A scenic 30 minute drive or four hour bike ride from Whitehorse is the beautiful Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs. As you disengage from your busy life, leaving the busy capital city behind, you follow the Yukon River for a while, cross over the confluence of the Takhini and Yukon Rivers, and past the bison, elk, and muskox of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. The hot springs is a favourite place to unwind while catching up with friends or soaking away a day of hiking.
Eclipse is very concerned about the environment and the huge carbon footprint many spas have. Eclipse wants to be a leader in operating an ecologically sustainable hot springs spa. It uses geo-thermal heating and renewable and energy efficient design strategies. Some of these include: PVC collectors, grey water separation and water conservation, heat recovery (HRV), recycling, and super green construction envelopes. The hot springs’ renewable woodlot feeds a Garn high efficient wood burner, providing supplemental and emergency backup heating.Eclipse is continually seeking out new opportunities that express their values of sustainability, authenticity, and creativity.
The Relationship Begins
In early 2025 I was chatting with one of the owners, Carla Pitzel, and she expressed her interest in both being a retail space for Yukon Plastics and a provider of sorted and cleaned plastics. This collaboration resonates with their inspiringly green facility, their waste management methods, and their corporate values: they are consistently ranked as Canada’s most energy-efficient and sustainable hot springs.
Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs Special Plastic
Eclipse’s consideration of client experience is high, and amongst their myriad of amenities they offer guests a variety of flavoured waters, cucumber and mint or citrus. These are available throughout the facility with pretty red reusable cups. From time to time the cups crack, and until now they didn’t have a way to recycle them. However the cups are perfect for our process.
The Process of Injection Molding
Injection molding is a manufacturing technique used to create plastic products. In this process, molten plastic is injected into a mold, which shapes and cools the plastic into the desired form. Yukon Plastics utilizes this technology to transform the broken cups from Eclipse Hotsprings into combs, soap dishes, and soon, other products.