There are a few hurdles left to leap over before Jasper has a Reuse-It Centre, but the necessary runners and jumpers are in motion, with hopes of having it open May 1.

The centre will be Jasper’s second second-hand store, with the other being located in the United Church basement.

Janet Cooper, the municipality’s environmental stewardship co-ordinator, created a business plan for the project in December 2011 and is now requesting council approve the release of $65,000 from the environmental stewardship reserve as seed money for the store.

Council will make its decision on whether or not to release funds from the reserve at its Feb. 7 meeting.

The reserve account is made up of unspent funds from the Environmental Stewardship Program budget.

As of Dec. 31, 2011, there was $130,024 in the reserve. It’s expected that $96,000 will be withdrawn in 2012 for the Reuse-It Centre and the continuation of the campground recycling program that launched last year, leaving about $34,000 for other projects.

The first two years of operation, the Reuse- It Centre will be a pilot project subsidized by environmental stewardship funding. 

Along with waiting for a decision on funding, Cooper said she is waiting for approval to operate the centre in the industrial area, as sales are only a discretionary use in that location. 

Cooper’s application to Parks Canada will be reviewed on Feb. 16 at the Planning Development Advisory Committee meeting.

If Cooper receives all of the necessary approvals in the next few weeks, she will hire a manager for the centre. To start, there will be a paid manager and part-time employee. The remainder of the work will be done by volunteers.

“Hopefully if everything falls into place the manager will start working at the beginning of March and we’ll take over the lease March 1 of a space in S Block (the industrial area), so there would be two months to set up shop, to advertise, solicit donations, get the pick-up service going and the grand opening would be May 1,” said Cooper, during last week’s council meeting.

For the first year or two the centre will be open on a part-time basis, with the proposed hours of operation being Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Cooper said she hopes the centre will be self-sufficient by the end of the second year.

Any profit generated by the centre will initially be used to improve operations. Beyond that, profit will be used to support environmental stewardship initiatives.

The centre will be administered by a newly established registered non-profit society, named the Jasper Environmental Stewardship Society. By being part of a society, the centre will be able to apply for funding that isn’t available to municipal and federal governments.

A reuse-it centre was one of the top three program goals for 2011 identified by the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee. A centre would also meet the goals of the Jasper Community Sustainability Plan, by minimizing waste, promoting community and providing social programs to support the quality of life of Jasperites.

Although there is already one thrift store in town, Cooper said a second one is necessary because the one at the United Church is inundated with donations, many of which have to be sent to Edmonton or the landfill because of limited space.

One of the reasons for Jasper’s constant supply of donations is the swell of seasonal workers that come during the winter and summer months and then leave when the season is over. With that turnover, there’s also a turnover of furniture, household items and other knickknacks.

“Unwanted furniture usually ends up in the landfill for lack of another option,” states the Reuse-It Centre’s business plan. “Furniture is often dumped by residential waste bins, or worse, put in the bins.”

To avoid this, one of the services the centre will provide is an on-call furniture pick-up for a fee of $10.

This will ensure those items can be reused by someone else, and it will alleviate the pressure on municipal staff who collect garbage.