Can Canada’s Recycling Industry withstand Another Decade of Struggling to Pay for Itself
For as progressive as Canada is with its recycling commitments, the industry as a whole has a number of financial issues that could sink it entirely if the right sequence of events happen. The discussion around recycling in the last few years has been around who’s to pay for it.
Some argue it’s up to our provincial governments while others want to privatize the system. Municipalities are sometimes assigned the responsibility while in other cases, producers are responsible. The unfortunate truth about recycling is if it is not financially viable to recycling a product and produce something which can be sold from it, the recycling’s unlikely to happen. That’s why many ‘recyclables’ don’t end up recycled and in fact, have to be discarded to be sent towards our landfills.
In BC, they’ve come up with a possible solution for who’s to pay for Canada’s recycling. The province has decided the party who makes the product, sells the product, or who imports the product is the one responsible for paying to recycle its packaging. This law came into existence in 2014. This uniquely incentivizes companies to finance their own recycling programs as well as encourages the switch to more eco-friendly alternatives. BC’s program is called ‘extended producer responsibility’ or ERP and has been critically praised across North America.
Uniquely, BC is the only region in North America which is overseeing the finances and management of its entire recycling system, as opposed to areas like Ontario where municipalities and their taxpayers are responsible. The result of the aforementioned recycling program is companies like Apple, Boston Pizza, and Loblaws coming together in a non-profit known as Recycle BC to oversee all recycling in the province. BC’s recycling rate this year stands at 69 percent, Canada’s highest. They also have an ecosystem of recycling plants accepting shopping bags, berry and pastry containers, and other products which aren’t accepted elsewhere in Canada.
Ontario’s laws a little different where producers are expected to cover 50 percent of the province’s recycling system as a whole. Although there had been some discussion under the Wynne Liberals of adopting a BC-esque system, the talk’s been extinguished since the Ford Conservatives have been in charge. Regardless, enough evidence suggests that an Ontario EPR program could have tremendous benefits and many would say is the responsible thing to mandate. If Ontario were to make the switch, imagine the eco-friendly packaging, the new recycling facilities which would be created, and the environmental impact. It would also help relieve the burden placed on municipalities and their taxpayers to handle their own recycling.
There are moves happening across jurisdictions in Canada which may help support and incentivize the recycling system. These include bills arguing to ban single-use packaging and plastics. There are others arguing for a Canada-wide mandate to ensure all packaging contains some percentage of recycled content. Although these would help improve waste disposal policies, it does not necessarily address the question of finances. Someone has to pay for our recycling. By putting the responsibility into the hands of the private sector with an extended producer responsibility, it would serve our community well.
Core Mini Bins supports a financially responsible Toronto waste management and recycling industry. For small businesses, corporations, construction contractors, and households in need, we continue to offer eco-friendly waste disposal, recycling, dumpster rentals, demolition and excavation services, and more.
