London supports push for industry to shoulder blue box program cost

The City of London is welcoming the Ontario government's push to make industry producers more responsible for the plastics and packaging that end up in the recycling bin. 

On Monday, Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said the province's current blue box program is unsustainable.

The statement was prompted by a report from special advisor David Lindsay, appointed last month to examine Ontario's approach to plastic waste and litter.

The report has not yet been made available to the public, but Yurek said it provides recommendations to overhaul the blue box program. 

"I think the average person would be shocked that our diversion rates with the blue box program have been stalled for 15 years and that 30 percent of what's collected ends up in the landfill anyways," Yurek told CBC London.

One of the major recommendations of the report, Yurek said, is to make industry producers more responsible for the "end of life management" of their products.

"I think once you do have producers responsible for the termination of their end product, then you're allowing them to be innovative, their taking the costs into their hands and they will probably create a new economy for reusing [and] recycling plastics in our community," Yurek said, adding that producers would also be encouraged to move towards packaging that is more environmentally friendly.

Industry covers less than half of recycling costs

Jay Stanford, London's director of environmental programs and solid waste, said it's an approach the city has long advocated for. 

Industry pays for roughly 40 per cent of recycling costs in London and across Ontario, Stanford explained.

"In all our submissions to the provincial government, we've been strongly supportive of extended producer responsibility, where the people who create the packages and printed material in the first place take full financial responsibility to make sure that they are either first reduced or recycled," he said.

Items that are placed in the blue box in London currently have a low market value, Stanford said, leading to rising recycling costs that the municipality has no control over.

That means taxpayers are left on the hook for the recycling bill.

Stanford said the provincial government has the power to regulate and legislate industry, to help municipalities struggling to afford their recycling programs.

The province is planning to announce more consultations later in the summer, before it unveils its new blue box plan.

"We are going to expand our consultations with municipalities, Ontarians, Indigenous communities and of course the producers of the plastics, to see how we can move forward in ensuring that we come out with a blue box program that is going to increase diversion from the landfills and really emphasize the recycle and reuse aspect  of the plastics," Yurek said.