No plastic bags in recycling?

[Carrs Landing Viking]

Kodi; I would suggest if you don't want plastic bags in the recycling bin, then maybe you should be asking the stores that use them to start using paper bags. Just like in the old days when I was a cashier in a supermarket.

My husband and I recycle everything possible. As a result we typically have less than one kitchen bag in our weekly garbage can pickup. Never more.

The no plastic bag thing makes no sense at all, given all the other plastics that go in the blue bins.

[Kodi]

Plastic bags, when collected with other material, is difficult to separate and present a contamination issue to the other recyclables it is mixed in with (if it is present with other plastic containers it down grades the value of those plastics and also runs the risk of the other plastics being rejected all together for recycling). Multi-material BC (the organization soon to be responsible for all packaging and printed paper recycling in BC) wants it collected separately so that they can ensure other recyclables are not contaminated and that the plastic film is also recycled. It is a decision made across the entire Province so many other municipalities who previously had plastic bags in their curbside collection will also have to take to a depot.

[LoneWolf_53]

That sounds all well and good until a person gives it two seconds of thought.

Seems to me that all the other stuff that is accepted in the recycling bins, needs to be sorted and separated, so why can't the same be done with plastic bags?

I think it has more to do with profit margins, and off loading less appealing tasks onto the householder.

In other words a case of cherry picking to get the stuff worth the most money, with the least effort attached.

Instead of being the entity that makes getting rid of waste as simple and appealing as possible, to do its part in preventing problems, waste management has effectively made decisions that fan the flames of littering.

[Rwede]

Instead of being the entity that makes getting rid of waste as simple and appealing as possible, to do its part in preventing problems, waste management has effectively made decisions that fan the flames of littering.

Bingo! Recycling is being disabled rather than enabled. The many millions we pay to keep the now-redundant Regional District offices open should go toward important issues like enabling recycling rather than to faux-issue bureaucrats building useless empires over non-issues.

The priorities being set by these local governments is so off track that only a complete sweeping of personnel both at the political and bureaucratic levels will get things back to providing the services that truly matter to the taxpayers.

[Dizzy1]

Plastic bags, when collected with other material, is difficult to separate and present a contamination issue to the other recyclables it is mixed in with (if it is present with other plastic containers it down grades the value of those plastics and also runs the risk of the other plastics being rejected all together for recycling). Multi-material BC (the organization soon to be responsible for all packaging and printed paper recycling in BC) wants it collected separately so that they can ensure other recyclables are not contaminated and that the plastic film is also recycled. It is a decision made across the entire Province so many other municipalities who previously had plastic bags in their curbside collection will also have to take to a depot.

Perhaps an investigation in how other recycling programs around the world seem to manage just fine on how to separate may be in order?

[Dizzy1]

Perhaps an investigation in how other recycling programs around the world seem to manage just fine on how to separate may be in order?

On second thought, scrap that ... for the amount of money Governing Bodies spend on studies, you could hire a team of full time employees to separate material for the next 10 years for the same cost.

[LoneWolf_53]

Bingo! Recycling is being disabled rather than enabled. The many millions we pay to keep the now-redundant Regional District offices open should go toward important issues like enabling recycling rather than to faux-issue bureaucrats building useless empires over non-issues.

The priorities being set by these local governments is so off track that only a complete sweeping of personnel both at the political and bureaucratic levels will get things back to providing the services that truly matter to the taxpayers.

Something is certainly amiss.

It's not that long ago that taxes for services such as garbage collection, had to cover the cost of a truck, as well as a driver, and one, or often times two, garbage handlers.

We did nothing but toss stuff in a container, and they simply dumped it at the landfill, with zero profit.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and mix in the convenient buzz words eco friendly, green, and recycle, and look at where we've gone......

Nowadays, we still have the truck, but the three workers has been cut down to just the driver, and he doesn't even have to get dirty anymore, as he picks up stuff that gets instantly sold and turned into cash.

To now have us do all that we do, and still continually off load more responsibility on us, never mind the costs associated with us having to drive to depots, comes off as bordering on the ridiculous.

If the goal is to ultimately only have guys driving around, collecting stuff that can be turned over for a profit, then heck maybe I'm in the wrong business.

How about a tax rebate for the fuel used in our taking items to depots?

If I'm forced to do your jobs, then compensate me for it too.

Perhaps instead of Waste Management, a name change to Selective Waste Management would be in order.

And some wonder why people are often inclined to litter........... sheesh.

[ixler8]

Something is certainly amiss.
Haha , Wolfie ! Understatement in so many levels.

[grammafreddy]

Over here we can put kitty litter and dog poops and disposable diapers in the compost bin. It gets picked up every week. Alternating weeks are the recycling and the garbage. Recycling is cardboard, paper, boxes, tin cans, etc. Garbage is garbage.

http://www.rdkb.com/Services/Environmen ... ement.aspx

[coffeeFreak]

Plastic bags are always welcomed at the farmer's market, foodbanks and almost any non-profit thriftstore.

I am surprised at the lack of communication our Liberal Govt has had with British Columbians about this major change. Here is a link with some info on this new program, and the second link is just one of many responses to the change:

http://www.solidwastemag.com/news/mmbc-launches-final-recycling-ad-campaign-in-bc/1003022993/?&er=NA

B.C.’s new recycling program flawed, Buckerfield’s CEO says

Amy Smart / Times Colonist
March 14, 2014 10:34 PM

The CEO of a chain of farm supply stores says his company won’t pay fees toward the province’s new recycling program until the stewardship organization leading it shows more transparency.

