More recyclable items go to the landfill than into blue bins, report says

Even though Moose Jaw households recycled roughly 1.5 million kilograms of materials last year, an estimated 2.4 million kilograms of recyclables still ended up the landfill, a council report says.

The current residential recycling collection program began in late 2015, with 381,830 kgs of recyclables collected during the last three months of that year. Since that time, there has been an 81-per-cent increase in such materials collected, the report explained.

In 2016 the amount collected was 1.51 million kgs; in 2017 it was 1.54 million kgs; in 2018 it was 1.56 million kgs; and in 2019 it was 1.53 million kgs. However, the report continued, an analysis of residential waste at the landfill indicates an estimated 1.31 million kgs of paper and 1.11 million kgs of plastic are still disposed of in the residential waste stream annually, the report continued. A more significant portion of these products could be collected by increasing public education on recycling practices and introducing program changes such as smaller waste carts or bi-weekly waste collection.

The solid waste utility started increasing education last December using mail-outs, with further communication planned in 2020, said the report. The residential waste collection service was moved to an eight-month bi-weekly schedule more than two years ago. However, the data shows that change had little effect on increasing recycling collection.

Cardboard, newspaper and mixed fibre paper make up 82.7 per cent of the residential recycling stream, with these items still carrying value and still sold on the commodity markets, city council learned during its April 27 regular meeting. The remaining 17.3 per cent of the recycling stream is plastic, steel, aluminum, glass, and waste. Material sorting and recycling centres have been challenged to find suitable markets for these products.

The recycling statistics were part of an overall report to council about extending the current recycling collection contract. In a vote of 6-1, council awarded the final two-year contract extension to Loraas Disposal Services Inc. Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed. The recycling contract with Loraas began in October 2015 and included an initial three-year term, with two optional extensions of two years each. The first two-year extension concludes on Sept. 30, while the second two-year extension starts Oct. 1, 2020 and runs to Sept. 30, 2020.

If council had terminated the agreement after the first two-year extension, it would have cost the municipality $250,000 to buy out the 12,500 collection carts.

In an email to the after the meeting, Mayor Fraser Tolmie pointed out not all the paper and plastic mentioned in the report is recyclable. For example, single-use plastic bags and food-stained cardboard cannot be recycled.

However, he continued, that does not excuse the fact there is too much recyclable material going to the landfill. “We have made great strides over time in our community to increase recycling and reduce unnecessary waste in our landfill with our blue bin recycling program, but the recent numbers show that we can do a better job,” Tolmie said. “This is disappointing, but I can see in the future that there will be improvements over time as more of our younger generations become homeowners.” Tolmie has two daughters, ages four and seven, who are aware that society should recycle more. He believes they learned at school how important recycling is and want to practise it at home. “As I mentioned before, we still have a way to go, but with an educational campaign being implemented, I would like to see better numbers in the future,” he said, adding an 81-per-cent increase in volume of recyclable materials since 2015 has been positive.