On Feb. 14, the Paper and Cardboard Recycling Depot operated by the Calypso Foundation in Lewisporte, NL, Canada will close its doors permanently, according to a report by The Pilot. The facility has operated since September 2005.

The foundation cited several reasons for the decision. One is that there’s been a sharp rise in the amount of product processed—up 53 percent—while demand for paper and cardboard has declined. According to the report, “it’s been a year since they have received any payment for the product they produce.”

“While a monthly subsidy from the Town of Lewisporte to help with operating costs and availing of grants to help cover some of the wages of a Calypso client to work there part time, it still isn’t enough to keep the facility going.”

The facility had been run as a partnership with the Town of Lewisporte because the municipality, needed to reduce the amount of fibre product going into its landfall. “It became mandatory for businesses to recycle their paper and cardboard products. That is when there was a large increase noted in the product going to the Calypso depot, which increased the staffing requirements.”

However, the landfill has since closed.

“We started bringing waste to the Norris Arm North facility last year, we didn’t need to have the subsidy there because the waste wasn’t going to our dump anyway, but we continued with it to help Calypso more than anything because we still thought it was worthwhile to keep the cardboard and paper out of the dump if possible,” Lewisporte Mayor Brian Sceviour told The Pilot. “But we were going to reevaluate as to whether or not we would continue with it (the subsidy), but they have already decided to close.”

Those facilities are equipped to deal with the waste and once the material recovery facility (MRF) is opened those fibre products will be dealt with there. The hope is to have everything ready to begin full operation of the MRF by January of 2015.