Impact Employment Programs

Photo Credit: Justin Wu and Kia Communities in Motion

Penticton And Area Cooperative Enterprises has been serving our community for over 20 years, in three significant ways:

Creating meaningful employment opportunities for people living with barriers – meeting people where they are at, and providing a work environment that is inclusive, flexible and understanding.
Running recycling programs that help reduce landfill, waste and carbon emissions.
Selling budget-friendly computers, laptops and accessories ensuring more people have access and are connected.

We do this by creating social impact programs that employ people living with barriers to employment. Here are the programs that PACE is currently running.

E-Waste Collection and Sorting

PACE has been at the forefront of e-waste recycling since the late 1990’s. Our crews pick up e-waste such as computers, home entertainment units, printers and small appliances from various landfills in the Okanagan, then sort, pack and ready materials for transport to an end-of-life recycling facility in Trail, BC. In 2021, our crews collected and sorted 116.85 tonnes of electronics.

Employers: Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, District of Summerland

116.85 tonnes of electronics collected

Photo Credit: Justin Wu and Kia Communities in Motion

Mattress Recycling

Our Rusty Springs crew manually disassembles mattresses and box springs at various landfills throughout the Okanagan. The materials are separated, sorted and recycled. Last year our crew disassembled 7976 mattresses and box springs.

Employer: Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, District of Summerland, Town of Osoyoos

Construction Waste Sort

Located at Okanagan Falls landfill and run by Wildstone Construction and Engineering, construction and demolition waste is placed on a large conveyor belt, where our crew sorts it into bins. Metal, rock/cement, plastic material, insulation, roofing material and items such as hot water tanks and sinks are separated from untreated wood, and recycled. Approximately 700 tonnes of material is processed during each week-long sort.

Employer: Wildstone Construction and Engineering

On average, 700 tonnes of construction and demolition waste sorted each week-long sort, 3 or 4 times a year!

Litter Pick Up

Our local landfills need TLC too. PACE workers keep our landfills looking good by cleaning up the litter that blows around the sites.

Employer: Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen

Park Ambassador

Skaha Bluffs is a popular recreational area in Penticton, and our workers provide park ambassador services that include greeting park guests, providing park information, and watching over the parking lot.

Employer: Skaha Bluffs Park Watch Society

We make a meaningful difference:

“The Public should know that the PACE board is composed of people just like them who care a whole lot. And that’s how these things take off! Sky’s the limit with everyone’s ideas. Large boards have a high impact in the community; more ideas and more people to see it through.”

Cliff Fraser

Board Member

“PACE has changed in many ways in the 2 years I’ve been here. One thing I’ve noticed is that the business E-Waste Pickup event has gotten more attention. It is awesome to help these businesses out and get donations for the sales/retail side of PACE.”

Anonymous

E-Waste Crew Manager

“PACE has been a supportive partner to the ‘Piers for Peers’ program for over a year. We appreciate the flexibility, supportive and inclusive approach that PACE fosters as well as the opportunity to provide our peers with an introduction to employment.”

Vashti Sullivan

PIERs, Peer Employment Coordinator

“I am proud to be a part of PACE because PACE recognizes that conventional work isn’t for everybody and that it is OKAY! Great to see organizations that offer ‘non-conventional’ work and are flexible with their scheduling.”

Leanne O’Grady

PACE Board Member

“It is amazing to work with PACE, who employs people with barriers, to bring people back into the work force! Everyone takes such pride in their work!”

Wendy Bennett

RDOS, Solid Waste Facilities Coordinator

“Something that everyone should know about PACE is that every dollar spent at PACE goes to the people. There is no one person that benefits from PACE doing well. It truly is a team and one that’s devoted to helping and assisting its people as much as it can.”

Nicole B.

Bookkeeper

“As a tax payer you want your current landfill to last as long as possible! The cost alone to start a new landfill would cost taxpayers millions of dollars. PACE is doing some very important things to keep this place (Campbell Mountain Landfill) alive.”

Don Hamilton

RDOS, Solid Waste Facilities Supervisor

“I’ve received many compliments about the TV pallets that PACE does; ‘best stacked pallets that they pick up’; ‘they are balanced perfectly’; ‘never falls over’.”

Don Hamilton

RDOS, Solid Waste Facilities Supervisor

The company I work for (The Battery Doctors) besides picking up or recycling products, we also collect a number of dangerous hazardous waste products. Without companies like PACE to collect and sort the material, the hazardous products would most likely be deposited in our landfills where a large number of items are biodegradable.”

Gord Gardner

The Battery Doctors

“The Public probably doesn’t realize the reduction of mattresses per year that PACE has done. If PACE had not disassemble and recycled the mattresses & box springs, the air space the mattresses could have taken up could be compared to the size of a hockey arena!”

Wendy Bennett

RDOS, Solid Waste Facilities Coordinator