New ocean plastics recycling centre on Vancouver Island just 1 of 4 in B.C.

The new recycling facility on northern Vancouver Island is shown. (Ocean Legacy Foundation)

A new recycling centre designed to collect wayward plastics from the ocean has opened on northern Vancouver Island.

The new "ocean plastic depot" is located at the 7 Mile Landfill and Recycling Centre off Highway 19 between Port McNeill and Port Alice, B.C.

The depot accepts a range of plastic items from both community members and industrial cleanup efforts, including lost or abandoned fishing gear, ropes, nets, Styrofoam, hard plastic and some types of buoys.

The ocean plastic depot in Cumberland, B.C., collects materials from shoreline cleanup efforts and legacy equipment from commercial fishing and the aquaculture industry. (Comox Valley Regional District) The plastic collection site is the fourth of its kind in B.C., and the third one to open on Vancouver Island, with other locations in Ucluelet and Cumberland opening last year.

Plans are also in the works to open two more recycling centres in Prince Rupert and the Lower Sunshine Coast.

The new depot on northern Vancouver Island is opening in partnership with the non-profit Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF) and the Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW)

The OLF says that plastic pollution often washes up in rural areas of B.C.'s coast, and that these depots make it easier for cleanup crews to drop off the debris they collect without having to travel vast distances to recycle them.

The plastic that is collected at each depot is later sent to the Ocean Legacy processing centre at Steveston Harbour, B.C., where it undergoes further sorting and cleaning before it is recycled.

RDMW chair Andrew Hory says the regional district is excited to add ocean plastics to its list of recyclable items.

"Removing plastic wastes from our oceans and shorelines, then collecting them locally, directly benefits the environmental health of our community," he said.

Funding for the new recycling depot comes from the national Ghost Gear Fund and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Anyone looking to use the new plastic collection site is asked to register at the Ocean Plastic Depot website.