District clarifies residential recycling program processing in light of CBC Marketplace story

Many residents may have seen or read the CBC Marketplace story on commercial plastics collections and recycling this weekend, and a number of residents have contacted the District of Squamish for reassurance on the processing of Squamish recycling. For clarity, the District of Squamish residential (blue tote/curbside pickup) recycling program is executed as follows:

• The District of Squamish provides residential curbside collection through the blue tote program through a partnership with Recycle BC and a contract relationship with Green for Life Squamish (GFL).
• The District is a partner in the Recycle BC program. Recycle BC manages residential recycling on behalf of municipalities for the majority of the province and is responsible for the processing of the recycling. The Recycle BC program is regulated by the BC Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy, is audited by a third party, and produces annual reports detailing its activities.
• Recycle BC contracts GFL Squamish to collect residential curbside recycling and deliver it to Recycle BC pre-approved processing facilities.
• GFL Squamish also maintains the recycle depots on Queensway and at the landfill, and collects items from residents that are unable to be collected through the co-mingled curbside pickup (such as glass, soft plastics, styrofoam and flexible plastics); these are also sent to Recycle BC approved processors.
• Recycle BC issued a statement on Monday that indicates they use Merlin Plastics for plastics processing, which means that Squamish’s residential plastic recycled products are recycled by Merlin Plastics.
• Multi-family buildings and commercial businesses in Squamish maintain contracts with their own service providers to collect, haul and process their recycling.

Recycle BC has created this short informational video to explain its end-markets for plastics, glass, metals, paper and soft and flexible plastics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=185&v=018fw3HbJ4c

While we are fortunate to have a strong recycling program in British Columbia, we encourage all residents to think about the 5 Rs, and note that Recycling is the very LAST R:

1. Refuse
2. Reduce
3. Reuse
4. Repurpose
5. Recycle

Read our Curbside Collection FAQ to learn more about what happens to your curbside recycling, glass and other recyclables that are dropped off in Squamish.

October 1, 2019