Bruce County council will be looking for lower-tier municipalities to call on the province to help with new Blue Box regulations.
The request comes in response to a motion from the Western Ontario Wardens Caucus after a meeting in August.
Current regulations mandate that municipalities are responsible for collecting recyclables from homes, schools, and non-profit long-term care homes.
Recycling is currently completed through an agreement with the Bruce Area Solid Waste Recycling. BASWR is a not-for-profit organization, and that organization will be part of the recycling collection agreement for those customers.
In the WOWC’s letter to provincial politicians, they point out that current regulations, which exclude large industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) sources, it does not address the needs of not-for-profit organizations, municipal buildings and facilities, daycares, private schools, places of worship, campgrounds, trailer parks, and commercial farms.
Additionally, the regulations do not cover small and medium-sized establishments, which have been left out of the new Blue Box Regulation but currently receive collection services through their municipalities and won’t be on the collection routes starting in January 2026.
“It’s going to be a very contentious issue for us as mayors. We’re going to have an awful lot of commercial businesses who are going to be very shocked in 14 months, when they can’t put their recycling out and they’re going to have to pay for it,” says Warden Chris Peabody.
That means that facilities such as municipal offices and municipally-owned arenas will have to pay to recycle. Members of Bruce County council were looking to add their municipalities’ voices to the resolution from the WOWC, and call on the provincial Minister of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks Andrea Khanjin.
Peabody adds “Ultimately this mess is going to mean that commercial entities are just going to throw the stuff into the bins and if it’s a company like Waste Management, it’ll leave the area, but if it’s one of our local collectors it’s going to end up in our own landfills.”
Grey County’s commercial recycling will have to be paid for by small and medium producers starting in January 2025, and Peabody says that he’ll be watching the neighbouring county to find out how to deal with the issue and what solutions may arise, so that it helps to give Bruce County better direction.
Bruce County council is hoping to find a viable option so that all recyclables are collected and dealt with appropriately, instead of ending up in landfills.
The main driver of discontinuing commercial recycling comes down to cost, and where and when money will be spent.
“There’s an illusion of saving money on the one end, but they we’re going to start spending money on the other end because your arena is going to have to pay [to recycle]. Or throw it out, which we don’t want.”
The WOWC resolution is going to be shared with each lower-tier municipality, so each council may discuss options and give their support for calling on the province for solutions.