I have worked with my local…

I have worked with my local municipal authority as a volunteer when the initial attempts at waste diversion were being implemented. We have no curb side collection and are required to ‘drop-off’ the recycled content at the municipal transfer station. It was here that I was kept busy educating the public on what was acceptable recycled materials. There was no universal standard based on a provincial plan and so each authority accepts different material types. This is usually dictated by the end ‘processing plant’ whose interests are financial in nature. This means acceptable for recycling gets defined as those items for which there is a market.

I don’t see how these proposals will be effectively delivered across a rural, sparsely populated and somewhat isolated area such as Renfrew County. If the local townships don’t offer a curb side collection based on the routing efficiencies, then I don’t see how producers or their designated PROs will fair any better.

It would be excellent to have the consistency of product definition so far as recycled content AND I think the producers will respond by reducing over packaging etc. when they assume this responsibility. I just think getting this rolled out is going to be a lot harder than you think!