The operators of Ridge Meadows Recycling Depot want to make sure people in Maple Ridge know their plastic is being properly recycled.
They urge the public to not start thinking of plastic as garbage – even as a recycling crisis emerges elsewhere.
China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, and other Asian countries, including the Philippines and Malaysia, are urging Canada to take its own back.
Kim Day, executive director of Ridge Meadows Recycling, said B.C. is well equipped to deal with its own waste plastic.
Maple Ridge, in particular, does a good job of producing uncontaminated loads of recycling, she added, with a system that has homeowners sort their recyclables before setting them out.
“We’re awesome,” Day said. “Maple Ridge has been recycling since 1972. We’ve always had a very keen mayor and council.”
Many Maple Ridge recyclers rinse plastic containers before putting them out for pickup, which is appreciated, said Day.
Just as important are the recycling systems in place.
Day lauds the province’s extended producer responsibility program – intended to make big companies that produce packaging responsible for recycling it.
Recycle B.C. also puts the province ahead of many other jurisdictions, she said.
B.C. is also fortunate to have a plastics recycling plant on Annacis Island – an industrial island in the Fraser River in Delta. Merlin Plastics takes all of B.C.’s used plastic and turns it into pellets that can be re-sold to manufacturers.
So the province is not facing the same problems being highlighted elsewhere, said Day.
She agrees with the stance taken by Asian countries that the developed world should not be shipping its waste to developing countries. The stance will force needed change, Day added, such as the development of local markets for recyclables and local jobs in recycling.
“It’s a good thing they’ve said no,” said Day. “It’s not good to dump your garbage in another country.”
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British Columbia’s stewardship programs are regulated and reviewed by the provincial government, but funded by the manufacturers and retailers of products themselves.
Recycle B.C. is the not-for-profit organization responsible for residential packaging and paper product recycling.
Ultimately, the companies producing packaging will have a financial incentive to not put “poor packaging” into the marketplace, Day said.
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