LiveSmart BC Community Hero
A Proud History
KUTE (Kitimat Understanding the Environment) began as a challenge program through Mount Elizabeth Secondary School.
It was at the end of the year that the program was passed on to a group of adults who had the ambition to continue the program.
In July 1991 KUTE was granted a non-profit status and began their green crusade.
In the beginning KUTE was, essentially, a trailer set up in the lower City Centre Mall parking lot once a month to load recyclables.
It was a situation that turned tricky at times, particularly in one instance when the trailer tipped over, trapping some volunteers inside while others tried to right it.
The various KUTE depots moved around in the community. At one point they were set up on Forest Avenue, behind the Chamber of Commerce, and a depot used to exist in the alley behind Trigo's, where the boxing club trains now.
The depot we all know now, located in the Service Centre, was established in May 1995.
Now the facility processes a multitude of products from newspapers, cardboard and paperbacks to cell phones, electronics and paint.
Barb Hall, the president of KUTE, said the depot processes approximately 22 tonnes of cardboard a month.
The society isn't just the depot - it is also involved in many green initiatives around the community. For instance, twice a year they hold a plant and seed exchange. They also spend one day a year clearing the banks of the Kitimat River of garbage.
Public education is another of their focuses, and there was a time when they would host "green parties", where a KUTE representative would come to your home and explain some of the ways to live more environmentally friendly.
When it comes to living smart, KUTE has been a leader for nearly two decades.