Buckerfield’s co-owner Kelvin McCulloch said that Multi-Material B.C., which formed in 2011 to run the program, is breaking its contract with members by not providing independently audited financial statements online.

“There’s no accountability,” said McCulloch, who performed audits in his previous positions as a chartered accountant and consulting director for KPMG in Victoria. “They’ve already spent money for 21/2 years, so let’s see those costs in their financial statements.”

The new program follows a 2011 amendment to the province’s recycling regulation, intended to shift financial responsibility for recycling packaging and printed paper from local governments to the industries that produce them.

The province approved MMBC, a new non-profit agency representing those producers, to manage the program beginning May 19.

McCulloch is also concerned that the fees Buckerfield’s is required to pay as a producer of recyclable packaging — like feed bags — are arbitrary and don’t reflect the real cost of recycling. It was a mistake to shift recycling oversight from governments to a non-profit, industry-run agency, he said.

“Some of the fundamental features of a government program of equity, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability — none of those are present here,” he said.

Businesses that don’t wish to join MMBC must find an alternative way to fulfil their responsibilities under the regulation. But according to McCulloch, that’s not a real option, as MMBC is the only stewardship agency that the Ministry of Environment has approved for packaging and printed paper since changing the regulation.

Organizations that join MMBC will pay fees to cover the costs of collecting and processing materials. McCulloch estimates that Buckerfield's, which primarily supplies materials to backyard and hobby farmers, would have to pay about $60,000 annually.

MMBC managing director Allen Langdon said the organization hasn’t posted financial statements yet because operations don’t begin until May. “We haven’t had a full year of operations, so we don’t have any audited financial statements,” he said. “But it’s common practice to publish audited annual financial statements, and we’ve made a commitment to do that.”

The agency has published its estimated startup costs at $7.5 million and an additional $16 million in working capital needed before the program launch in May, which will cover collection, transportation and processing costs for the first 21Ú2 months. Those amounts have not been independently audited.

Member fees are calculated based on the volume of packaging and printed paper produced, he said.

“We ask companies how much packaging they supply into the marketplace. We take that combined with the estimated costs of the program, which is fairly well known given that we’ve got specific collection contracts and a processing contract,” Langdon said.

If Buckerfield’s is unhappy with the arrangement, it doesn’t have to join, he said. “All the people who join MMBC are doing it because they want to appoint MMBC to discharge their obligations, but he doesn’t have to join.”

On Monday, a coalition of business groups announced plans to fight the changes through a campaign called Rethink it, B.C.

The changes will mean hidden costs for consumers, put a world-class blue-box program in the hands of industry players with an interest in profit, as well as threaten local businesses, said Peter Kvarnstrom, chairman of the Canadian Association of Newspapers and president of B.C. operations for Glacier Media, which owns a part interest in the Times Colonist.

“No other jurisdiction has handed the entire system over to industry for both the funding and running of that system. We worry about these major stewards and whether or not their motivations are consistent with operating a world-class recycling system or whether it’s simply a profit-motivated decision-making organization,” Kvarnstrom said.

“What we’re really looking for is the government of B.C. to pause the program, involve itself in the discussion, talk to B.C. businesses about the challenges they see in the program and help build a great program that really reflects the needs of British Columbians.”

The Ministry of Environment refused to comment.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-s-new-recycling-program-flawed-buckerfield-s-ceo-says-1.900174

[Carrs Landing Viking]

I am still waiting for this notice some of you have received. No where to be seen. lol

[LoneWolf_53]

No notice here either, and until such time as I see one, plastic bags are going in the blue bin.

[Carrs Landing Viking]

I'm with you Lone wolf. If they can't be bothered , neither can I.

[vistaww]

If it's a separation issue then it's just too bad that they didn't first try the approach that plastics/bags needed to be kept in a separate bag and deposited as a single item. This is pretty much what we'll need to do when we take it to the depot anyway.

I am happy about the milk containers now being accepted though as that was one of the biggest potential wreck my car interior items for taking to the depot. I even hate taking my empties to the depot as that measly $10-$13 often means risking my car's interior and my clothing as well as spending part of my valuable Saturday time off at the Depot. I only do it because it's the only environmentally right choice but I'd forfeit the cash if i could put it out curbside.

The tougher rules get the more likely things are to go to the dump instead as people start making lesser environmental choices as it becomes more difficult. In Los Angeles, for example, they don't even bother to do a curbside program because it just doesn't work so they sort at the waste site. A little extreme but I'm betting that this is almost what is needed for public style businesses and more Tourism based towns anyway. Residential garbage is probably much better than business sortability. The cost is higher but at lesst the results are better.

[LoneWolf_53]

I even hate taking my empties to the depot as that measly $10-$13 often means risking my car's interior and my clothing as well as spending part of my valuable Saturday time off at the Depot. I only do it because it's the only environmentally right choice but I'd forfeit the cash if i could put it out curbside.

Let the homeless pick them up. Win win.

The tougher rules get the more likely things are to go to the dump instead as people start making lesser environmental choices as it becomes more difficult.

My precise arguing point all along. Waste management people need to make their role as hassle free for residents as possible, and people will happily comply with their wishes.

On the other hand, set up a whole host of obstacles, as appears to be the route chosen, and people will simply toss their arms in the air, in frustration, and be far less willing to comply.

I've seen what goes into commercial dumpsters, so there's no way whatsoever that I can be convinced our residential items can't be sorted at their facility.

If they want the bags separated then fine just say so, in fact I always do toss the bags in the blue bin on their own, which may be why I'm particularly annoyed by this new rule change.