In order to meet a deadline, Powell River’s local governments dealt with resolutions about residential packaging and printed paper recycling last week.
Multi-Material British Columbia (MMBC) is an industry led and funded non-profit organization that will assume the responsibility for managing residential packaging and printed paper recycling on behalf of industry in May 2014. BC’s Recycling Regulation was updated to include packaging and printed paper (PPP). The PPP regulation shifts the costs and responsibility for managing the residential recycling of packaging and printed paper from regional and municipal governments and their taxpayers to industry and their consumers.
MMBC had set a deadline of September 16 for local governments to either commit to a contract to be a collector, let the agency contract out blue box pickup to other collectors or else keep running recycling services without compensation from the agency. However, on Monday, MMBC extended the deadline, leaving it open-ended for local governments that need more time to decide. There are financial incentives to join with the agency.
Powell River Regional District board held a special, in-camera meeting on Thursday, September 12 to deal with the issue. The board subsequently released the motion it passed at the meeting, which was to indicate to MMBC the regional district’s intention to accept the depot collection incentive and remain in the recycling business as a collector. The regional district currently has six recycling depots distributed throughout the region, as well as one part-time depot in Lund.
“We’re going to see the manufacturers taking responsibility for their products,” said Colin Palmer, board chair. “People are going to have the opportunity to recycle a significant amount of residential materials.”
Palmer described the proposal as a total change and a paradigm shift. “We’re going to have to now work out which sites we’re going to look at and how they’re going to be looked after,” he said. “That would be our only obligation. After that, MMBC does everything. They collect the products, they handle the products. All we have to do is guarantee they’re not contaminated.”
Palmer also said the board held a closed meeting about the issue because it has contracts with companies who handle its recycling and the details of those agreements can’t be discussed publicly.
City of Powell River council passed a motion at its September 12 meeting to allow Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer, to decide whether to send in a letter of intent to MMBC. The city has a curbside recycling program.
Fraser said the city is going to dramatically reduce and potentially offset entirely recycling costs with the level of financial incentive. “Our understanding is MMBC’s incentive would give us somewhere in the area of $170,000 and our current recycling costs are about $70,000,” he said.
