Circular Materials was founded by 17 of Canada’s leading food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers, restaurants and retailers. Reps from those companies sit on its board of directors (Graphic: Circular Materials website)

Tantramar Town Council is expected to endorse changes to the weekly collection of garbage, organic materials and blue-bags that would put Canada’s leading producers of packaged products in charge of its recycling program.

Under the new plan, the Toronto-based company Circular Materials would organize the collection of blue-bag recyclables everywhere in Tantramar starting on November 1st.

The company’s board of directors represents 17 of Canada’s leading food, soft drink and consumer products makers as well as fast-food restaurants and grocery stores.

Town Engineer Jon Eppell is also recommending that the Southeast Regional Service Commission (SERSC) take over managing the collection of clear-bagged garbage and green-bagged organic materials in Sackville and Dorchester starting on February 1st, 2025 and in the former local service districts three months earlier on November 1st.

Blue bags

“Homeowners optimistically will not notice any difference; they will continue to have their blue bag picked up every second week,” Eppell said during council’s committee of the whole meeting last month.

He added, however, there may be some small changes in what Circular Materials will accept in blue bags. The company will have complete control over what can go in the bags and what can’t.

“Things like styrofoam may not be accepted,” Eppell said, although he added, he wasn’t sure yet.

“Circular Materials will start to do some communications out to residents to specify what is supposed to go in the bag,” he said.

Clear and green bag

Southeast Regional Service Commission HQ in Moncton (Slide shown to council during SERSC presentation in December)

Eppell said collecting garbage and organic materials regionally makes economic sense for both municipalities and the waste hauling companies.

“Currently, Sackville has waste collection about three-and-a-half days a week and Dorchester has about a half-day a week,” he said, adding that co-ordinating regional routes would allow haulers like Miller Waste to reduce costs by using their equipment and workers more efficiently.

“So, if we were able to provide five days of collection for the same size crew, week in, week out, and allow them to use their equipment for say, five or more years, then it would be more attractive to them.”

Eppell said he saw only one potential public relations problem because Tantramar would need to be in step with waste collection practices in other municipalities.

“Right now, we’re one of a few that does the spring and fall cleanup,” he said.

“Other areas do allow a large, bulky item whether it be furniture or an appliance with the waste pickup, so every second week.

“So, I think where this may move is to a bulky item collection every second week rather than the spring and fall cleanup.”

Pros and cons of blue bag program

Sebastian Hultberg, SERSC director of solid waste services addressing Tantramar council on Dec. 4

During a special meeting of Tantramar council in December, the service commission’s director of solid waste services presented the pros and cons of participating directly in Circular Materials’s blue bag program by overseeing collection of recyclable materials.

Sebastian Hultberg said that if Tantramar chose to opt-in, the company would provide an annual subsidy of $31.37 per household. (With Tantramar’s 2,565 households that would amount to about $80,000).

At the same time however, he warned that Circular Materials would expect to see steady improvements in reducing contamination rates for recycled packaging.

He said the company is aiming to get such contaminants as food waste down to only 3% from Tantramar’s current rate of about 20%.

Hultberg warned that if those rates failed to show steady improvement, Circular Materials could impose stiff financial penalties.

In the end, councillors, worried about hefty costs, decided to forego the subsidy and allow Circular Materials to manage the collection of blue bags on its own.

In 2021, New Brunswick followed the lead of several other provinces by changing its regulations under the Clean Environment Act to require big companies to take responsibility for recycling the paper and packaging they use for their products.

When the province called for expressions of interest, Circular Materials was the only company to come forward. Municipalities then had the choice to continue collecting the blue bags and receive the Circular Materials subsidy of $31.37 per household, or opt out and let the not-for-profit, producer-run company run the collection program on its own.

Tantramar chose to opt out to avoid potential financial penalties if it was unable to show steady improvements in reducing contamination rates from about 20% down to the 3% target Circular Materials has set.

Hultberg explained that Circular Materials pays for its recycling program with fees charged to consumers who buy packaged products.

“So, when you buy this (packaging) in a grocery store, you’re not going to see it on your receipt, but every little item will include a small, small charge that will go toward the main industry stakeholders,” he said.

For a 2018 CBC report on the problem of contaminants in recycling, click here.

To read a report on plastic packaging in Canada’s grocery stores, click here.