CBS told to clean up its recycling act
By Craig Westcott
The Town of CBS has been served a warning from the City of St. John’s to clean up its act when it comes to the materials it’s dropping off for recycling at the Robin Hood Bay Landfill.
“During a recent recycling drop-off, we were audited by the City and told that while the City accepts a certain level of contamination among recycling, we were above that threshold that they’re willing to accept,” said councillor-at-large Joshua Barrett. “So, this means as a town we’re going to be extra vigilant when it comes to monitoring these recycling bags going forward. You might see more tagging on these bags if they have mixed or contaminated material. If that’s the case, your bag won’t be collected. My plea to you all is for you to do your part and try to adhere to the recycling standards.”
Barrett said the Town plans to roll out a social media campaign to try to educate residents about what’s acceptable for recycling.
“We have a lot of information that’s really helpful on our website,” he added. “But broadly (speaking), separate your papers in one blue bag… your containers in another blue bag, which includes milk cartons. Typically, plastic, glass, Styrofoam, paint cans, major electronics and children’s toys are not recyclable at this time. So, you might be asking at this point, why would I even bother recycling, it seems like a huge racket?”
Barrett explained the answer comes down to money.
“You should be motivated by how we can save tax dollars by actually doing this,” he said. “Our tipping fees for garbage is $94.50 per tonne, but for recycling it’s only $32.50 per tonne. So, it’s actually one third the price for us to recycle compared to just throwing waste out in the trash. So, I would urge you to consider that going forward despite the extra efforts that you might need to make, because those savings allow us to put more investments towards our community. I know it can be a pain, but I do want to thank everybody in advance for their extra attention as we go about our recycling efforts.”
Mayor Darrin Bent told Barrett he has his back on the issue.
“We’re not trying to be difficult about this,” Bent said. “The trouble is when it goes to the facility and they see something that’s not recyclable in there, they may say that entire load of recycling now has to go to the garbage and they’ll charge us at the higher fee and then everybody’s efforts to recycle are for not, and we don’t want that. We want to make sure that we’re getting as much recycling done in the town as possible.”
Bent said CBS doesn’t get to make the call at the landfill as to what is deemed garbage and what is recycling, which is why the Town has to be more careful about what it drops off. That’s why council is asking residents to follow the guidelines as closely as possible.
“I know the people who are recycling want to recycle and they want to do the right thing, and we want to help them do the right thing,” Bent said. “So, thank you for all your efforts so far, and going forward.”
Meanwhile, there is a wide range of materials that are acceptable for recycling. In blue bags reserved for paper products, you can place everything from bundled cardboard to pizza boxes, egg cartons, glossy magazines, coffee trays, exercise books and other paper products. A blue bag for containers can include plastic water and pop bottles, beer cans, margarine and yogurt tubs, even shampoo and empty over the counter medicine bottles. The Town asks that you make sure everything is clean by washing food containers, especially milk cartons, and removing lids and caps from bottles and containers. There is no limit as to how many blue bags you can place next to your household garbage bin on recycling days.