Advertisement

Attention to recycling in Pointe-Claire pays off as city wins provincial award

Click to play video: 'Pointe-Claire’s recycling practices pay off'
Pointe-Claire’s recycling practices pay off
The City of Pointe-Claire is being rewarded for its 2018 waste reduction and recycling practices, with grants totaling more than $750,000. As Phil Carpenter reports, Montreal sorting centres are still struggling with excess material – Feb 5, 2020

Janet Steadman is a groomer at the Yazoo pet supply shop on Donegani in Pointe-Claire.

She says the work prodices several garbage bags of pet hair weekly, but since December, she’s found a solution for all that waste.

“I take it home every week,” she smiled.

“I put it in a bag I take it home.  It’s actually compostable so we compost it.”

Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere believes the city owes residents like Steadman for a grant the municipality just won.

“That money that we collect is because of what the citizens do,” he told Global News.  “It’s $756,000 from the Quebec government and from Recyc-Québec.”

Story continues below advertisement

The award recognizes the city’s recycling and waste reduction efforts for 2018, for which Pointe-Claire beat out 32 other neighbourhoods in Montreal.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The municipality collected 79 per cent of its waste as recycling in 2018 and was one of only six neighbourhoods to meet or exceed the agglomoration target of 70 per cent.

Pointe Claire also managed to reduce household waste by 31 per cent over five years.

Attention to recycling in Pointe-Claire pays off as city wins provincial award - image

But all that effort could be winding up at a dead end.  Recycling material has been piling up at the Saint-Michel sorting plant, where material from Pointe-Claire and other municipalities is taken.

With China refusing Canadian recycling products, claiming that it’s contaminated, local recycling companies and municipalities are struggling to find somewhere to process the material.

Story continues below advertisement

“It’s a Montreal problem,” Belvedere pointed out, adding that his city pays the central Montreal administration for the service.  “They need to get on top of their game and I’m still not confident with some of their proposals on the table.”

He fears the problem will only get worse.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, however, announced a ban Wednesday of all plastic bags on the island — a move Belevedere believes could help.

“We’re on board for that,” he said.

Another solution, Steadman pointed out, is sorting at source.

“I know some cities they have different bins for, like, cardboard, plastic,” she mused. “Maybe something like that.”

In the meantime, she will continue to what she can to reduce waste.

Sponsored content

AdChoices