Changes to recycling in B.C. are set to go ahead as planned one week from now, despite a concerted campaign from some small businesses to reduce the size of fees that are being transferred to them.
Aerosol cans, milk cartons, coffee cups and Tetra packs are among those items that will be added to the list of recyclables for over 85 communities across B.C. You can read the full list here.
In addition, the fees paid for curbside delivery on property taxes will be removed, with the costs of recycling to be paid by the producers of that material.
WATCH: Recycling rule changes reduce property taxes
MMBC is the new organization appointed to handle recycling under the program. The post-collection system will also employ 570 people in B.C. and bring $32 million in new investment for a container recycling facility in the Lower Mainland and a material recovery facility in Nanaimo.
They are changes that Mike Klassen of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses has been fighting for months.
“It’s going to impact small business, and small business is going to pass along those costs to you,” he says, predicting many companies will raise their fees in response.
WATCH: Allen Langdon and Mike Klassen debate recycling changes on Unfiltered last month
Community newspapers have also decried the change, since they have less an ability to directly recoup the costs from consumers.
But the provincial government is standing firm.
“The cost will be very minimal,” says Environment Minister Mary Polak, who noted that any company with less than one tonne of recycled paper will be exempt from the program. “This is a market based means of creating an incentive for companies to reduce the unwanted packaging that consumers struggle with each and every day.”
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