Right in the centre - Garbage and recycling has to see new approaches
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- Published on Thursday, June 1, 2017
Ken Waddell
The Nepawa Banner
Many issues cross political lines. Recycling in Manitoba is just such an issue. It is a darling issue for both the NDP and the PC governments. It is also largely a well-intentioned farce. Recycling and the two cent levy on beverage containers, is an example of a good start. But that’s about where it ends. For over two decades now we have had a two cent levy on drink containers. It is supposed to finance recycling of containers and some other products. It raises a lot of money, but it doesn’t really accomplish recycling and here’s why.
Consumers pay for recycling and most people are in favour of recycling, versus dumping stuff in the landfill. That’s about where the good feeling ends, as once the container is in the hands of the consumer, there is no incentive to actually recycle. Unlike the beer containers with a ten cent levy and a system to pay the person who gathers them up and takes them back, the last person holding non-beer drink container has no real incentive to recycle. Except of course for the warm fuzzy feeling that they may be keeping a can out of the landfill.
A large amount of recyclable material still goes to the landfill. If it is tossed in the garbage, it goes to the landfill. If it’s contaminated on its way to recycling, it goes to the landfill. If it gets tossed out somewhere else, it’s not recycled.
The problem is there is no incentive. In Saskatchewan, all cans are subject to a ten cent levy and the gatherer gets paid. It is a small step but a long overdue step for Manitoba to take
The recycling industry is thwarted by the fact that Multi Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM) can only pay out to municipalities. If ever there was an inefficient way to handle business, it is a municipality. It would be far more efficient if recycling was handled privately and the MMSM money went on a per tonne basis to the handlers. In the old days, the very, old days, there was a deposit on drink bottles. Kids, retirees, people who wanted or needed to make a few dollars, could return the containers. It was a time-honoured system. Except for beer cans and bottles, the gatherers and assemblers of recyclables have been squeezed out of the system and that’s crazy.
A levy on containers and tires and just about anything else makes sense if we want to keep them out of the landfill, but the reward has to be there for the gatherers to make a buck. Private initiative and incentive has been stamped out in Manitoba. The assumption has been that only government can run recycling, which is far from the truth. Scrap metal, aluminum and copper are privately run. All other recycling could be as well. The scrap steel, aluminum and copper trade carries itself on the intrinsic value. The drink cans, paper, cardboard and other products that need a levy as an incentive need to have the incentive carry through to the gatherer and the end user. All recycling does in Manitoba right now is make for more annoying work in the municipal offices. Until the private industry is involved in recycling from start to finish, there will not be a resolution to recycling.
At the end of the recycling line, there will always be unusable waste, just plain old, yucky garbage. It should not be buried, it should be sorted whenever possible to extract metal and then it should be burned in high efficiency furnaces. The furnaces generate heat, which can generate steam and electricity. The ash can be captured and used in street and road paving.
It works in other countries but it won’t work here until an integrated approach is adopted. Incentives, whether they come from the marketplace or from imposed levies has to flow through to the consumer, the gatherer, the handlers and the processors. If recycling is to succeed, and it is important that we stop putting stuff in landfills, then a whole new approach has to be adopted. It can be based, in part, on the success we have had so far, but a lot of roadblocks have to be removed before we really succeed.
