Businesses and organizations in Glengarry are facing new recycling challenges with the arrival of the new year.
The Ontario government has introduced the Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) Plan making producers responsible for the management and cost of the residential blue box program. Every municipality in Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry has opted to drop blue box services and have the private sector to continue the service.
While the residential program will be unaffected, Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (IC&I) property owners have to fend for themselves. As of Jan. 1, the onus has been on IC&I locations to set up and cover costs for their own recycling systems by self-hauling recycling to a waste drop-off or obtaining private collection. ICI properties include private businesses, places of worship, daycares, campgrounds, libraries, arenas, shelters and food banks.
Finding a contractor is proving difficult for businesses in North Glengarry, and with the closure of R.A.R.E recycling centre in Alexandria at the end of 2024, these organizations won’t have the option of transporting their recycling materials themselves to that facility.
Both North and South Glengarry Townships requested the Ontario government amend the Blue Box Regulation so that all sources of recycling become producers’ responsibility, but no changes have been made at this point.
Some organizations reached out to North Glengarry Township and to Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MPP Stephane Sarrazin for assistance in their search to find a recycling contractor.
“I spoke with Stéphane Sarrazin’s office, and I was told that I should speak with my township, but my township (North Glengarry) was not able to offer any solutions to us,” says Christine O’Brien, who works in the administration office of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Alexandria.
The non-profit group did eventually get a quote from a waste management firm.
One entrepreneur may take a more hands-on approach and burn its cardboard and paper materials on the site of the business.
South Glengarry Township staff says the township provided company contact information to their local enterprises but business operators said they hadn’t heard much about the changes. Some joked the notices must have been sent by mail and were likely delayed by the month-long Canada Post strike.