A provincial change in 2021 to the ubiquitous blue box program is forcing producers of paper and packaging to cover the cost of recycling services for residents, schools, non-profit long-term care homes, parks and transit stations across the province.

A phased approach will see the responsibility transition away from the county starting July 1, 2025, with full producer responsibility kicking in January 2026.

Other municipalities, including East Garafraxa, Grand Valley, Orangeville, Owen Sound, and Southgate, have already switched over.

The provinces of British Columbia and Québec have been using such a model for years.

“It’s a large cost that municipalities bear, and frankly, we’re not producing these materials which is a leftover of people’s consumption habits,” county waste services manager Das Soligo told the Advertiser.

Instead of each taxpayer footing the cost of recycling, producers will have to cover the cost and recoup it by increasing prices for consumers who use the products.

“The theory is that producers, in trying to reduce the cost of their own products, might try to have more recyclable packaging or make some adjustments that would be more efficient,” Soligo said.

Residents here are unlikely to notice any practical changes – pickups will continue to be done by the company Waste Management on the current schedule.

But because producers don’t have to cover collection from the commercial and industrial sector, 91���Ѽlors are concerned about what happens for local businesses relying on curbside pickup of their blue bins, totalling roughly 80 tonnes of recyclables each year.

Though larger businesses already have private contracts for waste collection, small businesses, particularly heavy users located in downtowns, would be left without a cost-effective replacement for curbside pickup.

County staff suggested continuing pickup at 558 businesses within the county’s 14 downtown areas, as well as allowing businesses to drop off recycling at a Mount Forest transfer hub, operated by Waste Management.

“Closing the post-transition service gaps will capture up to 20 per cent of the county’s total recycling tonnage,” Soligo wrote in a report to the county’s solid waste services committee.

Without keeping the service going, some of that tonnage would “surely” end up tossed in the landfill, he added.

The county’s cost to service the downtown areas and allow businesses and residents to drop off recycling (around 1,000 residents don’t receive curbside collection) is estimated at $303,600.

The portion of that cost for downtown pickup is estimated at $96,574 annually — not including a one-time $7,000 expense for 64-gallon carts — but that estimate could come down depending on how many businesses wish to participate.

It’s an “incremental budget impact” Soligo wrote in his report, considering producers will be fully paying for residential recycling services. Currently the county and producers split the $4-million annual expense.

Council supported the recommendation to cover downtown pickup at its meeting on April 25, however there are still outlying businesses which aren’t downtown, and use curbside service.

Warden Andy Lennox said “there’s a fair amount of frustration” with the new program’s lack of coverage for businesses or institutions, such as churches, which have long relied on blue box pickup.

“So we have to figure out a way to fill this gap,” he said. “It seems kind of backwards.”

Councillor Chris White has an issue with the potential financial effects on local business people, and with service reduction.

“I have a real problem with reducing service like this, especially when we’re supposed to be saving some money here, which would give us an ability to continue to support our businesses,” White said, adding, “they’re paying higher taxes.”

“We’re definitely very concerned; we want to make sure that all of our small businesses are being looked after,” agreed 91���Ѽlor Diane Ballantyne.

“We should continue to provide them with service, in my opinion,” she said, adding she has faith a solution will be found.

Solid waste services chair Steve O’Neill also is also confident the county will cover the outliers.

“It’s tough to tell people, ‘Well, we’re saving money and we’re not going to give it back to you,’” he said.

“Just because the province and producers [are] letting us down a bit doesn’t mean we can say, ‘well, it’s not our problem anymore,’ because it certainly is.”

Soligo said staff heard 91���Ѽ’s charge for options on providing recycling collection to more businesses.

Staff will respond in June with a report on the cost for Waste Management to cover collection at any business within the county’s 56 urban areas, potentially expanding on the 14 downtowns already approved by 91���Ѽ last week.

The report will also include pricing to service any business within the county, Soligo said.

Key influences on the forthcoming June quotes will be additional time and stops required, as well as an increased estimate in the tonnage to be collected.

The cost to the county for Waste Management to process a tonne of recycling in Mount Forest is estimated at $250.

“Once we see the quotations it might inform a recommendation, or we might just stick with our original one,” Soligo said.

“We’re going to do some analysis and look at those 14 downtown areas, what percentage of the county businesses are captured by those, what percentage are captured by these other options, and give 91���Ѽ the information they require to make a more informed decision.”

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A report from Solid Waste Services manager Das Soligo notes the province, through Bill 229 – the Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (2020), has provided a framework to continue the transition of municipal recycling systems to full producer responsibility.��

The transition has been phased in among Ontario municipalities and the County of Wellington’s transition is scheduled to begin in July of 2025.

“We’ll see the county save substantial money when the producers take over the Blue Box program. However, staff have concerns about how industrial, commercial and institutional blue box material will be handled,” 91���Ѽlor Steve O’Neill, solid waste services committee chair, told county 91���Ѽlors on Jan. 25.

“Currently we do curbside collection for our small businesses. We also have residents who take the recycling into our facilities, transfer stations and landfill … How do we handle it when the producers take over residential curbside collection?”

“There are a number of beneficial elements of the proposed regulation, such as transitioning approximately $1.8 to $2 million a year in recycling system costs to producers and standardizing and expanding the materials that will be accepted,” Soligo notes in his report.

However, he adds, “there are also several concerning aspects of the plan,” including the fact industrial, commercial and institutional businesses and organizations will not have any access to curbside collection services through the producer-led collection system.

