Recycling cost for Canadians and Americans likely to increase in future

#Canada, #America, #China, #Halifax, #RecyclingCostIncrease, #DavidBiderman, #SolidWasteAssociationofNorthAmerica
 
Ottawa, Apr 01 (IBNS): China's decision last year to crack down on foreign waste is likely to increase  in future for Canadian and American municipalities for their recyclable material after, media reports said.

China, the world's largest manufacturer had been reluctant in accepting imported material due to significant increase in generation of its own recyclables compared to 10 years back, David Biderman, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America  reportedly said.
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David Biderman/Facebook ​

China also had been reportedly complaining of the poor quality material that it had been receiving. 

"There's a lot of garbage mixed up, occasionally, with those bales of plastic, paper and metal that are going over to China," Biderman told CBC News during an interview in his office in Silver Spring, Md.

"And so China is interested in stopping it from becoming the dumping ground for Western material."

But Canadian and American companies were more concerned because Chinese companies had stopped accepting foreign recycling materials many months before China's ban to accept recyclable materials was not effective till Dec. 31, 2017.

Chinese companies had still reportedly been accepting some paper, but as of Mar 1, China insisted on cleaner materials with a contamination rate of no more than 0.5 percent.

Biderman said that this change will come at a cost and added, "It's possible to do, but it takes a serious investment. It increases the cost, and I think ultimately, Canadians and Americans are likely to pay more for recycling in the future as a result of this activity."  

In the meantime, recyclable materials some North American companies this year were reportedly being sent to Asia at lower prices which resulted in a loss to Canadian municipalities.

Some Canadian cities not knowing where to send their recyclables had reportedly started stockpiling added flattened cardboard and crushed plastic.

But plastics such as plastic shopping bags, bread bags and the wrapping on toilet paper had been posing major problem,

Colchester County, Nova Scotia which had earlier been sending 100 percent of its film plastics, amounting to around 600 tonnes per year to China, had been forced to stockpile 450 tonnes and to store hundreds of bales of it outside.

But there was a great concern of degradation of collected material  lying outside, which could make the material unfit for recycling,

In that case, Wamboldt said, burying of collected recyclable material  reportedly  in a landfill was the only option left.

"We certainly don't want to be putting material in the landfill," he was quoted to state.

Colchester would have to get a special permit from Nova Scotia where it was illegal to dump plastics in a landfill.

Halifax, which had been shipping 80 percent of its recyclables to China, had reportedly requested and received  permit, and has since found new markets for its material

These challenges have resulted in British Columbia (B.C.)'s model -- of getting the plastics processed in the province, and having producers to pay -- gaining popularity.

"Retailers, manufacturers, quick-service restaurants and others actually have to pay for the packaging they put in the residential system, so they pay fees to Recycle BC, and we use that to run a province-wide system," explained Allen Langdon, managing director of Recycle BC.

B.C. which had reportedly found new markets for its paper, had to suffer much revenue loss.

Recycle BC had reportedly been receiving roughly $80 a tonne for mixed paper as opposed to the present market price of zero.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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