The city is requesting January 1st, 2023 as the date to transition North Bay’s Blue Box Program to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), those companies that make and use packaging.
In outlining transition timelines, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks indicates the first group of municipalities or First Nations to transfer responsibiity of their Blue Box Programs to producers on January 1, 2023.
Producers will be fully responsible for providing Blue Box services provincewide by December 31st, 2025.
It wants the recycling collection and processing portion of the agreement to be assigned to producers.
The Blue Box Program was first implemented in North Bay back in 1990, with contracts for the collection and processing of materials awarded by the city.
As indicated in a staff report, the city is "not interested in continuing to provide blue box services".
The program is currently funded through a formula created by the Resources Productivity and Recovery Authority which determines how much producers of specific products are required to pay each municipality for the blue box program.
The city is in a waste and recycling collection agreement which extends to 2030.
City councillor Chris Mayne called it an important step towards the city moving away from the responsibility of managing recyclables and handing it off to the stewards of the province.
“Recycling will definitely still take place in the community, but the contracting for those services will be done between the stewards of production and the recycling collection company, not the city and the collection company,” explained Mayne.
City Councillor Mac Bain explained the benefits of shifting the responsibility away from the city.
“The stewards are the entity that funds currently 40 per cent of this, and the products that we sell make up the other 10 per cent. So right now, on our tax bill 50 per cent of the funding of the blue boxes is done through property tax,” explained Bain.
“So, when the City of North Bay fully transitions over the responsibility to the producers, that fee will no longer be a part of our tax bill. It is the hope and the desire that once the stewards fund this program 100 per cent across the province, there will be better environmental outcomes for the whole province of Ontario.”
Mayne says a portion of the savings will come from no longer being responsible for the rental facility.
“When I first read the proposal, I thought we might save the whole million dollars a year but about half of those costs are already paid by the province. About half is paid through the monies we get through the sales of the recyclables like glass and metals. So, although a lot of the costs are already covered, there are some costs such as such as the rental of the facility that we will no longer be responsible for once this goes ahead.”
Councillor Bain did add that one challenge has already come to light.
“An indication from the Minister of the Environment is that they are looking at only running the blue box programs and funding them through transition for municipalities that are over 5-thousand,” said Bain.
“The Minister of the Environment is saying that the stewards don’t have to pick up recycling from schools or places of worship or open spaces.”
Bain voiced his concern not only for the educational component, places of worship and open spaces.
"But it is a problem when they take away from the jurisdictions that today recycle across the province."
Bain asked for an addendum to the resolution.
“That the City of North Bay strongly advocates for language to be included in the regulation that ensures municipalities under 5-thousand continue to receive the blue box servicing as agreed as part of the provincial government’s blue box mediation, as well as schools, places of worship and public places.”
Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch called the transition a great opportunity for change.
“There is a little bit of risk when it comes to the city side, whether it is early termination penalties or essentially it has to do with assets. So, there is a small potential liability for us, but in the long run there will be a larger benefit. North Bay is in a better position than other communities in Ontario.”
The transition date requested by the city is still subject to approval by the ministry.
“There is no guarantee that we’re going to get that date and transition at that particular time. We are just telling the AMO and the Ministry what our preference is,” said Bain.
A copy of the resolution is to be provided to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
