Mayor's Report - April 1998

By now most residents will have noticed that a new recycle bin has been added to Belcarra’s refuse and recycle site. The new recycle bin is in response to process changes made by Environmental Technologies Limited (ETL), the company that processes recyclables for a number of municipalities, which necessitates separating cardboard and paper from the other recyclables. Consequently, the Recycle Compactor now will be dedicated to “cardboard, newsprint and other paper” while the New Recycle Bin will be for “bottles, cans, glass and plastics”.

The other change that is important to know is the penalty now in effect for household refuse that is “contaminated” by cardboard. Whenever loads of refuse are determined to be “contaminated” by cardboard, the landfill tip fee will increase from $69 to $100 per ton for the entire load! It is therefore critically important that all cardboard and paper recyclables be separated from household refuse and placed in the recycle compactor.

In addition to these new developments, Belcarra continues to be faced with several on-going refuse and recycle challenges such as:

• The provincial requirement to achieve the “50% Recycled” target by the year 2000;
• Refuse originating from outside the municipality; and
• Non-permitted waste such as old carpeting, matrasses, appliances, and construction wastes such as gyproc.

These and related challenges require a broad understanding and participation within the community. Accordingly, Belcarra now has a new Environmental Affairs Committee to recommend new strategies and mechanisms to address these challenges. Residents that are interested in participating on this committee should contact Councillor Jennifer Glover.

If everybody does their bit, the goal of “50% Recycled” is easily achievable!

Search www.belcarra.ca Search WWW