Whereas few recycling opportunities are available in remote and smaller municipalities due to poor economies of scale for populations under 5,000, greater distances to recycling facilities and cost prohibitive infrastructure investment, resulting in inequities for recycling opportunities in different regions of the Province; And whereas recycling organizations continue to lack the viability to offer Extended Producer Responsibility Programs for remote and smaller municipalities: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the provincial government to ensure the intent of the Recycling Regulation is met and that Extended Producer Responsibility programs deliver service to communities regardless of the size and location of each municipality in the Province of BC.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy Recycling programs are operated by extended producer responsibility EPR organizations on behalf of their member businesses producers, that are obligated under the Recycling Regulation. The producers are responsible for collecting and recycling the products they supply to the BC market and the associated costs. This is the preferred approach to funding of local recycling programs; an industry funded model rather than government funded. BC has 22 EPR programs in place today covering a wide range of products, including residential packaging. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy is researching and consulting on product gaps and additional products that may be suitable for coverage under EPR, e.g. additional plastics, packaging from the Institutional, Commercial and Industrial ICI sector, etc. The Ministry is responsible for approving program plans and performance measures such as ensuring that adequate service levels are being provided and producers are paying the costs involved. This approach provides a strong financial incentive for producers to limit the amount of products or packaging supplied to the BC market. In recent years, many EPR programs have been undergoing renewal. As plans are renewed, the Ministry is requiring programs to demonstrate continuous improvement, including expanding services to more communities and better demonstrating how producers are paying the costs. Many EPR programs conducted independent cost studies and consultations in the fall of 2019 that were recently submitted to the Ministry for review and approval. In small, rural and remote communities EPR programs typically provide services through recycling depots or one-day collection events. Local governments can contact either individual EPR programs as needed, or Stewardship Agencies of BC SABC, which is an association made up of BCs recycling programs infobcstewards.com, to request support for collection servicesevents in their community. This is a fairly recent initiative and involves the BC Product Stewardship Council BCPSC, made up of representatives from local government. The BCPSC is engaged with SABC on exploring local solutions to improving and expanding access to recycling services on a region-by-region basis. Recycle BCs renewed plan was recently approved, and as part of its continuous improvement measures, Recycle BC is conducting a depot accessibility study as well as a cost study. These will result in proposed revisions being submitted to the Ministry for approval in 2020. The plan provides greater flexibility in how services can be provided to smaller, rural and remote communities, such as options for satellite depots e.g. smaller depots that can deposit collected materials at an authorized Recycle BC depot at no charge. Local governments should work with Recycle BC to discuss options for managing residential packaging.