Fredericton declares climate emergency, but still behind on recycling

Fredericton councillors have doubled down on their commitment to take climate change seriously, however, the city still hasn't acted on calls to offer curbside recycling to residents living in apartment buildings.

Councillors agreed last week to a resolution recognizing climate change as an emergency, joining hundreds of other cities that have already made the largely symbolic gesture.

But even after the issue was raised by a group of St. Thomas University students and their professor more than five years ago, the city still hasn't moved on implementing a curbside recycling program for people living in apartment buildings with more than five units.

"I'm gravely disappointed, particularly because after we ... launched a campaign, including 1,000 signatures in support of curbside recycling, and after then Mayor Mike O'Brien had committed to a pilot project that was meant to be launched in 2018, we didn't see any further action," said Christina Szurlej, associate professor of human rights.

The lack of a curbside program for larger apartment buildings persists even as the city sees a steady growth, with council's approval, in the number of apartment buildings with more than five units.

According to information on the City of Fredericton's website, the municipality does curbside garbage and recycling collection for homes, apartment buildings with fewer than six units, and rooming houses with fewer than 10 rooms.

Residents not living in buildings eligible for curbside recycling have to bring their recycling to one of three drop-off locations, including one next to the Capital Winter Club, one at Brookside Mall, or the one at Willie O'Ree Place.

According to 2022 data from the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp., buildings with more than five units account for 7,674 units across the city.

"Recycling in regards to multi-unit dwellings is one of the concerns, and it's been a concern for most municipalities and regional service commissions," said Frank LeBlanc, CEO of Recycle N.B.

LeBlanc said that in New Brunswick, apartment buildings are considered commercial properties, requiring landlords to make their own arrangements to have garbage picked up.

And with no requirement for landlords to offer curbside recycling, tenants are left with the choice of throwing recyclable material in the garbage, where it's destined for the landfill, or hauling it to one of the three depots.

"That [requirement] would be up to the city," LeBlanc said.

Fredericton lagging behind other cities: researcher

Recycling remains a sore point in the city's goals to being a better environmental steward, and it acknowledges that in its online environmental dashboard, where waste diversion is one of two areas listed as needing improvement.

And according to a waste management researcher, Fredericton is doing a worse job at recycling than Moncton and Saint John.

"Unfortunately, Fredericton which is in [Regional Service Commission 11] of New Brunswick ... is really lacking in their waste reduction," Morgan said.

Morgan said the percentage of waste that Fredericton diverts from its landfill is only about seven per cent, compared to about 35 per cent for Moncton.

She said contamination of recyclable materials is also a big issue impacting Fredericton's recycling rate, which could be helped by better education.

"In the Saint John area ... they have a really cool program. They make sure all 4th graders visit, and they get that kind of 'this should go in the recycling, this should go in the garbage, and this should go in the compost.'" 

New program on the way

In 2019, the province introduced new regulations requiring manufacturers pay for the cost of having their products' packaging recycled.

According to LeBlanc, that will take the responsibility for recycling away from municipalities, and put it on businesses in a model that would be uniformly implemented across New Brunswick.

He said a plan is being finalized, and it should be operational within about nine months.

With it, he said, he expects curbside recycling to become available for residents of apartment buildings.

"Now, at the end of the day, it's still going to come down to the apartment owner having the place ... and he's going to have to be able to develop some kind of a system or a containment area, where people can put their recyclables until they get collected," LeBlanc said.