Victoria residents will soon have a new way to recycle soft plastics, foam packaging, and small electronics that aren’t accepted by curbside pickup recycling services.
Beginning this Saturday, May 24th, the ‘Beyond the Curb’ free recycling drop-off program will officially launch.
Recycling materials that will be accepted through this program are:
- Flexible plastics (e.g., chip bags, cereal bags, produce netting, zipper lock bags and wrappers)
- Foam packaging (e.g., meat trays and protective packaging)
- Small electronics (e.g., laptops, phones, keyboards, remote controls or anything with a cord that can be carried under one arm)
The City is opening a main site for this program; the weekend recycling hub at 1234 Yates Street.
The Yates Street site will be open every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from May through to December.
In addition to this main site, residents can also drop off materials at collection tents at the Moss Street Market, James Bay Market and Oaklands Sunset Market throughout their respective seasons.
“Many residents in our community want to recycle these common materials but face barriers getting to existing facilities,” said Melanie Tromp Hoover, Lead, Solid Waste Reduction.
“Beyond the Curb creates more options, closer to home.”
After conducting some research, City staff found that 64% Victoria residents find it challenging to recycle these hard-to-collect materials.
The City of Victoria also noted this initiative will support Zero Waste Victoria’s goal of cutting landfill waste by 50% by 2040, as well as the Capital Regional District’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
Other pushes for improved access to soft plastic recycling
In mid-February, Victoria City Councillor Jeremy Caradonna pitched a similar pilot program to what Beyond the Curb offers during a Capital Regional District (CRD) Environmental Services Committee meeting.
There Caradonna advocated for something like this to be implemented throughout the CRD, rather than just in the CIty of Victoria.
However, the key difference in what Victoria’s pilot program offers is that Caradonna envisioned a curbside pickup of these hard-to-recycle materials.
If a curbside pickup service were to be implemented by the CRD, Caradonna claimed there would be no additional cost to the CRD, or to taxpayers.
This is because companies who produce soft plastics are obligated to pay for their appropriate disposal. That money goes to Recycle BC, who distributes an allocation to the CRD and finally the CRD passes the funding along to GFL to handle the pickup.
“In theory, adding soft plastics as a fourth stream of collected recyclables should not add additional costs for the CRD or for taxpayers, as the costs are ultimately borne by the companies, although staff is waiting to confirm this inference,” said Caradonna when he introduced the idea to the CRD.
Since Caradonna pitched this idea, the CRD’s Environmental Services Committee has not revisited the matter.
According to the CRD, plastics account for over 12% of landfill waste within the District.
