???? Why be charged the fee in the first place ??? Give staff proper incentives instead of asking them to rip off the public.

Connor Scott

They rip me off every time I go in there, the most recent time they “missed” 30% of my returns and couldn’t give me a receipt.

Angie

The new European style bottle return (where you put one can/bottle in at a time) they've installed takes 3x as long as the previous system. If you wanted to get rid of employees, the drum style (where you dump your bottle onto a table and slowly drop them into a large drum that spins and sorts and takes them away on a conveyor belt) would have been much quicker and more efficient. So disappointed. I don't want your apologies! I want you to make returning bottles more efficient!

Blair Lebeau

They say they will accept empties until 4 45. Unless they want to be lazy then they will stop at 4 15

Surfrx Prescription

They have renovated and put through a new system of recycling, huge pain in the A$$ and waste of time scan each recyclable individually. Won’t be going here anymore as line ups are long and new process is not only massive waste of time but also eliminates jobs for the workers

Rob Barnes

Most painful to recycle...

Donna Manns

Great location and nice staff

Justin

Had to sort my own, and they only gave me .05 for pop cans, and would give me anything for milk containers

Melissa Jack

Always a clean, orderly environment. The automated system takes the process down from an hour to 10 minutes, and the staff are always super friendly and helpful.

Marilyn Elliott

Awesome. So easy. Clean suroundings.

linda bilow

Hadn't been there for awhile but was shocked. You bring your bottles in hole that has a conveyor thing. When you are don't you get a print-out. Go to another machine scan the code and voila you get your money ????. So easy and I think pretty cool. But wondering how many people lost their jobs due to what they installed

Colleen Elden

I have had difficulties with this depot's express return it. The first time we used the express return it, it took about two weeks for our bottles to be counted and our account credited. The second time we used it, we just never received a credit at all. We returned two large bags on September 1 and still have no received a credit.

John Edris

Fast

Cathy Cat

Although this depot says it is open until 5 pm, they will not let you return your bottles for cash after 4:45. The signage does not indicate this anywhere on the gate. Found out the hard way when i stopped in after work and was told i could DONATE my bottles, but the staff would not be sorting them after 4:45. Not cool. The signage should be changed to reflect this.

Don Klyne

Received $5.90 for 60 - 500 mil water bottles , and 39 pop cans , 8 - beer cans and 2 wine bottles , 2 - 2 litre pop bottles If u go to depots in Edmonton , you go in with all your bags , dump them and they count-them and pay u the proper amount ! No cheating the public !

Dwayne Batuik

I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THIS PLACE AGAIN BEEN GOING THERE FOR 6 years AND HAVE ALWAYS BROUGHT THE BAGS BACK THE WAY THEY SHOWED ME TODAY I WAS INTERAGETED LIKE I WAS A THIEF THEY MADE ME RECOUNT THE CANS 288x 3 SO THATS 864CANS I HAD TO COUNT SO I TAKE THE BAGS BACK UP AND THE GIRL LAUGHED IN MY FACE AND SAID THERE WERE TO MANY CANS IN THE BAG SO THEY WOULD NOT TAKE THE CANS

muhi dean

looking for a job, Hopefully u r hiring.

Emma Carls

Showed up at 4:00pm to the employees yelling at us to hurry as we only had 25min to sort are cans and bottles when they close at 5:00pm. To add they did not accurately count the cans and bottles as when I checked the receipt there was quite a good amount missing definitely not impressed and will not be coming back.