Blue box ban looms for coffee lids, black plastic, Styrofoam
The city spent years encouraging residents to recycle the plastic items — but now they belong in the garbage
THE CITY NO LONGER wants you to put coffee cup lids, black plastic or Styrofoam in the blue box — despite spending years encouraging residents to recycle those items.
The low-grade plastics are technically recyclable, but virtually no one wants to buy the collected material anymore — especially since market giant China cracked down on imported plastics in January, said city recycling manager Emil Prpic.
The city is increasingly forced to trash those lids and containers, or risk having would-be buyers reject entire loads of “contaminated” plastic sorted at its Burlington Street recycling facility.
It’s a “market-driven” eco-dilemma, said Prpic. “Two years ago there was still a market for black plastic ... it’s here today, gone tomorrow.”
For now, that means it may be better for the environment for you to directly trash those lids, meat trays and takeout containers, said Prpic, after updating councillors Monday
on the blue box blues.
He said such recycling rejects have contributed to a spike in the blue box “contamination rate” from seven to 14 per cent over the last five years. Contamination includes nonrecyclable items like coffee pods, bread tabs and bottle caps, but also ruined recyclables covered in food waste, for example.
On the up side, it could be worse — Toronto is struggling with a contamination rate closer to 25 per cent.
Coun. Sam Merulla asked staff to bring back a comparison report on how Hamilton stacks up against other cities in keeping compost and recyclables out of the dump.
Prpic said the city is already working to educate residential recyclers about the dangers of “wish-cycling” — the practice of dumping “questionable” items in the blue box in the hopes they will be recycled.
But he admitted the city is still trying to figure out how to explain the latest blue box challenge without confusing residents.
The city presentation to councillors Monday listed plastic lids, black takeout containers and Styrofoam on a list of top contaminants.
But so far, the city’s existing What Goes Where? recycling tutorial on hamilton.ca still urges residents to recycle the items.
The change will likely frustrate residents who were urged to “celebrate” the addition of coffee cup lids and Styrofoam to the blue box just a few years ago, said Coun. Chad Collins. “We’ve basically been training people to recycle these items for years now,” said the Ward 5 councillor, who added he routinely drops plastic coffee lids in the blue box.
“I understand the market problem ... But it’s not an easy message.”
Hamilton started accepting coffee cup lids in the blue box in 2006.
Styrofoam, the commonly used trade name for polystyrene, has been an up-and-down blue box adventure since 2007, when the main domestic recycler at the time shut down and forced cities to stockpile the lightbut-bulky product for months.
Prpic said there is still a market for some types of polystyrene, but smaller meat trays and clam shells are “a challenge” — and often add to contamination problems because of remnant food left in the containers.
The Spectator reported in January the city was bracing for repercussions from China’s crackdown on contaminated plastic and paper recyclables — the two items which make up the lion’s share of Hamilton’s annual 40,000 tonnes of curbside collectibles.
Until now, the country has been one of the biggest recipients of exported Canadian recyclables.
Prpic said he hoped the overall impact on annual recycling revenues — typically in the $4.1 million range — will be less than $500,000 this year, but added it’s too early to guess with accuracy.
Hamilton has so far avoided the plight of cities like Halifax, which was forced to landfill some regular recyclables as a result of the Chinese ban.
Canada Fibers Inc., which sorts and sells collected blue box items for the city, told The Spectator earlier this year it was focusing on new training and technology to help meet stricter contamination requirements for recycled material.
The city is still trying to figure out how to explain the latest blue box challenge without confusing residents.