Recycling

The Recycling Regulation in BC sets out the requirements of producers to manage their products’ whole lifecycle through a policy approach called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

EPR approach aims to:

• Improve recycling rate
• Reduce Waste goes to landfills
• Encourage more efficient design of products
• Move the costs of recycling from local and indigenous governments and their taxpayers to producers and consumers of products

To meet these requirements of EPR, an obligated producer must have a recycling plan or join an EPR program that acts on their behalf to manage their products.

Visit the Ministry of Environment and Park website for more information;

• BC’s Recycling System and Regulations

What are Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programs?

Producers often join together and form non-profit organizations called EPR programs. These organizations take responsibility for the end-of-life management of regulated products under the Recycling Regulation as well as the reporting and consultation aspects of EPR.

Check Stewardship Agencies of BC (SABC)’s website to learn more about each EPR program;

• SABC

After recyclables are collected from our Recycling Depots by Recycle BC’s designated post-collection hauling partner, they get baled at their consolidation facilities in Trail and Cranbrook first.

Baled recyclables are then transported to Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) located in Richmond.

At MRFs, baled recyclables get broken down, go through belt conveyors and highly sophisticated sorting machines to get further sorted into different plastic types/material types etc.

98% of collected plastic materials get processed by Merlin Plastics in Delta BC. Merlin Plastic is the largest plastic processor in Western Canada, processing more than 500 Metric Tonne of plastic daily. Both High Density and Low Density plastic types can be recycled through their innovative technologies.

Processed plastics end up as small beads called ‘pellets’ and become raw recourse for another plastic products!

In BC, over 73% of collected recyclable materials get processed and marketed in BC!! (only small % get shipped to the US and India for processing and marketing)

Through Recycle BC’s recycling network, Recycle BC achieved a 79.6% Recovery Rate in 2023.

For more information, please visit Recycle BC’s website to view their Annual Reports;

• Recycle BC Annual Reports

The Waste Management (Prevention) Hierarchy is designed to rank waste management priorities:

• Prevention
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Recovery
• Disposal

Although Recycling is only the third priority in the Waste Management Hierarchy, it is absolutely significant to endeavor to increase Recycling Rates in our communities.

Recycling brings many positives!

• Reduces unnecessary waste entering landfills
• Reduces consumption of resources
• Reduces your disposal costs
• Reduces landfilling costs and extends landfill life
• Recovers non-renewable resources

The Regional District of Central Kootenay Board has directed staff to incorporate Zero Waste and Zero Pollution as long terms goals in the RDCK’s Resource Recovery Plan.  A Zero Waste and Zero Pollution philosophy is the foundation of the Resource Recovery Plan and guides all of our future actions and policies.

Zero Waste promotes a future without the need for landfills. Zero Waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary. It is intended to encourage people to think more about a circular flow for materials rather than a linear one. With this mindset in place, all discarded materials are considered to be resources that still have use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, and to conserve and recover everything. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all negative discharges to land, water or air that may be a threat to human or environmental health. Achieving Zero Waste will require everyone’s support and participation