If Oliver residents don’t “smarten up,” the Town could face significant fines over poor recycling habits.
Council recently received correspondence from Multi-Material BC (MMBC) about non-targeted (unsortable) material found in the Town’s collected recycling.
Jordan Best, collection manager for MMBC, said they have found a certain amount of non-targeted material in the packaging and printed paper (PPP) that the Town has collected under the MMBC program.
Non-PPP can include scrap metal, wood waste, books, electronics, food waste, plastic toys, laundry hampers and clothes hangers.
Under the MMBC program, collected PPP cannot contain more than three per cent (by weight) of non-PPP. Oliver has exceeded the three per cent threshold.
Best said unsortable materials refer to materials that have been placed in collection containers in a manner that does not allow for recycling.
“This is typically the case when residents tie their recyclables into plastic bags (such as grocery bags) or nest different types of containers together (for example, metal can inside a plastic tub).”
Diane Vaykovich, corporate officer for the Town of Oliver, said unless the percentage of non-targeted materials is reduced, the Town may begin to incur financial penalties in the form of fines.
Chief Financial Officer Dave Svetlichny said these fines are “very punitive.”
He suggested working with MMBC to educate the public via a “paper blitz.”
Mayor Ron Hovanes half-joked by saying people will just put that piece of paper in the blue bag for recycling. Then he said tipping fees at the landfill will have to go up if people don’t “smarten up.”
The mayor recalled growing up on a farm where everything went into the burning barrel.
Councillor Jack Bennest urged people to take recycling more seriously. But he acknowledged that you will never get perfect compliance.
“You will spend money trying to change five per cent of the people who will never change.”
Council agreed to work with MMBC to better educate the public on proper recycling.
By Lyonel Doherty
