Eco-conscious Cochranites are cautioned to watch for contaminants, such as electronics and scrap metal, seeping their way into blue bins.
China has tightened restrictions on recyclable products as of Jan. 1 – leaving the market in a volatile place, creating uncertainty as to which recyclables they will take and which they will refuse in the coming months.
The move has resulted in the City of Calgary temporarily storing affected recyclables until new potential buyers can be procured. Cochrane ships its recyclables to Calgary.
“We are collectively looking for alternative markets for these materials. In the meantime, we are storing the materials. This is not an uncommon practice during periods of market instability,” says Sharon Howland, program manager for the City of Calgary’s waste and recycling department.
“Over the life of the blue cart recycling program, a portion of recycling revenues has been set aside to allow the city to address volatile market conditions such as we are currently experiencing,” added Howland.
“We will be using this funding to weather the current situation. On a positive note, recently, we have been able to send several loads of mixed paper to alternative markets.”
Calgary is currently storing Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics, used in things like clamshell packaging for produce like berries and lettuce, as well as mixed paper, including such things as envelopes, greeting cards, brochures, catalogues and paper bags.
Calgary and Cochrane both contract with Cascades Recovery, a private third-party company that sorts and markets collected recyclables. Calgary is working with the contractor to find new potential buyers.
“This issue has been going on for a few months now,” explained Fabrizio Bertolo, manager of waste and recycling for the Town of Cochrane.
“The problem with China is for too many years they accepted recyclables, whether or not they were good (contaminated),” said Fabrizio, adding that China began refusing some recyclables last fall – mostly paper and mixed plastics.
“For Cochrane, at the moment, there is not a problem,” he said, adding that this could change in the next few months but said it points to a bigger issue over extended producer responsibility (EPR).
Bertolo said such provincial EPR legislation would take the onus off municipalities and shift it back onto the manufacturer/producer of the product – something that is being done in British Columbia and much of Europe.
The producers design a system to deal with the processing and marketing of materials. The system would ensure efficiency and higher-grade materials with less contamination to be put back on the world market – something municipalities do not have the expertise or capacity to deal with independently.
Leah Kemppainen, communications planner for the City of Calgary’s waste and recycling division, confirmed that Calgary would be supportive of an EPR solution.
Kemppainen added that Calgary does not speculate on how long the market will fluctuate, but will continue to monitor and adjust their program as needed.
