A report for the the CRD’s Environmental Services Committee says some recycling in the community is ending up in the Hartland Landfill.
The closure of Chinese markets for the materials means that the CRD and others are forced to go to other international players — who have much stricter regulations.
But commercial and multi-family buildings have seen issues with sorting, resulting in many of the loads being rejected.
“I think there is cross contamination of a lot of things, but especially glass, things aren’t being as cleaned as they are as they are in the curbside, its general contamination issues and Byers are just refusing,” said CRD Director and View Royal Mayor David Screech.
The report points to the communal and anonymous way in which the materials are typically collected as a reason behind the issue.
Though the rejected materials are not having any measurable effect on the region’s per capita disposal rate. The residential blue box program is, however, seeing proper sorting and disposal.
Those who want to properly dispose of their items in multi-family and commercial buildings are asked to take them to a recycling depot.
Staff are looking at options to solve the issue.
The closure of Chinese markets was described in the report as having a profoundly negative impact on recycling programs globally.
It goes on to say the price paid for recyclable materials is now much lower. In some cases markets are now charging a fee to accept them, rather than pay for the material.
Julian Kolsut
