Up against the clock, Rocky Mountain House town council has made a decision on how packaging and paper products are processed at the Rocky Eco Centre.
The Province of Alberta gave all municipalities an Aug. 1, 2024 deadline to choose one of two service models for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), guiding how the waste products are processed.
Municipalities had the option of ‘opt-in’ service model, which would see it continue to collect its own recycling or contract it out to a third party. The ‘opt-out’ model would see municipalities hand over operations to the nation wide, not-for-profit organization Circular Materials.
In either scenario, Circular Materials would fund the packaging and paper products collection service stream.
Ultimately, council passed a motion to go with the ‘opt-in’ option, seeing it continue to collect recycling materials curbside, with Circular Materials compensating the Town for the cost.
There are certain advantages to opting in to the program, says Rocky Mountain House CAO, Dean Krause, such as flexibility for the Town to maintain current curbside pickup schedules, and having the compensation from Circular Materials cover some administrative costs.
At the end of the day, residents will notice little to no change, says Laura Button, communications coordinator with the Town of Rocky Mountain House, as curbside pickup of garbage, compostable materials and recycled materials will be exactly the same.
In addition to familiar paper and packaging products such as cardboard and newsprint, officials with Alberta Recycling say the new EPR model will greatly expand what types of materials can be recycled.
Those include chip bags, shrink wrap, steel or aluminum aerosol containers, cushion packaging, and plastic egg cartons, among dozens of other items.
Button adds, the introduction of EPR is in line with a key goal of council to reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.
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READ MORE: Rocky’s Green Bin Composting Program sees success in reducing waste
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Historically, municipalities were solely responsible for all solid waste services.
The EPR models will come into effect in April of 2025.
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