The City of Salmon Arm will receive more money per household for curbside collection under a new contract with Recycle BC.
At its Dec. 9 meeting, council authorized the city executing a new services agreement and statement of work (SOW) for curbside collection services, effective Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2029.
In a report to council, engineer Jenn Wilson said in 2013 the city entered its first five-year agreement with Recycle BC (formerly the Multi-Material BC Society) for the collection of packaging and printed paper. Since this program has been in effect, Wilson said it has resulted in 25 per cent of total collected waste being diverted from the landfill.
Recycle BC pays the city a financial incentive on a per-curbside household basis (per dwelling receiving curbside collection services), consisting of three separate fees for collection, administration and education. Under the current SOW, those amount to $43.05 per household.
Also under the current agreement, the city is obligated to ensure contamination of collected materials remains at or below three per cent. The collection threshold is 135 kilograms per curbside household per year.
"Exceeding the contamination threshold could trigger financial penalties and not attaining the collection threshold could require a remediation plan," explained Wilson, adding there is also a bonus payment structure for collecting 160 kg per Curbside Household or greater. Over the term of the current SOW, the city鈥檚 contamination level has been around four per cent, while collection has been around 109 kg per Curbside Household.
"To date, Recycle BC has not imposed any financial penalties nor requested a remediation plan," said Wilson.
As a result of a comprehensive review of Recycle BC's master services agreements and statements of works, as well as a detailed cost study analysis, several changes were introduced for the new agreement, including an increase to the financial incentive fee to $47.60 per household.
"That is directly in response to the increased costs that collectors are incurring through their contracts," said Wilson.
The allowable contamination threshold was increased to five per cent, while the collection threshold was decreased to 100 kilograms. Wilson referred to these as positive changes that work in the city's favour.
The new agreement also gives the city the ability to provide separate curbside collection for flexible plastics and glass. Currently, both must be taken to a Recycle BC Depot. Wilson noted these additions offer the potential benefits of increasing recycling, reducing trips to the depots, and reducing contamination of single-stream recycling, for example flexible plastics and glass being mixed in with the other types of packaging and paper.
When asked about contamination, Wilson said flexible plastics are by volume the greatest contributor.
"I think the difficulty most households have is determining the difference between the hard and flexible plastics and we always say if you can pop your thumb through it, it needs to go to the depot," said Wilson.
Asked where the $47.60 comes from, Wilson said it鈥檚 from the producers of the material.
"They pay into the system to have that material collected," said Wilson. "I would say it鈥檚 ultimately the purchasers of the packaging that pay for it through those producers."
