Upcoming Remediation Plan
We’re on a mission to reduce contamination!
Did you know? Last year, we were spotlighted on Recycle BC’s website for our great efforts in reducing contamination from 13.8% to 5%.
The unfortunate news is that our contamination rates are back up around 13% in 2021. But the good news is that we KNOW we can do better—because we’ve done it before!
What does this mean for you? During the week of August 31, employees in pickup trucks will pre-screen carts on collection day before the collector truck arrives. If contamination is observed, the city worker will stick a packing envelope on the cart containing both the Curbside Collection Guidelines (to reference for recycling best practices moving forward) and one or more stickers indicating that the cart contains items that are not permitted. One sticker includes a list of several different items, but the workers will try to circle what’s applicable. There is also a phone number and email address listed to reach out to for more information.
Once this envelope is placed on the cart, the refuse truck will come by and will not pick up any carts with stickers on top.
The envelope may contain one or more of the stickers pictured. In the following weeks, collector truck operators will continue pre-screening until consistent proper sorting practices are observed.
This is all part of Recycle BC’s remediation request. Recycle BC, the non-profit organization responsible for residential packaging and paper product recycling throughout BC, collects fees from municipalities like ours to sort collected material. When contamination rates grow higher, it means Recycle BC can’t properly sort collected material, which means not as much of it can be sold to re-manufacturers who turn it into something that can be used again. Recycle BC can fine municipalities for high contamination rates. Before it gets to that stage, another option is to request municipalities develop a remediation plan—and that’s where we’re at in Terrace.
This starts next week—so why not step up your recycling game today? Here are 3 places to go to learn more about recycling now:
- Make small improvements by focusing on #OneChangePerWeek
- Search for specific items to learn what goes where
- Take a minute to understand what is considered contamination and why
And one last thing: if you have questions about recycling, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Post your questions here, email recycle@terrace.ca, or call 250-615-4019. Thank you so much for helping us get back to 5%! We can do it!
