Niagara Recycling worries about future of industry
Province plans to muzzle independent authority; local nonprofit CEO fears fewer items will go into blue boxes
As the provincial government considers changes to Ontario’s recycling industry, Niagara Recycling’s Norm Kraft is becoming increasingly nervous about the future of the local facility.
“We’ve been serving the Niagara Region for 22 years, so we want to make sure we protect what we’re doing here in Niagara,” the chief executive officer said. “We’re just quite nervous, in general.”
The nonprofit recycling operation employs 90 workers at its Niagara Falls facility, and has to date donated roughly $2.7 million to the communities it serves.
But as changes are implemented, such as charging the full cost of recycling programs to the blue box stewards — companies that produce recyclable materials that end up in residential recycling bins — Kraft said he expects that many of Ontario’s 50 or so recycling plants will close.
“When the stewards take over, there’s probably going to be a massive restructuring and consolidation of recycling plants,” he said. “The question is, what happens to the Niagara facility? Right now, the (Niagara) Region is looking at different options including selling the assets.
In light of additional changes being considered in Queen’s Park to weaken the authority of the province’s independent recycling regulator, Kraft said he has yet to determine how and if it will have an impact on Niagara Recycling.
Citing a desire to reduce “red tape,” staff from Environment Minister Jeff Yurek’s office told the Toronto Star last week the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), established in 2016, “makes Ontario a less competitive place to do business, which increases costs for consumers.”
“This change may be better or worse, I don’t know because, if they weaken the powers is that going to delay (the changes) or leave the model the way it is now?” Yurek said.
“There’s a lot of more questions than answers right now to me anyway. But I’m just a guy running a nonprofit organization that has one of the best, I think, programs in Ontario. We want to be here under the future model, but we just don’t know
how that’s going to happen, because if the stewards are in control they’re going to ultimately decide who they contract with to do the processing (of recycled materials).”
Kraft said the loss of RPRA oversight might impact the list of materials Niagara residents can add to their recycling boxes.
“One thing about Niagara, we already have one of the most comprehensive recycling programs in the province. We have Styrofoam and black plastics and plastic bags — those are a lot things other programs in Ontario don’t have. The question becomes, if the regulations are weakened, will the stewards come in and start cutting those materials from the program? All the sudden, Niagara residents will be putting more stuff in the garbage bin than in the blue and grey bin, and that’s not good for recycling in general.”