The Bluewater Recycling Association is in wait-and-see mode as the province transitions towards making producers pay 100% of blue box program costs.
Currently, the costs are split 50/50 with municipalities but the goal here is producers can control more what packages are used and how much is recyclable.
BRA President Francis Veilleux says they don’t know if this will be a good or a bad thing for the BRA until the producers weigh in with their plans.
Most communities have co-collection services with waste and recycling collected at the same time.
If producers opt to take control of the system and have their own collection service, it would double the trucks on the road for a job that used to be done by one.
Veilleux would like to see producers hire the BRA to collect waste and blue boxes the way they are now as he feels there’s a lot of benefits to that including for the environment.
It’s a six year transition, with projections showing a phased transition of the blue box program beginning in 2023 with about one-third of the province transitioning in each of the following three years.
