By Eric Bourque
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
While most people are sorting their recyclables properly, Waste Check says others aren’t and, in an effort to get everyone to do it right, starting Sept. 1, bags containing improperly sorted recyclable material will not be picked up.
About five years ago people were asked to begin dividing their recyclables into two bags – one for paper products, one for beverage containers.
That some people continue to put both types of recyclables – paper items and beverage containers – in one bag makes it harder for Waste Check to reduce the amount of garbage produced in Region 7 (Yarmouth and Digby counties) to the provincially mandated target and it also means increased costs for processing the recyclable material, costs ultimately borne by taxpayers, says Gus Green, Waste Check’s general manager.
“By and large, people are doing a good job,” he said last week, “but we’re finding there’s still a percentage of the population trying to use a one-bag system or not really being diligent about using the two-bag system.”
Effective Sept. 1, he said, haulers across Region 7 “will begin rejecting bags if they’re not sorted properly. So in other words, if you put all your paper and all your containers in one bag, you can expect to see it left at the curb.”
A sticker will be attached explaining why the bag wasn’t picked up and asking that the contents be re-sorted.
Up until now, haulers may have rejected bags if they contained things that shouldn’t be there – diapers in a recycling bag, for example, cases of “obvious contamination” – but bags wouldn’t have been rejected because of improperly sorted recyclables, Green said.
“By and large, people are doing a good job, but we’re finding there’s still a percentage of the population trying to use a one-bag system or not really being diligent about using the two-bag system.” - Gus Green, Waste Check
There are no plans to fine people, he said, but Waste Check feels it’s time to take action to try to get everyone to follow rules that have been in place for years.
“The reality is now we have to start enforcing it,” he said. “It’s not anything new. It’s just we’re asking (people) to play by the rules that were introduced a long time ago.”
Interviewed during a break in Waste Check’s July 12 board meeting, Green emphasized that most homeowners are doing it the right way, “but the percentage that aren’t doing it right is basically costing money for everybody and that’s not fair. It has to stop.”
Leland Anthony, chair of the Waste Check board, echoed Green’s observation that the majority of people are sorting their material the way they’re supposed to. The problem, he said, is with the minority who aren’t.
“There are enough people out there who aren’t doing it that it’s costing around $20,000 extra a year to do the recyclables and that comes out of the taxpayers’ pocket,” he said.
Added Green, “That ($20,000) is the direct cost. There are also processing costs on top of that.”
