Town considers free recycling program through SK Recycles

EAGLE STAFF

The town has received a proposal to have Sk Recycles take over collection of material that the recycling division of Loraas has been taking to Saskatoon.

Residents wouldn’t have to pay if councillors choose the “program-led collection model,” says a letter from Sk Recycles, formerly Multi-Material Stewardship Western.

“I think it’s a great program,” Amanda Bors told questioner Kimiko Otterspoor, adding that it would represent “one less thing” that residents have to cover. People pay recycling fees as part of their monthly utility bills.

Cancellation of the Loraas contract with the town would be required, said Bors, the town’s chief administrative assistant, during the Nov. 3 council meeting. The deadline for signing up is Feb. 1. It could start next June 1.

One complication might be that the people aiming to establish a bio-char plant here want to use recyclable material as feedstock, Mayor Trevor Hay noted.

The town wouldn’t continue receiving a grant from Multi-Material Stewardship but that grant doesn’t cover the cost of using the Loraas service, Bors said. Glass material would still be banned from recycling carts, she added.

She’d signed up for a Nov. 13 webinar on the program that council members could view. The first phase of the program covered the cities. Weyburn was the most recent to join, on Sept. 1, the Sk Recycles website says.

Bors said she’d bring more information, including the amount of the multi-materials grant, to a future meeting.

Sk Recycles, based in Saskatoon, operates the provincial Environment Department’s household packaging and paper stewardship program, the letter noted. Its “community-led collection model,” where the town would handle residential pick-ups, officially starts on June 1. Sk Recycles would conduct that residential collection under the “program-led” model “at no cost” to citizens, the letter said.