Richard Froese
South Peace News
Big Lakes County has signed up to a news provincial recycling program that will save council money and reduce waste.
At its regular meeting Dec. 13, council directed administration to register Big Lakes County with the Alberta Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) program by the deadline of Dec. 31.
Jules Asterisk with the Society of the High Prairie Regional Environmental Action Committee presented the program at council’s regular meeting Nov. 22 for debate.
Kinuso Councillor Roberta Hunt strongly supports the new program.
“I definitely support recycling,” Hunt says.
“This program is definitely a benefit to the county.”
The new program is part of a new partnership with the Government of Alberta, says Kevin Cymbaluk, the director of operations for Big Lakes.
“Under the program, there will be significant savings to the County since the cost of collecting and processing the approved recycling materials will be borne by the designated producer responsibility organizations (PROs),” Cymbaluk says.
No collection costs are passed on to communities registered with the ARMA.
“The government, through the Alberta Recycling Management Agency (ARMA), is implementing a new framework that would require producers to assume responsibility for recycling materials they produce, including packaging, paper, single-use plastics (PPP) and hazardous and special products (HSP),” Cymbaluk says.
“The framework shifts the physical and financial burden of collecting, sorting, processing and recycling waste to the producer and away from local governments and municipal taxpayers.”
Communities that register will receive EPR systems at no cost.
Other parts of the waste stream are already handled through other programs and will not be impacted by the proposed EPR changes.
Registration is optional, Cymbaluk says.
If the County registers for the program, council has the option to cancel the registration in the future if the program is not meeting the needs of the municipality.
PROs will be approved non-profit organizations that facilitate the program.
“The program would support and enhance the County’s current recycling and waste reduction initiatives,” says Cymbaluk.
“It would also have minimal impact on our sold waste management department.”
For communities registered in EPR, recycling collection services for PPP will be accessible to single-family and multi- family dwellings and to recycling depots and/or collection events associated with responsible disposal and recycling HSP, states information provided in the agenda package.
Grouard Councillor Jeff Chalifoux asked how the new program would impact the current recycling contractor. In response, council heard the new service would simply take over the current contract.