Richmond spends close to $1.8 million every year on blue box collection services.
But plans are well underway in B.C. for what could be the biggest change in waste disposal since the creation of the blue box. Rather than residents paying for recycling through their taxes, the companies that produced the material for sale in the first place will be picking up the tab.
The result is supposed to be less garbage headed for permanent disposal and an annual savings for municipalities of $60 million to $100 million in costs that consumers will pay instead of homeowners.
But depending on what happens between now and the implementation date just over two years from now, we are either on the verge of a major expansion of the familiar blue box system or the collapse of curbside recycling.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie is chair of Metro Vancouver's Zero Waste committee. And his city and its people may save that $1.8 million annually once industry takes over.
"The main message is that this program is to enhance the efforts that we all have as we all move toward even higher recycling rates but it's a very complicated situation that we are facing," says Brodie.
It's all because of Schedule Five, a little noticed change to B.C.'s Recycling Regulation that was signed by Environment Minister Terry Lake in May of last year. It makes producers of printed paper and packaging of all kinds responsible for collecting and recycling or reusing the waste associated with their products.
The regulation was put in place with the expectation from the province that it would result in an expansion of the blue box system. For people who use the system, the only noticeable difference would be that a lot more materials now being put in the garbage would be eligible for collection and that it would no longer be financed by municipalities.
If municipalities do con-tinue to pick up recycling, it would be under contract to the industry group put together to design and run the new system, MultiMaterial British Columbia.
MMBC has to produce its plan for taking over the collection of printed paper and packaging by Nov. 19 of this year and have it up and running 18 months after that.
For the full story, visit www.vancouversun.com.
