Thank you, Madam Chair. It's going to be a little bit of a longwinded answer, and I apologize for that.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change has conducted research on the different technologies to provide further services in the downtown core. Yellowknife does not have enough population and beverage containers to make two additional -- or two traditional deposit locations feasible. ECC looked at reverse vending machines as a potential solution but our research has shown that we would not be a good fit for the NWT beverage container program. While reverse vending machines have worked in some other jurisdictions programs, their limits include limited type of containers accepted, limited size of containers accepted criteria, containers conditions requirements, small number of containers that can be processed less than 40 per minute, and they can -- and they need to be fed one at a time, the need for large retail space and staff time to empty the process bins.
ECC is exploring options for a pilot unstaffed drop and go deposit downtown that will provide a second recycling option in Yellowknife.
We've heard standing committee during the review -- public review of Bill 78 in July 2023 and are working on addressing gaps that may impact vulnerable people. This includes potential partnering with a local organization in the downtown core to provide accountable payouts without needing to go to the current Yellowknife depot on Old Airport Road. This would still come with a drop and go limitation of five business days needed for the contractor to retrieve the containers, count them, and credit the account. Thank you, Madam Chair.