Fredericton residents are being asked to rate the city’s recycling program in an online survey and give feedback on what they would like to see done differently.
“There’s good positive feelings about the city program,” said Andrew Philpott, project manager for GHD, the consultants running the survey for the city. “And there’s a little bit of feedback to perhaps there could be some modest improvements to the amount of material being diverted from landfill.”
Curbside recycling is currently provided for residents in houses with depot centres on the city’s north and south sides available for those in apartment buildings.
But for many, what is accepted, rather than how it’s collected, is the sticking point.
“What I’d like to see is pickup of glass and pickup of Styrofoam,” Fredericton resident Tony Short said.
Not accepting those materials likely comes down to a few reasons. Materials like paper, plastic and metal cans are much lighter than glass and much safer to transport. Styrofoam can be quite bulky, meaning less can be taken at a time.
Still, the desire not to throw those items out with the trash is widespread.
Making changes to the status quo might not be something the city can decide on its own.
“There’s some public expectations that say: ‘Well why don’t we recycle glass, Styrofoam, why don’t we compost?'” Stephen Hartley, development engineer for the City of Fredericton, said. “Those are decisions for Fredericton Region Solid Waste, so we’ll work with them on either changes in the program or explanation, education, public relation as to why Fredericton Region Solid Waste operates that way.”
The survey will remain on the city’s website for the next few weeks and the full report is expected to be presented to council before the end of the year.