“Staff envision several important decisions related to the post-transition landscape, that county 91���Ѽ will need to make in the coming months,” the report states.

Among those decisions will be determining if the county should have a post-transition role in providing or organizing limited recycling services, such as recycling services for businesses.

“Will the county allow the industrial, commercial and institutional sector to use county recycling services, whether at the county’s transfer stations or through a curbside collection system?” the report asks 91���Ѽ.

The report also notes that some county residents appear to prefer using waste facilities for their waste management needs, as opposed to the curbside collection services. ��

“Will the county continue to allow residential recycling drop-off at these facilities?” the report asks.

“Considering these examples of potential post-transition service options are complicated by the fact future recycling services will be at the county’s discretion, but also at the county’s cost,” the report notes.

County staff plan to produce a report on the transition in the spring and will continue to monitor the progress of the transition, reporting back to the solid waste services committee.

“Info from municipalities that are already on the producer takeover will be a good resource moving forward,” said O’Neill, who noted Wellington County is among the final group of municipalities to move to the new system.

“By January 2026 everybody in the province is supposed to be on producer responsibility,” he explained. O’Neill also told 91���Ѽ “a targeted communications plan is being put in place to keep residents informed. It will include print, radio and social media.”

“Geographically, the county covers a large area with both urban and rural communities,” a staff report notes. “Reaching residents can be a challenge and does require a combination of traditional and modern communication methods. Different demographics also prefer to receive their information in a variety of ways.”

The plan will consist of two phases. Phase one will announce the change is coming and phase two will provide more details and information about what residents can expect on Jan. 1, 2026.��

The budget for phase one is projected at $8,000, while $19,000 has been budgeted for the second phase.

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The Waste-Free Ontario Act of 2016 began a process through which stewardship programs for various waste materials are being transitioned to full producer responsibility.

The move requires manufacturers of certain consumer products and packaging to take financial, environmental and, in some cases operational, responsibility for the end of use management of the materials.

In June, Wellington 91���Ѽ indicated to the province a preference to transition the county’s recycling system to full producer responsibility on July 1, 2023, the first of three dates provided for a staged transition. The other dates were in 2024 and 2025.

A Nov. 10 staff report from solid waste services (SWS) manager Das Soligo indicates municipalities representing nearly 40 per cent of Ontario’s population had chosen the earliest date, while the province was aiming to transition approximately one-third of the population in each year during the three-year period.

Wellington was assigned a transition year of 2025.

“So we will end up having to manage the Blue Box program for about three years longer than we had hoped for,” said 91���Ѽlor Gregg Davidson, who chairs the SWS committee, at the Nov. 26 Wellington County 91���Ѽ meeting.

“And it’s anticipated that once we do transition, there will be about $2 million in savings, so … we’re going to be sucking up that $2 million a year for an extra three years in transition.”

On Oct. 19, the province announced that recycling systems across the province will transition from the current 50-50 cost share between municipalities and producers to one that is 100% funded by industry.

In the report, Soligo notes:

• the change will save municipalities approximately $135 million collectively;
• in addition to residential recycling waste, recyclables generated in schools, parks, retirement and long-term care homes will be eligible; and
• the list of eligible recyclables in the province’s Blue Box Program will be standardized and expanded.

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A report from county solid waste services manager Das Soligo indicates the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks has released a transition schedule requiring all Ontario municipalities to transition between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. Wellington County’s blue box program is scheduled to transition on July 1, 2025.

That leaves a six-month gap between July 1 and December 31, during which the county could continue providing recycling services to local communities, 91���Ѽlor Gregg Davidson, who chairs the SWS committee, told county 91���Ѽlors at the Oct. 27 meeting.

“However, it was decided there is little benefit for the county to provide services for that six months, and a number of risks. Therefore, the county decided to opt out of the responsibility for those last remaining six months, which will put it back onto the producers,” Davidson explained.

Soligo’s report notes that if 100 per cent of the costs of operating the county’s recycling program are compensated for, it is estimated the transition will result in $2 million in annual savings.

Councillor Chris White asked if the changes would have any impact on the county’s yard waste pickup program, which was introduced in the spring of 2021.

Davidson replied that the switch to producer responsibility affects only the recycling program and will not impact yard waste, green bin or garbage pickup programs, which the county operates through a contract arrangement with Waste Management.

Councillor James Seeley asked if some of the county’s savings from the switch to producer responsibility could be used to provide recycling services for local businesses.

“Once we are out of the recycling game, there’s going to be some money in the budget that was there for paying for that service,” Seeley pointed out.

“Has staff considered trying to capture the businesses, maybe in the downtowns, that the new service provider for recycling won’t be servicing? Because in my world it would be found money,” Seeley suggested.

“The business community, as you pointed out, will not be part of the producer responsibility. ��They’re not responsible for that sector,” replied Davidson.

“We are still in the processes of trying to figure out whether we still want to accept the Blue Box material at our transfer stations as well. So all that has to come back to the committee about what we’re going to do in the future,” Davidson added.

Councillor Andy Lennox said an Association of Municipalities of Ontario task force working on the transition, which he is part of, is considering the question of how to service businesses.

“One of the things that the task force is looking at as one of the higher priorities is around expanding what goes into recycling after this transition occurs, but also … seeing if there’s a way that we can facilitate getting the ICI (industrial, commercial and institutional) sector included in the recycling,” said Lennox.

“So it is in the works, but I think the province is preoccupied right now with the transition first and then we’ll be looking towards some little expansions and perhaps we need to lobby for expansion of what goes into the box for recycling,” he added.

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