Ville-Marie's recycling pilot project gives helping hand to binners

A new pilot project in Montreal'sVille-Marie borough is meant to encourage recycling and help those collecting cans and bottles.

Small brackets have been installed on 33 trash cans throughout the borough, where people can place containers meant for deposit.

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La Coop Les Valoristes, the organization behind the pilot project, says it is meant to help people recycle.It's also to make things easier onbinners,the individuals who collect containers(whom they calllesvaloristes).

"The valoristes won't have to go down in the garbage to sort the containers. It's more clean. They can hurt themselves. Sometimes you can find broken glass in the garbage," said Isabelle Tremblay, the co-founder of the organization.

"The main point is to sustain their work, facilitate their work and haverecognition too of their dignity."

Tremblay says they were inspired by other cities like Vancouver, Copenhagen and Cologne.

According to the Copenhagen council, more than $30 million of bottle deposits went unclaimed every year. Once the new trash cans were in place, that went down by 49 per cent.