The Ontario government’s Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act shifts the burden of recycling onto producers, who will now be responsible for recyclable materials. The Act relieves municipalities of the expense. For the most part.

By July of next year, the Centre and South Hastings Waste Services Board (CSHWSB) and Quinte Waste Solutions (QWS) will begin to shut down municipally-funded recycling programs.

On August 4 next year, the collection company E360 will begin to collect recyclables on behalf of Circular Materials Ontario (CMO), the lead organization in charge of packaging and product recapture.

QWS’s budget this year was $5.3 million. $1.1 million came from the County. When it stops recyclable collection halfway through next year, the County’s contribution to the QWS budget will be cut in half. By 2026, QWS should not even be a line item on the municipal budget.

QWS General Manager Bill Sandison said it will still offer hazardous and electronic materials collection through to the end of 2025. A decision on the continuation of that service will come next year. 

Not on Main Street

It’s unclear what the new recycling process will look like. Curbside collection will still take place, though it could be reduced to every two weeks. The legislation mandates pick up at residences, schools, and businesses. But stores on Main Streets in Picton, Bloomfield and Wellington are among the nearly 500 places where recycling material will not be collected after August 4, 2025. All have been deemed “non-eligible.”

Albert Paschkowiak, the County’s Environmental Services and Sustainability Supervisor, noted there are gaps in the new provincial legislation that will leave restaurants, stores, daycares, shops and others scrambling this time next year.

The Committee of the Whole approved a solution last week. Starting in July 2025, the County will establish collection stations for those not getting curbside service at each of its transfer stations, and expand hours to improve recycling options for sources outside the legislation. Private services to collect and market ineligible materials will cost about $210,000, meaning the municipality will still save $890,000 on recycling collection moving forward. The municipality will also launch a public awareness campaign.

Truck collection, though, is a non-starter. It would cost $450,000 to service the six per cent of the collection base deemed ineligible.

“This is a middle ground that opens the transfer sites for ineligible sources and allows week day and Saturday hours starting in July 2025. It’s a modest price to provide this option,” said Mr. Paschkowiak.

Finding Solutions

“It’s great we are saving money,” said Councillor Phil St-Jean. ”But we are doing it on the backs of businesses.”

He wondered who was going to police who was putting out what for collection? Will businesses simply bundle their recycling with their garbage and throw it all out?

“That’s the Million Dollar Question,” Mr. Paschkowiak answered. “Ultimately, it’s not up to the municipality, it’s up to the Producer Responsibility Organization and their contractor, E360.”

Waste Services Board member and Wellington Councillor Corey Engelsdorfer said a number of QWS municipalities are asking the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks to reconsider its eligibility rules.

“This is poor policy and poor planning by the province,” said Councillor MacNaughton. “We talk about climate change. There are trucks that are going to be rolling by businesses yet we are asking those businesses to put more cars and trucks on the road on Wednesdays to take their recycling to transfer sites.”