China cracks down on recyclables; city, residents to feel impact

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This article was published 16/04/2018 (2348 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Questions over city hall’s plan to award a 10-year, $112-million contract to a Toronto firm to process and market curbside recyclable materials have drawn attention to dramatic changes in recycling.

Randy Park, the city’s acting manager of solid waste, said Winnipeggers need to be more discerning when it comes to what they place in their blue carts or there could be huge financial implications for city hall and property taxpayers.

Park said in the past city hall was focused on helping Winnipeggers adapt to recycling, but now the focus is on recycling appropriate and clean materials.

“Residents really need to educate themselves on what is acceptable for the recycling program,” Park told the Free Press. “In the past, when someone was unsure if it was acceptable, they just tossed it in the bin. Now on a go-forward basis if you’re not sure, find out because that’s really important.”

What emerged over the last two weeks at city hall during discussions on the contract was:

• The main buyer of recycled material is China.

• China has drastically lowered the contamination content of recycled products, meaning food jars have to be rinsed clean and newspapers can’t be sullied with spilled coffee or food.

• The number of acceptable materials has shrunk. For example, black-plastic food containers (sushi-tray packaging, for example) and disposable drink (coffee, pop) cups are no longer recyclable.

• The price paid for recycled material has dropped.

An administrative report on recycling in February suggested the city earns about $3.3 million in annual sales but a big chunk of that – 57 per cent or $1.9 million – was at risk because of China’s changed contamination standards.

The administrative report said Winnipeg had to ensure its processed recyclables meet China’s tougher standards or risk not being able to find a buyer for the materials anywhere in the world.

“The recycling commodity market, like many other products, depends on the supply and demand amongst potential consumers of the products,” the report states. “In this case, if the supply of these recycling-fibre commodities does not match the demand of the market, they will not sell. The Chinese government has set the new standard to which the entire market is following suit.”

As a result, the city was required to provide its current recycling processing firm, Emterra Environmental, an additional $1.23 million over two years to reduce the contamination level and for more inspections to ensure the processed material meets the tougher standard.

“The higher contamination that we collect at the curb results in more resources that are required to remove those contaminants,” Park said. “The more (contaminants and non-recyclables) that are in there, the more it costs to remove. The higher amounts of contamination work their way into the finished product and downgrades the quality.”

Moira Geer, director of the city’s water and waste department and Park’s boss, told executive policy committee Tuesday that the city will soon be launching a multimedia education campaign focusing on the message to clean your recyclables and to only toss recyclables into the blue box.

“We’re working on it now,” Geer said. “The city will promote and provide the public education for what should be going in your bins.”

In the meantime, Park said city hall is offering an easy type-in resource for residents unsure of what material is acceptable for recycling. The site can be found at: www.winnipeg.ca/whatgoeswhere.

Park said Winnipeg has one of the lowest contamination levels for recyclables in North America, at slightly over 13 per cent. However, a representative for Emterra, the firm that is currently processing the recyclables picked up through the curbside blue cart program, said the contamination level is closer to 25 per cent, explaining that the city is ignoring the growing list of materials that are no longer recyclable.

“We want to get the recyclable materials out of the garbage but I can tell you contamination has always been an issue with any recycling program but with the current global market situation it has become more prevalent,” Park said. “In the past the message was ‘just throw it in,’ but those ways are changing due to the current situation.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca