Municipalities set to save millions with Alberta's new recycling system

1 week_ago 6

Edmonton·New

Instead of municipalities paying to cod and process recyclable items, similar evaporated beverage cans and cracker boxes, the fiscal load is present connected the companies that nutrient them.

Companies are present connected the hook to wage for recycling their products and packaging

Liam Harrap · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 03, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Hundreds of communities crossed Alberta are present feeling liberated from the costs of recycling.

As of this week, Alberta's new extended shaper work programs are shifting the fiscal load of recycling from municipalities to the companies that produce evaporated beverage cans, cardboard cracker boxes and different recyclables.

The purpose is to promote innovation among producers of recyclable items portion keeping much discarded retired of landfills.

The City of Edmonton expects to prevention $24 cardinal this twelvemonth alone. Taxpayers volition besides prevention money. Waste inferior rates for single-family homes have already dropped by about $5 per period successful Edmonton and Red Deer, much than $7 per period successful Calgary, and up to $9 successful Lethbridge.

Outside of those savings, residents won't announcement galore changes, said Jennifer Koole, enforcement manager of the Recycling Council of Alberta.

"It's similar the biggest motorboat that volition beryllium astir invisible for the communal household," Koole said successful an interview.

The programs cover single-use items, packaging, printed insubstantial products, plastics, metallic and glass. The caller rules will besides use to hazardous products, similar batteries, flammable oregon toxic products similar camping substance and pesticides.

"This is astir apt 1 of the astir analyzable programs that immoderate state could undertake astatine immoderate infinitesimal successful time," said Ed Gugenheimer, CEO of the Alberta Recycling Management Authority, which is charged with managing the caller programs.

"There are truthful galore actors successful this regularisation and they each request to harmonize successful immoderate way, signifier oregon signifier to marque it work. It's astir apt the astir hard of the recycling programs to really instal and person working."

Despite those behind-the-scenes challenges, astir of america won't announcement many changes. Edmonton, Calgary and astir different municipalities will proceed to prime up and process recyclable items.

Extended shaper work volition standardize recycling successful Alberta, which volition effect successful immoderate municipalities being capable to recycle much items than before. In Strathcona County, that means more types of integrative tin present beryllium recycled, specified arsenic takeout containers and clamshells.

The main purpose of extended shaper work is to trim the magnitude of worldly being sent to landfill. Albertans nonstop much than 1,000 kilograms per idiosyncratic of discarded to the landfill each twelvemonth — much than successful immoderate different state oregon territory. The nationalist mean is 710 kilograms per year, according to the province.

The caller programs are unlikely to origin important terms increases on consumer items, said Allen Langdon, main enforcement serviceman of Circular Materials. The nationalist non-profit helps producers, specified arsenic Kraft, Nestlé and Tim Hortons conscionable their obligations nether extended shaper work regulations.

While the changes volition contiguous companies with added costs, they should beryllium small, Langdon said.

"When they interruption it down connected a portion basis, it's little than a cent a package."

Adding costs to businesses during a commercialized warfare with the U.S. could beryllium problematic, but could besides payment the nationalist system by providing caller sources of materials for Canadian manufacturing, said Michael Zabaneh, vice-president of sustainability for the Retail Council of Canada.

"Imagine if we tin reuse and recycle that material, arsenic opposed to importing that material, which would beryllium taxable to tariffs successful galore cases now," Zabaneh said.

Koole and others successful the manufacture anticipation the changes volition spur businesses to innovate and trim the magnitude of packaging they produce, because producing less saves them money.

"I deliberation putting the work backmost to those that make the discarded successful that polluter-pay position is 1 of the champion things we tin bash to power alteration of the full system," she said.

"Feeling the symptom ever incentivizes radical to marque changes."

Radio Active8:11How a caller alteration successful recycling tin prevention you money

Today there's a large alteration successful Alberta's recycling country that should prevention cities and towns millions of dollars a year. Instead of cities and towns paying the bill, producers and businesses volition wage the recycling cost. CBC's Liam Harrap has the details.

Several different provinces person extended shaper responsibility, including B.C., wherever it has been successful spot for much than a decade. Since it was implemented, recycling rates successful B.C. person gone up. In that province, much than 98 per cent of integrative collected is made into caller products, according to authorities data.

The adjacent signifier of extended shaper work successful Alberta is expected to rotation retired successful October 2026.

It volition see communities that don't presently person recycling systems — about 10 per cent of the province, including distant regions and immoderate First Nations and Métis communities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liam Harrap is simply a writer astatine CBC Edmonton. He likes to find excuses to permission the large metropolis and pursuit agrarian stories. Send communicative tips to him astatine [email protected].

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