Council has referred the issue of single use plastics back to city staff looking for what measures can be brought forward at a municipal level when it comes to discouraging the use of single use plastics and what the city itself can do to reduce its own use of plastics.
Council did agree at last night’s meeting to continue to work with the province in transitioning the blue box recycling program to full producer responsibility which will be done province-wide.
Council agreed on a time frame which will see our blue box program brought to either a complete end or its operations reduced by the end of September 2023 if not earlier—–a recycling contract with GFL will end in two years but there is an option for a third year.
Full producer responsibility will mean producers will take on full financial and operational responsibility and there will be savings for the city but it is too soon to determine an accurate amount——It is estimated that the 2020 recycling cost to our City will be between 850-thousand to 950-thousand dollars.