At the request of Victoria council, city staff will explore the pros and cons of abandoning participation in the Capital Regional District’s recycling program.
“It would be valuable to have staff report to us about moving recycling in house,” said Coun. Ben Isitt, at a governance and priorities committee meeting last week.
The timing is important.
First, the city will soon be issuing tenders for a new fleet of garbage and kitchen-scrap collection trucks. Second, the CRD will be reviewing its recycling contract in 2014, giving the municipality a chance to bow out of any new agreement.
“I don’t think the blue box is going to last forever,” added Coun. Geoff Young, predicting wheeled totes are the future of recycling.
“The system we have isn’t desirable,” Young said. “People will resent the blue box.”
He put forward a successful motion to explore the idea of municipal collection.
However, Dwayne Kalynchuck, Victoria’s director of engineering and public works, warned it could come at an extremely high cost.
Kalynchuck explained the marketing of recyclables is very volatile. A regional service offers some consistency, he added.
