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Graphic treatment on WCSS truck turning heads

'Fun' message supports recycling, food-bank donations to organization
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Toon Town The newly painted truck is a fun way to publicize the waste-diversion message, said Whistler Community Services Society executive director Cheryl Skribe. Photo courtesy of WCSS

That new graphic treatment on the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) truck is a great way to illustrate the ongoing increase in how much Whistlerites are recycling and re-using, said the organization's Executive Director Cheryl Skribe.

With a $20,000 donation from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation for a new truck — plus the $1,700 proceeds from the sale of the old WCSS truck — the idea to do something fun and different was born. Skribe said the graphic of the dreamy woman hoping her dreamy guy recycles embodies so much of what the WCSS does.

"We feel really well supported," she said. "The Re-Use It Centre is almost like an institution in Whistler. People embrace it as a part of the community."

And the results speak for themselves: the amount of waste diversion was a whopping 771,000 kilograms for last year. And the Re-Use It Centre had 44,814 bags of items donated — up from 31,800 the year before.

"That's up 44 per cent year over year," said Skribe. "That's something to celebrate."

The graphic is hugely popular, Skribe said, adding that they ran the idea past the drivers before committing to it.

"They have to drive the truck — they were really psyched by it," she said. Once the concept was brought to life by local artist Baz Carolan, WCSS had to take the truck to a Vancouver company for the painting, which was done in fewer than two days at a cost of about $1,700. The art work was completed in mid-July.

One side of the truck says: "I hope he recycles," while the other side says, "I hope he donates to the food bank."