District of Squamish staff plans to issue fines to those residents who place material that is not acceptable in the curbside recycling.
The fines will come after education and three warnings for those who place “Not Accepted Materials” in curbside recycling.
Today, Squamish council will discuss a report on the Contamination Remediation Plan, which aims to reduce unwanted material in curbside recycling by 25% of December 2020 levels.
In 2017, the district joined the Recycle BC Program by collecting packaging and printed paper from residents eligible for curbside collection.
However, as per the agreement, the collected recycling cannot contain more than 3% by weight of non-PPP, or it would be subject to rejection and a penalty by Recycle BC.
However, Squamish’s rate of contamination is at approximately 15 per cent, which has led Recycle BC to ask Squamish to develop a contamination remediation plan. Squamish needs to achieve a level of Incompatible Material of 11.5% and Not Accepted Material of 5.5% by August 2022.
Recycle BC has emphasised to the district that the reduction of levels of Not Accepted Materials should be the top priority.
The district will educate the public through tote stickers, its webpage and other channels.
“A typical approach is to provide 1-2 warnings when contamination continues to be present in a tote, and follow up with a notice delivered by municipal staff as a third warning prior to issuing a fine for repeat contamination,” says a staff report to Council.
The District of Squamish has a household waste diversion guide and Waste Wizard waste material look-up tool to eliminate the guesswork of what goes where.
JP says
It’s about time. Bring it on!