There are changes in regards to the always tricky art of blue box recycling.
The city says Hamiltonians should no longer be putting black plastics, coffee cup lids and polystyrene into their blue boxes.
Emil Prpic, the city’s manager of recycling and waste disposal, says there is no longer a market to sell them to because of changing standards in China which buys about half the world’s unwanted paper and plastic.
Prpic notes that those markets are “requiring cleaner, higher quality materials.”
He agrees that it’s confusing since “that material has been accepted in our program,” but because there are no longer any end markets, “it’s challenging and it’s going out as residue.”
Prpic says Hamilton’s blue box contamination rate has increased every year since 2013 and is now just under 15 per cent.
Beverage cups, bread tabs, coffee pods, bottle caps and multi-laminate packaging are identified as the other top culprits.
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