‘From birth to death’: Georgina sorting out blue box changes

Recently, the provincial government announced it is moving toward a producer-responsibility model for blue box materials.

Yorkregion.com
November 19, 2020

Ontario government moves to harmonious blue box system with producers picking up the tab

But moving to a system where the packaging industry is actually responsible for ensuring the materials used are recyclable has been a long time coming.

“It’s been a long, laborious process,” said Georgina regional councillor Rob Grossi.

For years, Grossi has been working alongside other municipal representatives on a blue box task force through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

It was always intended to move to a producer-responsibility system shortly after the introduction of the blue box, he said.

That was close to two decades ago.

And the new producer-responsible model won’t take effect until 2025.

The province’s announcement comes days after the federal government announced a ban on single-use plastics, including grocery bags, takeout containers and straws.

But the federal timeline is much shorter-- ban single-use plastics by the end of 2021.

Giving packaging producers and manufacturers “total responsibility from birth to death” is a welcome step, Grossi added.

“Manufacturers are just catching up to what society wants and expects,” he said. “People have become accustomed to comfort.

“Think of the days when milk was delivered in glass bottles. (Bottles) were returned, washed and refilled. The waste stream was very minimal. Now, we have a huge waste stream that’s not sustainable.”

A fulsome recycling plan could also include returning to a deposit-return program and mandating that developers recycle building materials and use recycled material.

Under the current system, producers are supposed to pay a portion of the cost to process recyclables, while municipalities are forced to pick up the rest of the processing tab-- amounting to millions spent on blue box collection and the processing of recyclable materials.

In 2019, the region collected more than 78,000 tonnes of blue box material, amounting to about 22 per cent of the total material collected.

The new program will see costs fully downloaded to the producers, creating a circular economy, said Laura McDowell, director of environmental promotion and protection at the region.

Circular waste stream

“Producers need to stop thinking of the consumer and the resident as two different people. It’s the same person,” she said.

“Under the new system, producers will be accountable for the entire (recycling) system from reducing packaging to recycling it.”

“Closing the loop means there will be minimal stuff in the trash,” added Grossi.

While the region receives funding from the packaging industry, selling back recycled material such as cardboard, glass and newsprint also pays for the recycling process.

But the price of the region’s "basket of goods"-- recycled material sold by the tonne back to producers-- has dropped from $96/tonne in 2019 to $35/tonne in 2020, making the new system more attractive.

Along with adding more accountability on the producer side, the province’s new system will also harmonize what goes in the blue box across the province and will also introduce more recycling requirements for condos and apartment buildings.

Currently, there are more than 200 different recycling regimes in the province, meaning what one municipality recycles, another tosses in the trash.

Blue box contamination-- mixing recyclables and nonrecyclable material such as food waste and plastic bags-- is still a major problem across the board, said McDowell.

There’s hope the producer-responsibility model introduced by the province will curtail contamination by creating one harmonized system.

“What you recycle at work or at the park is the same as what you would recycle at home,” McDowell said. “Confusion causes contamination.”

And if a load is contaminated, it’s harder to go to market with the recycled materials, she added.

Another major contamination culprit is complex packaging, where processing machines can’t efficiently sort one recyclable material, such as cardboard, from another, such as plastic film.

This is where packaging producers and manufacturers come into play.

Up to this point, while many manufacturers had good intentions by making more lightweight packaging, there was no onus to consult with those processing the packaging-- in this case, the region.

“No one asked, ‘Can that actually be recycled?’” McDowell said.

“Residents are doing their part by choosing to buy products with less packaging, and they expect that packaging to be recycled.”

The changes won’t take effect until 2025 and there remain a number of unknowns, such as how frequent blue box material will be collected curbside and if residents are required to sort and separate recyclables.

The later transition date of 2025 aligns with various blue box collection contracts in the region.

After the new blue box system is operational, the region will still continue to manage waste and green bin collection and processing.