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e BNEWS “REGION IRONING OUT DETAILS AS BLUE BOX PROGRAM GOING PRIVATE 2 2 The blue box program, which —has been run municipally for 40- 3 plus years, is set to go private and i regional staff are working to iron 6 out the details with the companies 3 whe take over the service fully in a less than three years, big changes are coming to the way garbage is collected in Waterloo Region. An industry led led non n-prof it group called C’ aon ll bey ior adeno, ate the blue box collection pro- gram in Ontari che change has already started municipalities and will in- clude all communities by January 2026. In the region, the consortium of companies takes over in March 2024. One challenge is how recycling will be collected from industrial, commercial and institutional sites such as places of worship and downtown business which are not considered part of the mostly residential program. yeling is currently picked up fro. Ss, Mosques and temples, as well as from business- es in the downtowns of the region's three cities, but those locations will not be regulated under the new provincewide blue box collec- tion program, said Jon Arsenault, director of waste management for the Region of Waterloo in an inter- view Friday. ton the region, about 2,000 loca- ms will no longer be eligible for blue box pickup, he said. In a report before a regional committee next week, staffare rec- ending all recyc! transition period from March 2024 to December 2025. There may be additional costs for the region which are not yet known, Arse- nault said. During the transitional period, residents will not notice any changes, Arsenault said. “What you see today as a resi- dent in terms of collection at the curb will continue until the end of 2025," he said. Many of the consortium ofcom- panies that will take over the blue box program are the same ones who produce the packaging. The goal is that the private companies will be motivated to find better ways to package goods they sell, Arsenault said. "The objective is that we will see better packaging, less packag- ing, more recyclability and more push to reuse,” he said. "They are producing it (packaging) to begin with." The past few years have seen an jonslaught " of new packaging ma- terials si as drinking pouches and "Tetra ‘Paks. "It's next to impossibie! for us ‘us sto beable to capture: cycling and have markets forit" hl ‘he said. Other changes coming in to the region's curb- side pickup program, unrelated t to ie +provincewide clude the introduction of. automat. ed carts for garbage and green collection at the curb. Guelbh Peel waterloochronicle.ca WE RE GIVING BACK TO OUR COMMUNITIES. Ea ola celui melee elalycels(elals E eintelsiaae|colelel) E M@xolaalaaleialio mole eialrcelecelars David Bebee An employee sorts plastics from a conveyor belt that transports some of the contents of blue boxes from across the Region at Waterloo Region's waste management. recycling facility in Waterloo. Region, To Toronto and Simcoe Coun- ty are among the municipalities thatu use automated carts. well, garbage an and waste will only be picked four days a week. The main reason for this is to re- duce garbage collection on statu- tory holiday: ‘ion willbe conducting a review of blue box. pickupin there. gion's downtowns, to determin: what is needed past 2026. Waste and veeyeling i is now col- lected six days a week in the down- towns, but the region s not man: dated to collect recy downtown districts, Arsenault said. A review will offer concrete numbers on how much recycling is picked up in the core areas. Much of the recycling collected now is cardboard, he Under the provincewide recy- cling program, blue box pickup will be expanded to all schools, long-term care homes and munici- pal parks. More materials will be eligible and there will be one list of recyclables for the entire province. Currently, the costs for the blue box program are split ro ughly 50- tries that produce the waste. The iti ivate pro- gram should save the region about $3.5 million The piue t DOE program, which recycles about 34,000 tonnes of trash every year, cost the region about $10.6 million in 2022, includ- ing curbside collection and pro- cessing. Private industry provided ated $3 milli recycled materials, so the: yet cost to ‘axpay- ers was $3.5 million last year. Cut out paying more Your only destination for more coupons, more flyers, more savings. #SavingWithSave ou Ry Al I, Ny ¢ 4 N Tips 7 GQ o - = - - ~ ~ ~ w SAVE $2 when you buy one (1) pack of McCain® Deep’n Delicious MINIS” Cake Cups (340g) product can to get coupons Save.ca/coupons