Nelson produces nearly twice the amount of contaminated recycling considered to be acceptable by provincial organization Recycle B.C., and that could ultimately cost the city money if residents don’t get their act together.
According to an audit completed by the provincial organization, which contracts the City of Nelson to collect recycled products, the city has an average contamination of 5.9 per cent, down from 8.7 per cent, but still well shy of the three per cent goal established by Recycle B.C. — formerly known as MMBC.
The problem occurs when residents include non-recyclables (considered contaminants) in their curbside bags, which means the rest of the contents ends up in the landfill.
One of the biggest culprits has been plastic bags, as they’re not acceptable at curbside but instead have to be taken separately to the RDCK recycling depot on Highway 3A.
Confusion around this subject caused controversy earlier in the year, and inspired an educational push from the city.
All of this information was contained in a report presented to city council on Monday.
“During the latest audit residents were successful in reducing the volume of this material from the curbside material,” the report reads.
“As a collector the City must comply with the regulations as established by Recycle B.C. … The impact of this is the shifting of close to $500,000 in collection and processing cost from the city taxpayers to the producers.”
According to city manager Kevin Cormack, thanks to their educational initiative they’ve been seeing less mis-sorted items.
“We’re encouraged by our movement in the right direction, both because we want to meet our contractual obligations and because keeping our recycling clean means it doesn’t end up in the landfill,” Cormack told the Star.
“I know personally it’s always a bit of a challenge remembering what goes where, but our educational push has helped the public to understand where things can be recycled, and how.”
The next step in the process is locating a depot, and Recycle B.C. still hopes it will be the Nelson Leafs who help them create a one-stop shop for everything recyclable, whether it’s plastic bags or bottles or hazardous materials.
The fact is, though, there’s a long way to go. According to the contract signed with Recycle B.C., ultimately Nelson could be fined for non-compliance. But Cormack said we’re currently in their good books.
“They haven’t implemented any penalties at this stage. Their approach is to work with collectors, and what’s been communicated is that as long as collectors are working with them and making efforts to get the contamination down, then they’re happy to work with us.”