Municipalities set to save millions with Alberta's new recycling system
Companies are now on the hook to pay for recycling their products and packaging
Hundreds of communities across Alberta are now feeling liberated from the costs of recycling.
As of this week, Alberta's new extended producer responsibility programs are shifting the financial burden of recycling from municipalities to the companies that produce evaporated milk cans, cardboard cracker boxes and other recyclables.
The aim is to encourage innovation among producers of recyclable items while keeping more waste out of landfills.
The City of Edmonton expects to save $24 million this year alone. Taxpayers will also save money. Waste utility rates for single-family homes have already dropped by about $5 per month in Edmonton and Red Deer, more than $7 per month in Calgary, and up to $9 in Lethbridge.
Outside of those savings, residents won't notice many changes, said Jennifer Koole, executive director of the Recycling Council of Alberta.
"It's like the biggest launch that will be almost invisible for the common household," Koole said in an interview.
The programs cover single-use items, packaging, printed paper products, plastics, metal and glass. The new rules will also apply to hazardous products, like batteries, flammable or toxic products like camping fuel and pesticides.
"This is probably one of the most complex programs that any province could undertake at any moment in time," said Ed Gugenheimer, CEO of the Alberta Recycling Management Authority, which is charged with managing the new programs.
"There are so many actors in this regulation and they all need to harmonize in some way, shape or form to make it work. It's probably the most difficult of the recycling programs to actually install and have working."
Despite those behind-the-scenes challenges, most of us won't notice many changes. Edmonton, Calgary and most other municipalities will continue to pick up and process recyclable items.
Extended producer responsibility will standardize recycling in Alberta, which will result in some municipalities being able to recycle more items than before. In Strathcona County, that means more types of plastic can now be recycled, such as takeout containers and clamshells.
The main aim of extended producer responsibility is to reduce the amount of material being sent to landfill. Albertans send more than 1,000 kilograms per person of waste to the landfill each year — more than in any other province or territory. The national average is 710 kilograms per year, according to the province.
The new programs are unlikely to cause significant price increases on consumer items, said Allen Langdon, chief executive officer of Circular Materials. The national non-profit helps producers, such as Kraft, Nestlé and Tim Hortons meet their obligations under extended producer responsibility regulations.
While the changes will present companies with added costs, they should be small, Langdon said.
"When they break it down on a unit basis, it's less than a cent a package."
Adding costs to businesses during a trade war with the U.S. could be problematic, but could also benefit the national economy by providing new sources of materials for Canadian manufacturing, said Michael Zabaneh, vice-president of sustainability for the Retail Council of Canada.
"Imagine if we can reuse and recycle that material, as opposed to importing that material, which would be subject to tariffs in many cases now," Zabaneh said.
Koole and others in the industry hope the changes will spur businesses to innovate and reduce the amount of packaging they produce, because producing less saves them money.
"I think putting the responsibility back to those that create the waste in that polluter-pay perspective is one of the best things we can do to influence change of the entire system," she said.
"Feeling the pain always incentivizes people to make changes."
Several other provinces have extended producer responsibility, including B.C., where it has been in place for more than a decade. Since it was implemented, recycling rates in B.C. have gone up. In that province, more than 98 per cent of plastic collected is made into new products, according to government data.
The next phase of extended producer responsibility in Alberta is expected to roll out in October 2026.
It will include communities that don't currently have recycling systems — about 10 per cent of the province, including remote regions and some First Nations and Métis communities.
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