Recyclables pile up over holidays with curbside pickup in third week of delay

It is now more than three weeks and counting since some Vancouver residents have seen a recycling truck.

By last weekend, alleyways around the city were already peppered with piles of container and paper recyclables. That was before Santa came bearing gifts in cardboard and plastic packaging and wrapped in decorative paper. It was also before thousands of cartons of egg nog, tins of cranberry sauce and bottles of wine were popped open across the city.

The delayed curbside pickup has been blamed on bad weather and icy laneways. But even areas just a few metres above sea level that are entirely ice- and snow-free are still waiting for a recycling truck to catch up.

The city exited the curbside recycling business earlier this fall. Smithrite now collects recyclables under contract to Multi-Material B.C., a non-profit industry association.

Byron Sheardown has waited more than three weeks for his recyclables to be collected from hi home at Kits Point.

“I’ve now run out of yellow bags, blue boxes and patience,” Sheardown wrote in an email he sent to Smithrite, city councillors and local media.

“No more excuses. Just get the job done.”

Sheardown later told Postmedia that Smithrite replied to say his next pickup was scheduled for Thursday.

In a higher elevation neighbourhood just north of Queen Elizabeth Park, Kate Bird is also waiting for her next scheduled pickup day, which comes Friday. If that day is missed by the recycling collectors, it will have been more than a month since she’s seen Smithrite. Meanwhile, the city’s garbage and green waste trucks have run on time, she said.

Smithrite referred questions to MMBC, which did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.