Dry grad Organization needs volunteers to help plan annual student event. PAGE 21 Seasonal show The Nutcracker is performed by Kirkwood Academy. PAGE 29 Season ends John Barsby football team misses shot at provincial final. PAGE 3
Christmas Christmas Songbook Songbook 2012 s INSIDE
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 91
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Plan will shift recycling costs Province aims to reduce product packaging through transfer of price to industry BY TOBY GORMAN THE NEWS BULLETIN
MELISSA FRYER/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Cool carver Ice chips fly as carver Aaron Grant, from Cool As Ice, grinds into a frozen block to create a seahorse at Diana Krall Plaza in downtown Nanaimo Saturday. Grant and his assistants carved 1,350 kilograms of ice into a throne and sleigh as part of the festivities surrounding Santa’s arrival in Nanaimo.
A radical new plan that will change how blue box recycling materials are collected, processed and marketed is now before the provincial government. On Nov. 19, not-for-profit MultiMaterial British Columbia, a group of retailers and manufacturers tasked with spearheading the change, presented its initial draft plan to Environment Minister Terry Lake. According to the Packaging and Printed Paper Stewardship Plan, the change will shift all costs of blue box recycling from civic taxpayers to industry with the goal to reduce packaging. The new waste management system will see manufacturers and stores pay 100 per cent of the costs of recycling their products and packaging, but will also retain ownership of the recycled material. “It’s a game changer, no doubt about it,” said Gary Franssen, Nanaimo manager of sanitation and recycling, adding that a funding formula has yet to be introduced. “It’s still a work in progress and has to be reviewed so it can move to the next step.” A deadline of May 2014 has been set in B.C., the earliest in Canada, for when producers
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It’s a game changer, no doubt about it.
have to start paying the full cost of recycling and packaging. Part of what makes the new system so complicated is that what is collected differs from city to city, and that some municipalities perform their own recycling collection while others, like Nanaimo, contract it out. Kitchen waste and garbage will remain municipal responsibilities. Allen Langdon, chairman of Multi-Material B.C., said the transformation would be easier with a more consistent B.C.wide system, and it would also be easier and cheaper to market and promote. Virtually all recyclable packaging – from cardboard boxes to plastics to tin cans – will be included in the collection process. Franssen said more consultation and input from city officials will be needed to decide how items like glass will be handled. ◆ See ‘RETAILERS’ ‘ /4
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