The Mabou bottle and can collection trailer has officially moved to a new temporary home and Inverness County Cares (ICC) wants the community to know where to find it. With the Freshmart expansion now underway, the long-standing trailer location beside the store could no longer be used. Thanks to quick cooperation and community support, the trailer is now parked on Back Street in Mabou, directly across from the Mabou hall parking lot, where it will remain until a permanent site is secured. This move ensures that residents can continue dropping off their refundable bottles and cans without interruption, keeping ICC’s most important fundraiser running smoothly.
The bottle and can collection program has become a vital part of ICC’s work, but it began modestly in 2018 when Ted Van Zutphen suggested collecting refundables as a way to raise money. He donated three retired box trailers to launch the effort. Two were placed at the end of his driveway in Port Hood, and the third found its first home at the Mabou Freshmart thanks to Wayne and Karen Beaton. When the store changed hands, Alan and Lucy MacMaster generously allowed the trailer to stay. The recent construction plans prompted the move, but the community’s willingness to help has kept the operation thriving.
Today, donors can drop off their bottles and cans at the newly relocated Mabou trailer on Back Street, the Port Hood trailers, or at the Strait Bottle Exchange at 12 Paint Street in Port Hawkesbury, where ICC maintains an account. Behind these simple drop‑off points is a tremendous amount of work. Volunteers regularly reorganize the trailers to maximize space, and when the Mabou trailer fills up, a heavy‑duty truck is needed to haul it safely to the Enviro Depot in Port Hood or Port Hawkesbury. After unloading, the team transfers the contents of the Port Hood trailers into the road‑ready Mabou trailer and returns to Port Hawkesbury for sorting. It is a full day’s job every time.
ICC extends heartfelt thanks to the approximately twenty volunteers who keep this operation running. The organization is grateful to the Van Zutphen family, who continue to provide the trailers along with their maintenance, registration, and inspections. Most of all, ICC thanks every community member who takes the time to drop off their recyclables. Each December the whole monthly revenue from the Mabou and Port Hood collection sites is donated to our local food banks. The other 11 months all income raised from these bottles and cans directly supports two schools for the blind in Zambia, where the average yearly income for a farmer is only $400. Without the generosity of donors here at home, the essential infrastructure these students rely on would be impossible to build. Your bottles and cans provided the funds to build the 8-foot-high wall fences which surround the 1-kilometer perimeter of each school. This ensures the children are protected from kidnappers who in the past have abducted 2 albino students, to sell on the black market to witch doctors. Your support truly makes a world of difference, one can at a time.Inverness County Cares (ICC), founded in 2012 in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, works in partnership with Chalice.ca to support these two schools for blind, visually impaired, and albino students in northern Zambia. ICC welcomes new members and donors. Contributions can be made through the ICC website, by e‑transfer to invernesscountycares@gmail.com with a mailing address for tax receipts, or by mailing a cheque to Inverness County Cares, 5414 Route 19, Judique, NS, B0E 1P0.
